Through the book “Invest Like a Shark” he helps investors understand what his “Shark Investing” trading strategy entails.  He warms up the readers by summarizing some of the Wall Street myths.  He then discusses the emotional factors involved in trading that challenge all investors from making a disciplined decision.  Lastly he goes into the details of “Shark Investing” and the “Ten Commandments of Shark Investing”.

Although this book is easy to read and talks good theories and concepts, I personally wanted more content out of it in depth around “Shark Investing”.  For example, James lists out all of the different “sharks” and their investment styles in one of his chapters.  He then talks about how you need to find out which “shark” fits you best.  It was fun to read his theories on all of the different sharks out there, but I didn’t qutie understand what to do with that information thereafter.  Ok, I got what “Shark” I am.  Now what?

Pros: Easy to read.  Helps readers learn many good concepts and strategies on investing such as volume and moving averages.  Credible author.

Cons: The book didn’t help me quite differentiate how “Shark Investing” strategy differs from the normal strategies people employ to successfully trade.  What truly makes “Shark Investing” so unique and successful?

Even though I was a total beginner to options, this book allowed me to learn options one step at a time.  Michael starts out talking about the very basics of options.  He then starts out teaching how to write covered calls, buy call options, and buy put options.  As you progress through the book, he starts to include more advanced trading techniques such as selling puts, straddles and spreads.

He also talks about the risks associated with each trading strategies, so the book helps readers understand what strategy works best for them.  This is why he succeeds at writing introductory books because he understands what it takes to make the book beginner friendly.

Author: Michael Sincere

Michael sincere wrote several investing books including Understanding Stocks and 101 Investment Lessons from the Wizards of Wall Street.   He made a name not because he is an excellent investor and made a huge fortune trading.  He instead became popular through his career as a financial journalist, writing many financial articles and columns.  His interviewing skill set and experiences also give him the edge in this industry.  Even though he necessary is not a full-time trader, he certainly has interviewed many of them.

Pros: The book is very basic and is extremely easy to understand for beginners.  He also starts to dive into the more advanced trading strategy if you choose to explore further.  The book is also very affordable.

Cons: The book is very basic, so it won’t be too value-adding for more experienced traders looking to take the options trading to the next level.  I would stick to other books out there that are far more advanced and complex than this one.

Author: Toni Turner

Toni’s credibility is clearly reflected in her multiple appearances on major investing publications and TV networks.  She runs a website called www.toniturner.com, which contains wealth of information including the learning center, the market education, and her education materials like the DVDs and her books.  Reading the book written by her myself, I have to say she knows what she’s talking about, and I really appreciate her style given I am a short-term investor myself.

Content: Toni makes sure the book contains information not only regarding the book topic itself but the basic information around it as well.  She starts out writing about the basics of investing such as different stock exchanges, the concept of supply and demand, and even the history of The Great Depression and its market collapse.  She details many of the websites and tools you can use as an investor, both short-term and long-term traders.

As far as information on short-term trading, she discusses:

• Candlestick chart basics to popular candlestick indicators
• Different cycles of stock price
• Popular technical indicators such as head-and-shoulders and cup with handle
• Identifying resistance and support levels
• Basic money management techniques
• Technical analysis terms

Pros: Thorough and complete content.  The book doesn’t assume you’re a seasoned investor while making sure it’s catered to the more intermediate investors as well.  The author lists all of the terminologies used in the glossary section with definitions.  She also uses real chart examples as a reference when talking about the different techniques and definitions.

Lastly, the book is CHEAP.  If you buy them via Amazon you can get it for $11! I assure you, the book is worth the price and more.

Cons: First, the book is definitely not the most advanced in its class.  As you can tell from the title, it is for the beginner, intermediate at best, investors.  If you’re looking for more advanced short-term trading techniques, look elsewhere.

Also, the book is rather becoming outdated.  While I’ve never read the 2nd edition that came out in 2008, the version I read contains many links to sites and tools that are becoming obsolete.  In this competitive and ever changing online environment, many new tools and websites surface with a big presence.  Therefore, I’m not so sure whether some of the references she points out are still up-to-date and the best in class or not.

