Amazing to read, how differently managers actually approach what is basically the same job: Make money in capital markets. One cannot live without stop loss limits, while another dislikes them a lot. One is riding trends, another one is contrarian. one loves to read research and newspapers, and travel, another one finds none of that of any use. But all of them claim to be successful. How comes? I'm just halfway through, and have a couple of hypothesis. Keen to see, which can be tested and falsified in the course of the second half.
Good inspiring read anyway for all with some knowledge of capital markets.

As a professional in the ETF business I highly recommend this book. After I read this book I gave it to my son as he recently graduated college and is planning a career on Wall Street-- It's that kind of book. Steven is well connected in the Hedge Fund world and this book is a testament to that. If you buy it to just read Jim Rogers section - your money will be well spent.

I am the trader who is managing EZ Stock Options . com. I have been researching, developing, backtesting, and improving winning trading strategies for the past 7 years. This book has no useful information for investors. It is just talking about how in general (no details at all about strategies) he has made money for Yale University by managing their fund. Don't waste your money and more importantly your time on this book.

Judging by the reviews here, you would think that you are buying the next great book in the mould of the 'Market Wizards' series by Jack Schwager. But, trust me, you will be sorely disappointed.

Drobny is a good writer and does ask some good questions of his subjects. But this is definitely NOT a collection of 'top hedge fund managers' or a collection of some of the 'greatest minds in global macro investing'. In fact some, like Andreas Drobny and Sushil Wadhwani are not even hedge managers. They are just academics and central bankers, in the author's own words.

Read it if you have been through most of the other good books out there and there are no other choices. The interviews with Jim Rogers (as always), Jim Leitner and Scott Bessent are entertaining. But there is nothing exceptional or eye-opening about any of these interviews. There is no shortage of hedge fund superstars in London or New York, so it would have been nice if Drobny had gotten access to some of them.

In short, there is more hype than warranted with this book. Get it from a library if you can!

MY RATING SYSTEM:

* - if you have to chose between torture and reading this book, then you might want to consider reading the book - although it depends on just how severe the torture would be.

** - if you've lost your job and have quite a bit of free time on your hands, and don't have anything else better to do, then you might want to consider reading this book; don't expect to learn much or really be entertained. It will however, help you pass the time until your death.

*** - meh...I'm indifferent. Reading this book will not alter your life in any significant way, yet it is not so horrendously dreadful that your taking the time to read it will be a complete waste of time.

**** - Good book to great book zone here. You should probably read this book if you have some spare time. This book could be interesting, entertaining, or informative.

***** - Outstanding book! Make time to read this book - you'll learn or be entertained or intrigued. The book might even be good enough to provide original or helpful insights into the world that we live in.

REVIEW:

Overall, while I found Inside the House of Money to be, at times, an interesting and engaging read, I did find that my perception of the value or interest of each of the interviews varied greatly throughout the book. I have not read the Market Wizards series or any of the other trader interview books that some other reviewers have mentioned as being superior to this book, so I can't really compare.

For me, the highlight of the book was quite likely the interview with Jim Leitner, with the interviews with Jim Rogers, Dwight Anderson and Scott Bessent also catching my interest. These interviews seemed to be more transparent in their discussions, more accessible, and more thought provoking than some of the others.

Generally, each of the interviews tends to hit on a few main areas: (a) how their careers developed and how they got into the industry; (b) that their main strategy is and some examples of good and bad trades they made; (c) some discussion of how they obtain/analyze information; (d) risk management/portfolio construction; (e) general views on the markets and areas they like/don't like; and (f) their thoughts on global macro as a strategy. There are a variety of different perspectives presented throughout the book, and while a couple of the interviews contained some basic technical finance lingo, most of the interviews should be easily understandable by readers with an understanding of economics and financial markets. Where is jargon, the author does a good job on including explanation boxes that clarify key terms and events to provide the reader with some background that helps clarify or put the interviewee's comments in context.

One of the interesting things that I picked up throughout the book is that there are a variety of different styles and techniques that are employed by these traders, and all are able to employ them in a way that achieves success. For example, some of the traders get research from investment banking research and sales groups while others avoid it. Some traders like to take vacations to clear their heads, others don't. Some traders find it valuable to visit the markets they are considering investing in, others find that doing so might make you more subject to making decisions based on anecdotal evidence.

