An American Hedge Fund Review

A few months back Timothy Sykes contacted me about a new book he was writing.  An American Hedge Fund: How I made $2 Million as a Stock Operator & Created a Hedge Fund.  It was on the Hedge Fund industry and his experiences making lots of money in the stock market.  I got a chance to read the book, though I honestly wasn't expecting much.  He is a new author and usually these kinds of books are self serving and repetitive. See my other book reviews for best sellers that I consider trash.  Instead this book read quite well.  And every book is just a bit self serving. :-)

What I thought was going to be an instruction manual on how you too can make millions of dollars with scheme xyz turned out to be a story about a young man still in High School learning about trading stocks, doing it at the right time with the right attitude (sometimes) and doing quite well.  It chronicles his life in college, his silly mistakes, ego trips, and experiences with the media. 

One thing we learn from the book is to stick to your plan that you know is relatively sane and safe.  Don't keep pushing money at the system simply to get back the money you lost, and DO NOT invest for all those ego related reasons. 

The other thing we learn is that leveraging a bit of notoriety in the right way can build a career and options for the future.  He made it onto many tv shows, reality tv, and now this book all by playing it smart and pursuing opportunities presented to him.

I categorize this book into good airplane reading.  If your going on a short trip this is a good book to bring along to entertain you.  Since it is a quick read you can finish it in spare time at the hotel and airport.

Overall I think people will like reading the book, though don't expect to know how to make millions at the end.  That isn't the point at all.

OH, and I got my first quote in a book!  I have been mentioned in some programming books before, and even national magazines, but this is my first time I was quoted in the 'reviews' section at the beginning of a book.  Yay!