Overall this book is definitely a good starting point for investors interested in short-term trading.  I certainly benefited from this book, and I recommend it to anyone starting out in this market.

Author: Gene Marcial

Gene Marcial has been around for quite some time.  He is best known for his editorials from “Inside Wall Street” on BusinessWeek. He has been in this business for more than 27 years now, and investors do follow his stock columns closely.  On the other hand, his education background is pretty unique in that he graduated with a journalism degree for undergrad, a law degree from New York Law, and then a political science masters from NYU.  Pretty interesting combo.

While he has had his days making great stock picks, he has seen worse days.  Notably, he made several bullish calls in the past few years that went south rather quickly.  Of the many, one of them was Dryships (DRYS) which he indicated as a buy last year before the stock tanked all the way down to $2.72.  It’s hard to believe how battered this stock became given it once used to be over $100 a share.

He also said Citigroup (C) was a great buy when it was sitting at $27.55 in January 2008.  We all know the rest from there.  The stock is currently sitting at less than $5 per share as of May 2009.  He quotes:

The bottom line: With its depressed valuation and bright prospects for further worldwide growth-in spite of the industry’s subprime woes–Citigroup stands out as a bargain selling at a firesale price.

Sorry you don’t get a credit for that Gene.

Content: The content is pretty solid with very a nicely organized index.  He basically states the 7 key commandments of stock investing and cites several stocks in each section. The sections, or commandments include: Buy Panic, Concentrate, Buy the Losers, Forget Timing, Follow the Insider, Don’t Fear the Unknown, Always Invest Long-Term.  In these sections, he mentions stocks like Citigroup, Bank of America, General Motors, Genentech, and many others.

Pros: It is a very easy read with good concepts on investing.  He’s certainly had the experience to know the ups and downs of the stock market and helps translate that in his own words to the readers.  If you’re one of the long-term investors, this book is a good read.

Cons: He is a very long-term focused investor.  Gene’s book focuses on concepts appropriate for long-term trading and not many short-term.  Therefore, if you are one of the short-term traders like me, you might not get much out of his book.  He certainly won’t talk about stock technical analysis and swing trading.

Speaking of investing, check out the new Mint feature they started on investing.

Millions of traders participating in today’s financial markets have shot interest and involvement in technical analysis to an all-time high. This updated edition of Technical Analysis from A to Z combines a detailed explanation of what technical analysis is and how it works with overviews, interpretations, calculations, and examples of over 135 technical indicators–and how they perform under actual market conditions. Enhanced with more details to make it easier to use and understand, this book reflects the latest research findings and advances. A complete summary of major indicators that can be used in any market, it covers:
• Every trading tool from the Absolute Breadth Index to the Zig Zag
• Indicators include Arms Index, Dow Theory, and Elliott Wave Theory
• Over 35 new indicators

Author: Steven Achelis

He wrote several books all relative to the study of technical charts.  Some of the books include Trading the Regression Channel: Defining and Predicting Stock Price Trends and A guide to market indicator interpretations. As far as the credentials go, I couldn’t find much about him.  While he does seem to know a lot about the technicals, I’m not so sure if he’s well known as much as some of the majors featured in investing publications.

Content

It’s a pretty good book that covers everything from moving averages to some foreign terms like Kagi and Canslim.  I mean what the hell is a Kagi?  Canslim?   If you want to swing trade, you HAVE to understand the technical aspect of the charts, and this will get you there.  I still can’t go through all of the terms since there are simply just too damn much.  That’s a good thing since you can use is as a reference book, but you may have a tough time reading through the entire book.

Bottom line, I would suggest this book to anyone interested in learning the technicals, both short and long-term.  It is a bit hard to read (it sometimes just gets boring reading about how “the logic behind envelopes is that overzealous buyers and sellers push the price to the..” yada yada).  Nonetheless, I recommend it!

Check it out