The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur's Vision of the Future


Steve Case - 2016
    At the time, only three percent of Americans were online. It took a decade for AOL to achieve mainstream success, and there were many near-death experiences and back-to-the-wall pivots. AOL became the top performing company of the 1990s, and at its peak more than half of all consumer internet traffic in the United States ran through the service. After Case engineered AOL’s merger with Time Warner and he became Chairman of the combined business, Case oversaw the biggest media and communications empire in the world. In The Third Wave, which pays homage to the work of the futurist Alvin Toffler (from whom Case has borrowed the title, and whose work inspired him as a young man), Case takes us behind the scenes of some of the most consequential and riveting business decisions of our time while offering illuminating insights from decades of working as an entrepreneur, an investor, a philanthropist, and an advocate for sensible bipartisan policies. We are entering, as Case explains, a new paradigm called the “Third Wave” of the internet. The first wave saw AOL and other companies lay the foundation for consumers to connect to the Internet. The second wave saw companies like Google and Facebook build on top of the Internet to create search and social networking capabilities, while apps like Snapchat and Instagram leverage the smartphone revolution. Now, Case argues, we’re entering the Third Wave: a period in which entrepreneurs will vastly transform major “real world” sectors like health, education, transportation, energy, and food—and in the process change the way we live our daily lives. But success in the Third Wave will require a different skill set, and Case outlines the path forward. The Third Wave is part memoir, part manifesto, and part playbook for the future. With passion and clarity, Case explains the ways in which newly emerging technology companies (a growing number of which, he argues, will not be based in Silicon Valley) will have to rethink their relationships with customers, with competitors, and with governments; and offers advice for how entrepreneurs can make winning business decisions and strategies—and how all of us can make sense of this changing digital age.

Like a Virgin: Secrets They Won't Teach You at Business School


Richard Branson - 2012
    From his top tips on succeeding in business to some hard-hitting opinions on the global finance crisis, this book brings together his best advice on all things business.It's business school, the Branson way.

The Book on Investing In Real Estate with No (and Low) Money Down: Creative Strategies for Investing in Real Estate Using Other People's Money


Brandon Turner - 2014
    Don't let the contents of your wallet define your future! This book provides numerous strategies for leveraging other people’s money for amazing returns on your initial investment.Active real estate investor and co-host of The BiggerPockets Podcast, Brandon Turner, dives into multiple financing methods that professional investors use to tap into current real estate markets. Not only will you be able to navigate the world of creative real estate finance, but you’ll get more mileage out of any real estate investment strategy. Financing deals just got easier—learn how to be a smart investor by using creativity, not cash!Inside, you'll discover:- The truth about no-money-down investing―Investing with little to no money down is possible, but it’s not about a step-by-step strategy. It’s about a mindset.- How to get started investing in real estate―Looking for your first deal, but you have no money or experience? Learn the best strategies for getting your feet wet without paying thousands!- Numerous strategies to mix and match―Creative investing requires a creative mind.- How to attract private money, lenders, and partners―There are millions of millionaires walking the streets. Discover the best way to attract them to you.- The ugly side of creative investing―Learn the downsides to all the strategies mentioned in this book, as well as tips for overcoming those problems.- Strategies for wholesaling, flipping, rentals, and more―Find success no matter what niche you plan to use to build your real estate empire.

The Shifts and the Shocks: How the Financial Crisis Has Changed Our Future


Martin Wolf - 2014
    Martin Wolf agrees. In fact, he argues, too much has been said about the purely financial aspects of the crisis, important though they are. The underlying problem is that the world economy is unable to cope with the major shifts it is undergoing: rapid economic integration, competition from billions of new workers, technological revolutions, and the floods of capital across the world. These shifts have transformed relationships among economies and within them, creating new competitors, huge imbalances, and huge increases in inequality. With those shifts have come vast and largely unforeseen financial shocks. The breakdown of the financial system in the high-income countries of the West was a symptom of unsuccessful, incomplete, and misguided adjustments to the imbalances created by this new world. The shocks are partly the result of the financial system’s frailties, which must be remedied durably and radically. But they are also the consequence of deeper economic forces. To focus only on the financial breakdown is to mistake symptoms with causes. As important as improving the financial system is making the global economic system more stable.The Shifts and the Shocks is the tour d’horizon of the new world economy that only Martin Wolf could write. It cements his status as among our most farseeing and imaginative economic commentators. Wolf makes us see how partial and confused our view of the economic events of the last five years has been. No other book offers such a thoroughly global perspective, nor one that understands the connection between the macroeconomics and the financial system with Wolf’s level of sophistication and insight. It is not a book for those looking for a cheerful prognosis on the future of the European Union, or any number of other vital issues hanging fire, and it offers solutions that will seem extremely radical to some, but neither is it without hope. The new global economic order is lifting tens of millions of people out of poverty and creating new winners and losers at an unimagined scale and pace. It’s simply high time, indeed past time, for our economics to keep pace with our economy. Now, with The Shifts and the Shocks, it has.

