Very good book, the author takes you behind the scene of Wall Street and history of the market. He goes over the basics of our economy and the different avenues of investing. This is a must read for anyone who want to start investing but is confused on where to start. I would have given this book 5 stars if he had written down a step by step process to investing. I recommend this book 1st and then read Jim Cramer's Mad Money, he gives the step by step procedures I was looking for in his book.

As a novice to finance, I found this book both educational and entertaining. Highly recommended!

Would have give it 5 stars,except for the fact that they did not return my e-mail, when I had a question

This book helps to understand how the shares market works and its history.

I think it may interest all people who wants to improve his knowleadge in

investing.

The book is otherwise fabulous, but you should steer clear of the Kindle version. The Kindle handles charts poorly, and this book has a lot of them. Some are manageable, but many others contain small text that is so blurry that it might as well be written in Arabic. Quite honestly, it is not entirely clear to me how Amazon gets away with selling this item. The Kindle is great, but Amazon absolutely should not sell books that cannot actually be read on it.

This is great to have in your library to know the intimate working of the various markets and how they came to be. You can't invest in something wisely without knowing how it works!

Fantastic Book - full of common sense and ultmate truths. Read it in October 2007 when it was screaming at me "the market is in a bubble, get out!!" - unfortunately I listened but didnt act. Great book

This book lives up to its classic billing by delivering a rich array of data to support the authors arguments in an engrossing and entertaining style. The importance of really understanding the relevance of randomness to market action cannot be overemphasized. I truly appreciate the clarity and simplicity that this book has brought to my investing efforts.

Deep investing instruction. Not for the novice. Great peeks inside the inner workings of Wall Street; covers historical reviews of the efficiencies of the markets, as well as the glaring problems investors failed to recognize and had to endure; reviews of investment bubbles and manias. Some great technical and fundemental analysis offered.

What I took out of it was one section that happened to be what we all work on. Focus on how to break out of the same trading bad habits, and mastering a successful formula through time tested techniques (stop losses, selling in pieces, quickly reducing positions and re-evaluating losing positions, scaling into strong positions. You name it.

i'm a beginner in the field of personal investment and have been looking for a book to help me understand the basics of investment. i have found that in 'random walk'. it's fun to read as well as a well researched book. i am hoping it'll help me make some money :).

Good book for the average person with little time or interest in trading or investing. For those people the book makes sense. However, there are traders as found the book Market Wizards or those who use trading programs such RMC Q Trader that will beat the market.

A book that leaves a lasting impression, and changes your mind, forever, about how to invest for the long run.

The first half of the book goes through the basic of index funds, then moves onto the current views of how people try to make money in the market, from the straightforward approaches to some really weird ideas that people have. Malkiel goes through each of them, using mathematics and psychology to explain which do and which don't hold any water - and what the chances are of *predictably* and *consistently* producing returns that *beat the market average* for each of those techniques.

The only downside (from my perspective) is that the book is aimed at a US-centric audience - which means it automatically rules out the larger part of the reading audience... as this book would otherwise be perfect for the entire world.
However, I strongly believe there are enough useful chunks of information that it's well worth buying, even for the European and Aussie markets.

I never thought I'd have the time or knowledge to be able to beat the average broker at the market, but I'd always thought there was more room to move than this. Seems that my best bet is also the easiest!
Index funds for me from now on!

It's amazing how the 35+ years since the first edition have consistently proved Malkiel correct. I would recommend this book to anyone new to the U.S. workforce who finds him- or herself faced with deciding what to do about a new employer's 401(k) offering.

In the U.S. today, since the responsibility for a secure retirement rests almost solely on the individual, it is crucial to make the right decisions early on, lest you cost yourself a great deal of money in the future. It is also next to impossible to do so, as our society does a woefully inadequate job of preparing us for these decisions.

Previous generations could rely on defined benfit plans and Social Security, so while we can turn to our parents for advice in many things, this is one area they never had to know much about. While I took an excellent personal finance course in college, we did not talk much, if at all, about retirment savings. Our consumption-oriented society does little to encourage prudent money management. Finally, if there is a more difficult mental activity than considering one's retirement at age 21, I would like to know what it is.

Not too many of us consider ourselves investors at 21, yet once we sign up for that 401(k) plan, we absolutely are. Malkiel uncomplicates what can be a complicated and intimidating world for those unfamiliar with it, and give clear, rational advice in an entertaining writing style. I wish I had picked up this book when I first enrolled in a 401(k) plan back in 1994; I would undoubtedly have more money in my account than I do now.

If you know someone about to finish school and enter the workforce, I cannot think of a better gift to give. If you yourself are confused by the choices offered in your company's retirment plan, I would say that the money you invest (yes, invest) in this book will enjoy an exponential return. Rather than an absurd, get-rich-quick scheme, you will find an easy-to-understand, rational guide to building wealth slowly and deliberately.

Happy investing to us all!

In a nutshell Malkiel's advice is to own your own home, buy no-load index funds (equities and bonds), buy international index funds, and mix your investments according to your age. You should also have medical and plain term life insurance, and cash on hand for a few months in case of an emergency. This book is a complete course in how to manage your money effectively, whether you're a millionaire or a low-income earner. It also gently but firmly chastises proponents of get-rich-quick schemes such as day traders.

First, the book explains what is financial risk, and points out that everything is risky, even insured savings accounts since inflation can destroy the value of cash. Malkiel describes just how risky various investments are, and how the risk is one investment is often offset by the risk in another. Second, Malkiel describes a variety of specific investments (e.g. no load index funds, your own home, individual stocks) and suggests how individual investors should mix them, depending on their personal circumstances. For instance, an ambitious young woman in her twenties can consider aggressive high-risk high-growth funds. If they boom, she's rich, if they bust she's young enough to recover her losses through income. This would not be true of a middle-aged couple about to pay for their children's college years.

This edition is updated with a whole section on the internet bubble and other scandals. However, it maintains the same principle as all other editions; and Malkiel's advice remains that we should diversify broadly.

"A Random Walk Down Wall Street" should be in every family's library.

Vincent Poirier, Dublin

This is a clear, concise guide for the novice investor. It is easy to read as well as entertaining. It is full of information of the pitfalls
and opportunties of investing.

This book was a gift for the man interested in investments!
He loves it!