Publisher Description

This book takes the reader on an insiderOs tour of the psychology of stock market investing. In more than 3,000 hours of interviews and observations, Smith granted some of the most famous insiders on Wall Street the protection of anonymity to procure their deepest and most frank views on the operation of the market. Their words are heard here in vivid and often surprising detail. What emerges is a startling portrait of how the prejudices of six different types of players_fundamentalists, insiders, cyclists, traders, efficient market believers, and transformational idea adherents_influence the ups and downs of the market. Smith explains how new trends, such as computer trading and mutual and retirement fund investing, interact with these psychologies_drawing a remarkable picture of how market behavior is inherently more human than technical.

Author Biography

Charles W. Smith is professor and chair of sociology at Queens College, CUNY. The Mind of the Market, his earlier work, was an Alternative Selection of the Book of the Month Club and Fortune Book Club. Market Values in American Higher Education, SmithOs next work, is due out in the Spring of 2000.

Table of Contents

Part 1 The Ambiguity of the Market Part 2 The True Believers Part 3 Selling the Market Part 4 Cynicism, Faith and Foolishness Part 5 Putting it All Together Part 6 Some Practical Advice for the Individual Investor Part 7 A Theoretical and Methodological Note Part 8 A Selected Glossary of Stock Market Terminology

Review

Charles Smith x-rays the reasoning behind the behavior of professionals that investors encounter as they navigate the market. Mercilessly stripping away the rhetoric, he gives a spare yet clear and revealing account of six fundamental ways of thinking, and advises investors on how to cope with the sales strategies that correspond to them. An eye-opener for the legions bewildered by their investment advisers, or for any who simply want to understand the 'mind of the market.' -- Mark Granovetter, Stanford University
My absolute favorite new investment book should be read by anyone eager to make a million in the market, Success and Survival on Wall Street: Understanding the Mind of the Market. . . . Smith has come up with a taxonomy of the Wall Street species. -- Robert Barker * Business Week *
Smith's book is a representative of a rare genre: sociology books useful to the general reader. * Contemporary Sociology *
In his deeply ironic analysis, Charles Smith shows us that the highly specialized milieux of securities markets resemble life in general; mysterious in some ways, unpredictable in other ways, intimately dependent on socially created stories in every regard, yet centered on mundane transactions of sale and purchase. What's more, Smith relates the market's operation to the everyday activities of its uncertain, often worried participants. -- Viviana Zeliver, Princeton University

Long Description

This book takes the reader on an insiderOs tour of the psychology of stock market investing. In more than 3,000 hours of interviews and observations, Smith granted some of the most famous insiders on Wall Street the protection of anonymity to procure their deepest and most frank views on the operation of the market. Their words are heard here in vivid and often surprising detail. What emerges is a startling portrait of how the prejudices of six different types of players_fundamentalists, insiders, cyclists, traders, efficient market believers, and transformational idea adherents_influence the ups and downs of the market. Smith explains how new trends, such as computer trading and mutual and retirement fund investing, interact with these psychologies_drawing a remarkable picture of how market behavior is inherently more human than technical.

Review Quote

Smith's book is a representative of a rare genre: sociology books useful to the general reader.

Details