Inefficient Markets: An Introduction to Behavioral Finance


Andrei Shleifer - 2000
    It states that securities prices in financial markets must equal fundamental values, either because all investors are rational or because arbitrage eliminates pricing anomalies. This bookdescribes an alternative approach to the study of financial markets: behavioral finance. This approach starts with an observation that the assumptions of investor rationality and perfect arbitrage are overwhelmingly contradicted by both psychological and institutional evidence. In actualfinancial markets, less than fully rational investors trade against arbitrageurs whose resources are limited by risk aversion, short horizons, and agency problems. The book presents models of such markets. These models explain the available financial data more accurately than the efficient marketshypothesis, and generate new predictions about security prices. By summarizing and expanding the research in behavioral finance, the book builds a new theoretical and empirical foundation for the economic analysis of real-world markets.

Why Stock Markets Crash: Critical Events in Complex Financial Systems


Didier Sornette - 2002
    In this book, Didier Sornette boldly applies his varied experience in these areas to propose a simple, powerful, and general theory of how, why, and when stock markets crash.Most attempts to explain market failures seek to pinpoint triggering mechanisms that occur hours, days, or weeks before the collapse. Sornette proposes a radically different view: the underlying cause can be sought months and even years before the abrupt, catastrophic event in the build-up of cooperative speculation, which often translates into an accelerating rise of the market price, otherwise known as a "bubble." Anchoring his sophisticated, step-by-step analysis in leading-edge physical and statistical modeling techniques, he unearths remarkable insights and some predictions--among them, that the "end of the growth era" will occur around 2050.Sornette probes major historical precedents, from the decades-long "tulip mania" in the Netherlands that wilted suddenly in 1637 to the South Sea Bubble that ended with the first huge market crash in England in 1720, to the Great Crash of October 1929 and Black Monday in 1987, to cite just a few. He concludes that most explanations other than cooperative self-organization fail to account for the subtle bubbles by which the markets lay the groundwork for catastrophe.Any investor or investment professional who seeks a genuine understanding of looming financial disasters should read this book. Physicists, geologists, biologists, economists, and others will welcome "Why Stock Markets Crash" as a highly original "scientific tale," as Sornette aptly puts it, of the exciting and sometimes fearsome--but no longer quite so unfathomable--world of stock markets.

Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business


John E. Mackey - 2012
    cofounder Raj Sisodia argue for the inherent good of both business and capitalism. Featuring some of today’s best-known companies, they illustrate how these two forces can—and do—work most powerfully to create value for all stakeholders: including customers, employees, suppliers, investors, society, and the environment.These "�Conscious Capitalism" companies include Whole Foods Market, Southwest Airlines, Costco, Google, Patagonia, The Container Store, UPS, and dozens of others. We know them; we buy their products or use their services. Now it’s time to better understand how these organizations use four specific tenets—higher purpose, stakeholder integration, conscious leadership, and conscious culture and management—to build strong businesses and help advance capitalism further toward realizing its highest potential.As leaders of the Conscious Capitalism movement, Mackey and Sisodia argue that aspiring leaders and business builders need to continue on this path of transformation—for the good of both business and society as a whole.At once a bold defense and reimagining of capitalism and a blueprint for a new system for doing business grounded in a more evolved ethical consciousness, this book provides a new lens for individuals and companies looking to build a more cooperative, humane, and positive future.

Mind Over Markets: Power Trading with Market Generated Information


James F. Dalton - 1993
    The Market Profile principle is also used by knowledgeable and experienced day traders. This is the best available text on the subject. The key element that has long separated tremendously successful traders from all others is their intuitive understanding that time regulates all financial opportunities. In 1984, J. Peter Steidlmayer formally introduced the Market Profile as a way to graphically depict the acceptance or rejection of price over time. For the first time, what had once been the domain of the intuitve trader was not accessible to all traders. The ability to record price information according to time has unleashed huge amounts of useful market information in a form never before available In turn, this information explosion has triggered a new way of looking at markets and opened the doors for accelerated levels of market analysis. Mind Over Markets is a book about learning; learning the dynamics of markets through the organization of price, time and volume, and learning how to synthesize this information with your own intuition. Our goal is to arrie at a healthy balance between the powers of objective observation and intuitive decision-making--a rare talent possessed by only the best of traders.

Where Are the Customers' Yachts?: Or a Good Hard Look at Wall Street


Fred Schwed Jr. - 1940
    . . . What Schwed has done is capture fully-in deceptively clean language-the lunacy at the heart of the investment business. -- From the Foreword by Michael Lewis, Bestselling author of Liar's Poker . . . one of the funniest books ever written about Wall Street. -- Jane Bryant Quinn, The Washington PostHow great to have a reissue of a hilarious classic that proves the more things change the more they stay the same. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. -- Michael BloombergIt's amazing how well Schwed's book is holding up after fifty-five years. About the only thing that's changed on Wall Street is that computers have replaced pencils and graph paper. Otherwise, the basics are the same. The investor's need to believe somebody is matched by the financial advisor's need to make a nice living. If one of them has to be disappointed, it's bound to be the former. -- John Rothchild, Author, A Fool and His Money, Financial Columnist, Time magazineHumorous and entertaining, this book exposes the folly and hypocrisy of Wall Street. The title refers to a story about a visitor to New York who admired the yachts of the bankers and brokers. Naively, he asked where all the customers' yachts were? Of course, none of the customers could afford yachts, even though they dutifully followed the advice of their bankers and brokers. Full of wise contrarian advice and offering a true look at the world of investing, in which brokers get rich while their customers go broke, this book continues to open the eyes of investors to the reality of Wall Street.

