[.ca] You Can Be a Stock Market Genius: Uncover the Secret ... (ISBN 0684840073)

Phenomenal:
In a world filled with mutual fund managers who make millions for underperforming the S & P over the duration of their careers, students of investing should always ask to see a teacher's audited investment results before listening to a word. Joel Greenblatt produced 50%+ annual returns over ten years. To put this superlative performance in context, it is better than Warren Buffet's. Quite simply: Greenblatt is an investing master and his teachings are worthy of special consideration. The pleasure of this book is its simplicity. The kind of rigorous homework Greenblatt suggests is not easy to do in practice, but this is a key reason why it can be such fruitful work to do. Greenblatt's logic is driven by simple, fundamental and powerful truths: a) investing only in your best few ideas tends to lead to a higher quality portfolio, b) doing work where others are not contributes to an investment edge and c) there is statistical evidence to show that value investing and special situations outperform the broader market over time. The book is filled with humor, common sense and a lot of investing wisdom. Greenblatt has opened the door, students must walk through it themselves...

One of the Best Stock Investing Books There Is:
Greenblatt does a good job explaining spinoffs, mergers, bankruptcies, etc. and how they can be create market-beating investments. He presents data backing up his theories, and also provides many good examples of finding such investment situations. He also explains the criteria for what qualifies a good risk/reward ratio in these types of investments. However, one thing I want to point out is that you have to definitely do some research on each investment if you want to truly put Greenbaltt's put methods into efective practice. If you are willing to go through SEC filings and do thoroguh research on each investment you make, then the type of investing found in this book might be right for you.

Practical Advice for Sophisticated Special Situations Investing:
This book is for those who cannot resist the idea of wanting to outperform the market averages. For most people, that's dumb idea . . . and indexed mutual funds would be a better choice. But if you are willing to roll up your sleeves, put on your green eyeshade and look at things differently, Mr. Greenblatt's approach is a very valid one. If you read only one of Mr. Greenblatt's books about investing (the other one is The Little Book That Beats the Market), read this one. You'll make more money with this one. You can be a Stock Market Genius has the simplest explanation for special situations investing involving unusual securities that I have seen for the lay person. For most people, this book will be a lot to chew on. I suggest that you start by simply trying to understand and apply one idea in the book . . . such as finding under priced small spin-off stocks. After you get the handle on that one, go on to another approach that interests you. I have worked for over three decades helping companies design these new securities that fascinate Mr. Greenblatt so much. From that experience, I'm constantly amazed at how stupidly most corporate finance departments and investment banks pursue these new structures. I suspect that the answer is that the heavy brainpower is saved for more profitable work like M & A. As a result, you will almost always find a great investment opportunity if you look at unusual securities. I encourage you to begin by spending a half hour getting the background on any unusual transaction you read about. You can also improve on this book by doing more precise measurements of securities values (if you have the background to do that), but for many severely undervalued securities Mr. Greenblatt's approach of taking guesses about what a reasonable value is will work just fine. Although the examples are older, these kinds of opportunities still abound in most categories he discusses (stub stocks are the exception). Mr. Greenblatt has a real talent for putting his cases together to make them easier to understand. Have a ball!

Outperformance:
This is the best book published on value / special situation investing. Greenblatt's investing rules should be committed to memory by every serious investor. The case studies are fantastic. This is a must read for anyone looking to outperform the market.

ONE OF THE BETTER BOOKS ON INVESTING:
I read stock market investment books like some cooks read cookbooks-- for a new idea that can change the recipe and make the outcome a better success. I received several good ideas from this book. It is a keeper. I would also recommend the three (or or there more?) books by R. Max Bowser who has an unique system where he even guarantees $5,000 if the reader does not make a profit using his system. Mr. Bowser states that he has refined his investment system on an ongoing basis (adding improvements) over the past 20 years (Take a glance at Mr. Bowser's book, "Guaranteed Profits With Small Stocks"). There are so many good investment books out there and the serious investor should keep up with the new books to have a stream of fresh new ideas.