I also enjoyed a couple tidbits that I picked up along the way. One trader mentioned the idea that being right at the wrong time is still being wrong. Also, the discussions of cost/benefit of managing money for others once you've established your skills and have accumulated enough of your own capital that you can trade for your own account.

In conclusion, I found the book interesting, but not captivating. I would have liked to have had more consistency in interview quality (some of the interviews didn't really seem to be that thought provoking or communicate that much of value to me). A decent read, but I'll take a look at some of the other trader books before I consider increasing my rating.

Drobny provides a broad overview of global macro investing through these diverse interviews of participants. Their diverse time frames (daily trades versus multi-year, and everything inbetween) instruments (equities, debt, currencies, domestic, international) and employers (banks, hedge funds, family home offices) demonstrate the breadth that is global macro. The book provides a great introduction to "What is this fuss about global macro investing all about?" as well as various insights into "How's it changing?" and "Is it getting too crowded?"

The market insights are particularly relevant as many of the investors foresaw the 2007 market challenges. The Jim Rogers interview is especially relevant, given his recent resurgence.

Definitely a great overview. Enjoy!

Read "Inside the House" over the holidays and couldn't put it down. Excellent insight on how the "big guys" play the global markets. I highly recommend it to those that want to learn more about hedge funds, macro-trading, market psychology, etc.

This fascinating book will take you into the world of current global macro investing. Steven Drobny interviews 13 successful traders, analysts and fund managers who participate in global macro investing in many different ways. Although some of the discussions are technical (but never mathematical), they are readable and easy to understand. Drobny also provides some information on the origins and early years of global macroeconomic investing, from John Keynes to George Soros. He talks to his interviewees about their backgrounds and asks their investment advice. His question-and-answer approach keeps things moving. We enjoyed Drobny's descriptions of the people he interviewed, though the interview-style format leads to somewhat choppy data. This book is surprisingly fun for what could have become a very dense, technical tome in less skilled hands.

This is a terrific book about how 13 investors use global macroeconomics in their work. The shorthand term is global macro. Since the field is pretty much undefined and can include investments of any time anywhere in the world, it is hard to define what exactly it is. In fact, the book isn't about Steven Drobny telling you about what he thinks it is. Instead, the chapters are question and answers with each of these practitioners of this technique.

The first few chapters offer some context and history of global macro investing. The earliest people doing it were probably John Maynard Keynes and Alfred Winlow Jones. Drobny takes us through the key macroeconomic crises of the past several decades and offers a few thoughts about the future.

The people he interviews are Jim Leitner of Falcon Management, Siva-Jothy of SemperMacro, the author's partner, but no relation - Andres Droby, Dr. John Proter of Barclays Capital, Dr. Sushil Wadhwani of Wadhwani Asset Management, Peter Thiel of Clarium Capital, Yra Harris of Praxis Trading, Jim Rogers, Dwight Anderson of Ospraie Management, Scott Bessent Capital, Mark Dimitrijevic of Everest Capital, Rob Standing of London Diversified Fund Management, and an anonymous currency specialist.

All of these folks look for people who are motivated, and have a passion and talent for math, economics, history, and have a demonstrated aptitude for training. You will notice that many have doctorates, but not all. Some learned the trade by trading, all were captivated by the process soon after they first came in contact with it.

I found the range of investments and their thoughts about the global economy fascinating. This is a very interesting book, especially so if you are interested in markets and trading. Their generally gloomy view of the future of the American economy is quite disturbing, though.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI.

I love to have extended conversations with experts. I feed off their enthusiasm and expertise. These conversations are even more exciting to me, when the person with whom I am speaking is an expert in a field I love.

With only one lowly exception, Steven Drobny has written a winner for me. By interviewing as assembling the edited transcripts of his conversations in his book, Inside the House of Money, Drobny opened a gateway into the thinking and experiences of 13 successful Global Macro investors.

Although many have the reputations as being secretive and reluctant to discuss their market approaches, the author gives the reader a glimpse of the thinking that goes into placing a multi-million trade on currencies, economies and securities.

Drobny is uniquely qualified to do these interviews. As a partner in an international macroeconomic research and advisory firm, he brings a seasoned professional's insight to the interviews. Key historical events that shaped the experiences of these traders are explored. Nuances of the current crowded markets are discussed intelligently. As a result, the reader gains precious insights into the subtleties of running a Global Macro Hedge Fund.

