finance and investing

"Essential Lessons for Investment Success" sums up the information presented in this book wonderfully. Playing the stock market is a very tricky business and success is reserved for those who know how to play the game by knowing what to look for. This book along with "How To Make Money in Stocks" completely changed my life by turning mediocre success into wealth in a very short time. O'Neil's books are a must for anyone who is serious about making money in the market.

It is also worh mentioning that while O'Neil's books provide the strategy his paper, Investor's Business Daily, provides the most objective and complete data base available to implement his winning formula. His books go with his daily publication like a hand in a glove to give you the Midas touch and are truly worth their weight in gold. I cannot recommend his books or daily publication too strongly.

Honestly, you should not pick up this book if you are looking for a comprehensive guide to investing. Instead O'neil's "How to Make Money..." is what you should be looking at. Consider this a guide to investing principles as applied to using Investor's Business Daily. If you keep that in mind you'll stay happy reading William O'Neil's latest book. You'll draw out useful nuggets and basic investing principles, but most of all, you'll better understand how basic principles well help you get the most out of IBD.

The book is written in a basic interview approach-- someone probably asked questions and then recorded the answers over a period of years. That makes the volume consise and very easy to read. In fact, you'll barrel through it in no time.

If you are relatively new to IBD, you need to read this. And, if you are a new subscriber you've probably received a copy with your subscription! If you didn't-- with patience, over time you can read through the book as it is reprinted chapter by chapter in the paper itself. O'Neil does this from time to time.

Someone in another review said this book is a giant advertizement for the Daily. No denying that-- but rather than seeing the comment as a criticism, look at it as a worthwhile suggestion. If you are considering getting into investing, I'd strongly recommend Investor's Business Daily as one of your first steps toward starting your learning curve.

And, if the book isn't included with your subscription, then be sure to pick it up at the same time.

I thought it was a great book for someone like me who knew ablsolutely NOTHING about investing in the stock market. I found it while browsing in a book store. Although I bought several books on investing that day, this one is my favorite primarily because of it's readability. One of my favortite features is the bulleted summary at the end of each chapter. Now, I have a basic understanding about how to pick stocks which was exaclty what I was looking for. Although the book discusses fundamental and technical analysis of stocks, I did not find it overly technical.

The day after I completed the book, I went to my local library to take a look at IBD and 'lo and behold' it wasn't Greek to me. "24 Lessons" has opened my eyes to the world of trading stocks which to me was an invaluable lesson.

True, it's not a comprehensive book about the stock market, but no single book can be. I viewed it simply as a place to start. Halfway through the book I had already trained myself not to be irritated by the excessive advertising for IBD because I liked what I was learning.

Bottom line? I guess the value of the book is not what it costs, but how we individually can relate to the information presented. But just to put it in perspective, last month my husband went to a "FREE Seminar" [not by William O'Neil or IBD]on investing in stocks. What did he get?--a REAL sales pitch for "trading" software that cost (get this) only $3,995.00! That's what I would call shameless advertising.