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A Man for All Markets - Ed Thorp

Liberty

By Liberty
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moneyball Apprentice

moneyball

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Got my copy yesterday. Only about a quarter of the way through, but already have the impression that Ed Thorp might be one of the smartest people alive. Highly recommend picking up a copy.

  • 1 month later...
Guest notorious546

Guest notorious546

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I thought it was great. Maybe there was a few pages that were dull but generally speaking really enjoyed his approach and writing style. I'll try to write an summary in the coming weeks.

 

Liberty Contributor

Liberty

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I enjoyed it too. Not the best ever, but worth reading, especially if you haven't read all the other accounts of Thorp (if you have, it's still good, but some parts will be less surprising).

  • 3 weeks later...
Guest longinvestor

Guest longinvestor

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Posted

Just finished reading (listening to) the book. Excellent overall. He drives home the point about acting (investing) only when you have an edge. In his case, a mathematical one, which to me underscores a kind of intellectual honesty. Example, asking his wife to deal cards to him countless times to improve his card counting speed! Kind of aligns with the circle of competence idea. With aligned thoughts on many fronts, notably the take down of the EMH, I can see why Munger recommended this book.

 

I especially like the fact that his giving back idea is centered on the Berkshire shares doing well, besides the UC Irvine institution surviving for a very long time! It gave me some ideas for my giving back.

 

Plan to read (listen to) specific portions once again.

  • 1 month later...
tede02 Community Regular

tede02

Posted
Posted

Just finished.  Excellent read.  I'd highly recommend it.  It was particularly interesting reading about the history of quantitative hedge funds.  This is something I knew very little about.  Ed Thorp's life story great in itself.  I think you could make a movie about it.  Pretty amazing that he identified the Madoff fraud almost 20 years before it imploded. 

Hielko Newbie

Hielko

Posted
Posted

I thought the book was okay, not great. The first part of the book with his life story is very interesting, second half of the book where he tries to explain basic investing stuff among others could better have been removed.

Liberty Contributor

Liberty

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  • Author
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The part about the swimming pool was awesome. Great kid. I agree that they should've sticked to the biography only.

 

Some of the latter chapters were of little interest to me, but I can imagine that they'd be a good primer on a few things for a more general audience or investing-beginners, so I don't mind to much. I just skimmed them (realizing that I didn't have to finish books and read every word was a very freeing realization). That's the good interpretation. The bad one is that some editor said: "We need more pages".

  • 4 weeks later...
DooDiligence Mentor

DooDiligence

Posted
Posted

I thought it was great. Maybe there was a few pages that were dull but generally speaking really enjoyed his approach and writing style. I'll try to write an summary in the coming weeks.

 

If u liked this then you'll enjoy notorious' blog post about Brian Gaines at Springhouse Capital.

 

It fits with this conversation.

 

I especially liked

 

“I know concentrated investing is out of style today as some high profile investors have had tough times, but it seems more appropriate than ever to wait for great situations and take oversized positions.”

 

I'm actively waiting.

  • 4 weeks later...
Peregrino Newbie

Peregrino

Posted
Posted

Just finished.  Excellent read.  I'd highly recommend it.  It was particularly interesting reading about the history of quantitative hedge funds.  This is something I knew very little about.  Ed Thorp's life story great in itself.  I think you could make a movie about it.  Pretty amazing that he identified the Madoff fraud almost 20 years before it imploded.

 

The real interesting, and timely, thing about the Madoff story relayed by Thorp is that according to Bloomberg, Madoff is trying to help some former investors by arguing that his fraud started in 1992, so anything they took out of the fund prior to that year was not part of the Ponzi scheme.  (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-23/madoff-clients-fighting-for-fortunes-get-help-from-the-con-man)

 

But if you follow the timeline for when Thorp figured out the fraud, it's 1990.

 

Not surprising that a liar continues to lie - mostly surprising that anyone would take his statements as evidence...

tede02 Community Regular

tede02

Posted
Posted

Just finished.  Excellent read.  I'd highly recommend it.  It was particularly interesting reading about the history of quantitative hedge funds.  This is something I knew very little about.  Ed Thorp's life story great in itself.  I think you could make a movie about it.  Pretty amazing that he identified the Madoff fraud almost 20 years before it imploded.

 

The real interesting, and timely, thing about the Madoff story relayed by Thorp is that according to Bloomberg, Madoff is trying to help some former investors by arguing that his fraud started in 1992, so anything they took out of the fund prior to that year was not part of the Ponzi scheme.  (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-23/madoff-clients-fighting-for-fortunes-get-help-from-the-con-man)

 

But if you follow the timeline for when Thorp figured out the fraud, it's 1990.

 

Not surprising that a liar continues to lie - mostly surprising that anyone would take his statements as evidence...

 

Absolutely.  I wouldn't doubt if the fraud went back long before 1990 even. 

 

Thorp's life story was just great.  Self made, and got it done with no shenanigans.  Plus all the people he encountered throughout his life (the Las Vegas people and east coast guys who funded his gambling venture, Feynman, Buffett, Claude Shannon, Madoff, etc.). 

boilermaker75 Proficient

boilermaker75

Posted
Posted

Just finished.  Excellent read.  I'd highly recommend it.  It was particularly interesting reading about the history of quantitative hedge funds.  This is something I knew very little about.  Ed Thorp's life story great in itself.  I think you could make a movie about it.  Pretty amazing that he identified the Madoff fraud almost 20 years before it imploded.

 

The real interesting, and timely, thing about the Madoff story relayed by Thorp is that according to Bloomberg, Madoff is trying to help some former investors by arguing that his fraud started in 1992, so anything they took out of the fund prior to that year was not part of the Ponzi scheme.  (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-23/madoff-clients-fighting-for-fortunes-get-help-from-the-con-man)

 

But if you follow the timeline for when Thorp figured out the fraud, it's 1990.

 

Not surprising that a liar continues to lie - mostly surprising that anyone would take his statements as evidence...

 

Absolutely.  I wouldn't doubt if the fraud went back long before 1990 even. 

 

Thorp's life story was just great.  Self made, and got it done with no shenanigans.  Plus all the people he encountered throughout his life (the Las Vegas people and east coast guys who funded his gambling venture, Feynman, Buffett, Claude Shannon, Madoff, etc.).

 

There is a book coming out soon on Claude Shannon,

 

https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Play-Shannon-Invented-Information-ebook/dp/B01M5IJN1P/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1499436789&sr=1-1&keywords=claude+shannon

 

Being an EE, I can't wait to read it!

boilermaker75 Proficient

boilermaker75

Posted
Posted

 

That's going on the list, thanks!

 

Liberty,

 

If you have not seen this yet, I thought it would be of interest,

 

http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/history/meet-the-authors-of-a-mind-at-play-how-claude-shannon-invented-the-information-age

 

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