Skillful risk-taking, disciplined money management and the ability to correctly size-up a situation � these are the characteristics of great asset managers.
Plenty of books exist that directly school the reader on proper investment strategy. You can find chapter upon chapter of rules, guidelines and advice. Many are well-known and grace the libraries (or perhaps the Kindles now) in the homes of fine traders, gurus and financial professionals.
Some relevant books, however, fall outside the realm of Wall Street or the merely �financial.� These have little to do with income statements, balance sheets or moving averages, but contain insights about the money game and ways to address it that you don�t find elsewhere. Here are 3 of them:
Positively 5th Street by James McManus (Picador, 2003)
Harpers Magazine sent the highly literate Chicago journalist to the World Series of Poker and, amazingly, out of thousands of eager participants, he ended up at the final table. This book is to Las Vegas what Moby Dick is to whaling. Long, detailed, comprehensive, deep and a riveting exploration of the effects of risk-taking on the psyche. McManus obviously put his life�s blood into this work and it shows. Here�s a sample:
�Much like financial markets, the game is a scary arena in which money management, pluck and intelligence combine to determine who will get hacked limb from limb. Wealth gets created, egos defated, blood spilled. Not for nothing are poker tables shaped like the floor of the Colosseum � the better to concentrate the butchery, the better to observe it up close. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Thumbs-up or thumbs-down on the river.�
My 50 Most Memorable Poker Hands by Doyle Brunson (Cardoza, 2007)
Doyle Brunson wrote this when he was over 70 years old. He clearly and vividly remembers all of the details of his 50 most memorable poker hands, of which many took place when he was still in his 20's. The legendary player is best when describing the reasons he raises or folds � this is the sizing up of situation after situation that market analysts will instantly comprehend. Brunson is a good story teller too, especially when relating his early days of playing in back rooms on the wrong side of Fort Worth. He prose often reminds me of a passage from an Elmore Leonard novel. Here�s a sample:
�Most arguments were over women or drugs. I think this was over a woman. I still have dreams of this incident, the man�s brains splattered over the wall behind the poker game. I never heard of anyone being arrested for the shooting. The police didn�t investigate killings very much on Exchange Avenue.�
Blackbelt In Blackjack by Arnold Snyder (RGE, 1983)
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