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Description of The Alchemy of Finance

Critical Praise forThe Alchemy of Finance

"The Alchemy of Finance joins Reminiscences of a Stock Operator as a timeless instructional guide of the marketplace."
––Paul Tudor Jones
From the Foreword to the First Edition

"An extraordinary . . . inside look into the decision–making process of the most successful money manager of our time. Fantastic."
––The Wall Street Journal

"A breathtakingly brilliant book. Soros is one of the core of masters . . . who can actually begin to digest the astonishing complexity . . . of the game of finance in recent years."
––Esquire

"A seminal investment book . . . it should be read, underlined, and thought about page by page, concept by idea. . . . He’s the best pure investor ever . . . probably the finest analyst of the world in our time."
–– Barton M. Biggs
Director, BKF Capital Group, Inc.

Updated to include a new Preface and Introduction by Soros, and a Foreword by Paul A. Volcker

George Soros is unquestionably the most powerful and profitable investor in the world today. Dubbed by BusinessWeek as "The Man Who Moves Markets," Soros once made a billion dollars by betting that the British pound would be devalued. Soros is not merely a man of finance, but a thinker to reckon with as well. In The Alchemy of Finance, this extraordinary man reveals the investment strategies that have made him "a superstar among money managers"(The New York Times).

Title Information

ISBN:

9780471445494

Pages:

416 pages

Format:

Paperback

Product Code:

0025

Publisher:

John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Published:

19/08/2003

Edition:

New edition

Press and Industry Reviews

'An extraordinary inside look into the decision-making process of the most successful money manager of our time. Fantastic.'
- The Wall Street Journal

'A breathtakingly brilliant book. Soros is one of the core of masters who can actually begin to digest the astonishing complexity of the game of finance in recent years.'
- Esquire

'A seminal investment book ... it should be read, underlined, and thought about page-by-page, concept-by-idea. He's the best pure investor ever, probably the finest analyst of the world in our time.'
- Barton M. Biggs, Morgan Stanley

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Customer Reviews from Amazon

About George Soros

GEORGE SOROS is Chairman of Soros Fund Management, which serves as the principal investment advisor to the multibillion dollar Quantum Group of Funds. Soros’s flagship Quantum Fund is recognized as the most successful investment fund ever, returning an average 31 percent annually for more than thirty years. Soros has been an important philanthropist since 1979. His charitable foundations are active in more than fifty countries and spend nearly half a billion dollars each year to support projects in education, public health, civil society development, human rights, and many other areas.

Contents of The Alchemy of Finance

PART 1 - Theory

1.The Theory of Reflexivity
Anti-equilibrium
The Problem of Imperfect Understanding
The Problem of Social Sciences
The Participants' Bias
The Concept of Reflexivity

2. Reflexivity in the Stock Market
3. Reflexivity in the Currency Market
4. The Credit and Regulatory Cycle

PART II - Historical Perspective

5. The International Debt Problem
6. The Collective System of Lending
7. Reagan's Imperial Circle
8. Evolution of the Banking System
9. The 'Oligopolarization' of America

PART III - The Real-Time Experiment

10. The Starting Point: August 1985
11. Phase 1: August 1985 - December 1985
12. Control Period: January 1986 - July 1986
13. Phase 2: July 1986 - November 1986
14. The Conclusion: November 1986

PART IV - Evaluation

15. The Scope for Financial Alchemy
16. The Quandary of the Social Sciences

PART V - Prescription

17. Free Markets vs Regulation
18. Toward an International Central Bank
Exchange Rates and International Debt
Oil
An International Currency
19. The Paradox of Systemic Reform
20. The Crash of '87