The Analysis and Use of Financial Statements


Gerald I. White - 1993
    * An increased international focus with more coverage of IASC and non-US GAAPs and more non-US examples.

Adventures of a Currency Trader: A Fable about Trading, Courage, and Doing the Right Thing


Rob Booker - 2007
    If you are tired of reading how-to books, this is perfect for you. I highly recommend this book to all traders. Everyone will learn something about themselves by reading this book." --Kathy Lien, author, Day Trading the Currency Market, and Chief Strategist, www.dailyfx.com"Adventures of a Currency Trader is a must read for anyone who has ever traded or is thinking about trading in the Forex markets. Rob Booker has a unique way of taking years of market knowledge and transforming it into an educational and entertaining experience. It has quickly become a cult classic in my trading library!" --H. Jack Bouroudjian, Principal, Brewer Investment Group"Brilliant! Rob's humor and humanity shine through in this parable about trading and life. Filled with wisdom and wit, it's an exhilarating rollercoaster ride through the peaks and valleys of the learning curve, with many valuable lessons learned along the way." --Ed Ponsi, President, FXEducator.com"Rob's fable of everyman 'Harry Banes' is destined to become a trading classic. This is both the missing piece and the foundation that comes before the strategies and methodologies. The search for the Holy Grail begins and ends in the heart and mind. The journey is authentic and real and if you're willing to take it with Rob, you will be rewarded in the end. Seldom has psychology and wisdom been so entertaining!" --Raghee Horner, trader and author of Forex Trading for Maximum Profit and Days of Forex Trading"In a series of insightful and entertaining vignettes, Rob Booker teaches both the novice and the experienced trader some hard won truths about the currency market. It's a must read book written by a guy who survived the trenches and went on to prosper in the biggest and most competitive financial market in the world." --Boris Schlossberg, Senior Currency Strategist, Forex Capital Markets LLC, and author of Technical Analysis of the Currency Market

Bollinger on Bollinger Bands


John Bollinger - 2001
    His Bollinger Bands sharpen the sensitivity of fixed indicators, allowing them to more precisely reflect a market's volatility. By more accurately indicating the existing market environment, they are seen by many as today's standard--and most reliable--tool for plotting expected price action.Now, in Bollinger on Bollinger Bands, Bollinger himself explains how to use this extraordinary technique to compare price and indicator action and make sound, sensible, and profitable trading decisions.Concise, straightforward, and filled with instructive charts and graphs, this remarkable book will be essential reading for all serious traders, regardless of market. Bollinger includes his simple system for implementation, and techniques for combining bands and indicators.

Code Red: How to Protect Your Savings from the Coming Crisis


John Mauldin - 2013
    More importantly, it shows you how to protect your hard-earned cash from the bankers' disastrous monetary policies and how to come out a winner in the irresponsible game of chicken they're playing with the global financial system.From quantitative easing to zero interest rate policies, ZIRP to the impending currency wars, runaway inflation to GDP targeting, authors Mauldin and Tepper achieve the impossible by not only explaining global monetary policy and its consequences in plain English, but also making it compelling reading.Outlines time-tested strategies for surviving and thriving in these tumultuous times Addresses how issues such as quantitative easing, financial repression, currency wars, bubble economies, and inflation impact our everyday lives as well as our financial future Written by a team of bestselling authors and experts in this dynamic field How did we get here and where are we headed? What can you do to insulate yourself against, and profit from, economic upheaval and secure your financial future? Find out in Code Red.

Die Broke: A Radical Four-Part Financial Plan


Stephen M. Pollan - 1997
    In Die Broke, you'll learn that life is a game where the loser gives his money to Uncle Sam at the end. There are four steps to the process:Quit TodayNo, don't tell your boss to shove it...at least not out loud. But in your head accept that from this day on you're a free agent whose number one workplace priority is your personal bottom line.Pay CashYou should be as conscious of spending as you are of saving. Credit should be a rarely used tool for those few times (buying homes and cars) when paying cash is impossible.Don't RetireYour work life should be a journey up and down hills, rather than a climb up a sheer cliff that ends with a jump into the abyss.Die BrokeIt sounds terrifying, the one intolerable outcome to your financial life. And yet, in truth, dying broke might be your best option for a life without fear: fear of failure and privation now, fear of impoverishment in the long run.

The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century


Thomas L. Friedman - 2005
    With his inimitable ability to translate complex foreign policy and economic issues, Friedman explains how the flattening of the world happened at the dawn of the 21st century; what it means to countries, companies, communities and individuals; and how governments and societies can, and must, adapt.