There is only one problem with the book. I found myself wanting more from the interviewees. Drobny gave me access to people with whom I would never have the opportunity to speak. What I read was great, but I wanted more. But then again, I trade like that.

I found very interesting and rich of insights.
It's very useful in understanding hedge fund manager's approach to the markets.

The book kept my interest and was very informative. Some of the interviews were excellent. I say some, because those that trade closer to my style are obviously more interesting for me. but theres plenty here for everyone.

I liked the interviews of so many different styles because it just proves my personal theory that anyone can make money. Every trader in the book trades differently and they still all make money.

I also like the comments from many of these traders that said that we were heading for a sub-prime meltdown and that the banks would be having problems. This was written more than a year ago, and thats exactly whats happening today. Dow is now down 8.6% off the high it made last month. The volatility is crazy. And these guys predicted it long ago. Lots of good insight from their interviews.

The book is a series of interviews with well known hedge naagers using the global macro style. It uses a lot of advanced concepts and loads of street jargon, which the author seldom makes any attempt to explain. So if you know what a short gamma trade is the book is great otherwise find something lighter.

The preponderance of enthusiastic reviews for this book is very surprising to me. Frankly, I thought there were two chapters in the entire book that provided any type of meaningful insight - the pieces on Jim Leitner and Scott Bessent are really quite excellent - the jim rogers piece is also entertaining as always. The piece on Leitner may make the entire book worth buying. Otherwise, I think Drobny has assembled a collection of pretty dull and not particularly inspired commentary on the markets and trading from a group of investors of inconsistent quality.

Frankly, the number of positive reviews on the book and the fairly cookie cutter nature of many of them makes me awfully suspicious - I'm giving it 1 star to try to even this out a little (probably deserves a 3). This book isn't bad, but it's far from excellent, and clearly inferior to other books in the genre.

If you've read any of the Market Wizards or Money Masters books and have thought about investing in any level of depth, I think you will find this book pretty dissapointing. Mkt Wizards and Money Masters are drastically superior to this collection both in terms of the quality of the insight and commentary and the quality of investors surveyed.

The book should have come between May 8th and May 17th but I am still waiting for it.

If you are into markets, you are going to love this book. It provides great insight in great macro traders passion for the markets. I would say the book is much more interesting if you are into fixed income, currency and commidities trading rather than global equities.

Steven asks the same kind of questions I would have liked to ask if I were to meet these people.

I've probably re-read a couple of the interviews 4-5 times.

This book was categorically outstanding. In the course of reading I had occasion to e-mail the author and found him to be exceedingly helpful and courteous as well.

I noticed that the only negative reviews were cases where the reader apparently didn't understand (or desire) the book's format, which is a compendium of interviews with global macro hedge fund managers. Another caveat is that this book is NOT about how to get rich if you have little or no investable assets. Rather, the book offers great insights on investment opportunities and risks for those who do have funds to invest or who are just curious about the marketplace. For people like me whose full-time job is to manage their own financial assets, this book is simply invaluable.

If you ever wondered what the smart money is really thinking, or what drives their investment decisions, here's your chance to find out in the form of candid, frank interviews with the field's most reputatble players.

This book was categorically outstanding. In the course of reading I had occasion to e-mail the author and found him to be exceedingly helpful and courteous as well.

I noticed that the only negative reviews were cases where the reader apparently didn't understand (or desire) the book's format, which is a compendium of interviews with global macro hedge fund managers. Another caveat is that this book is NOT about how to get rich if you have little or no investable assets. Rather, the book offers great insights on investment opportunities and risks for those who do have funds to invest or who are just curious about the marketplace. For people like me whose full-time job is to manage their own financial assets, this book is simply invaluable.

If you ever wondered what the smart money is really thinking, or what drives their investment decisions, here's your chance to find out in the form of candid, frank interviews with the field's most reputatble players.

One of the things money can't always buy is access to the great minds. Lets say you want have an 1 on 1 with Jim Rogers(the co-pioneer of the Hedge Funds concept). Will you be able to do it? Maybe ... maybe not. And if we expand the problem to 10+ top Hedge Fund minds ... the problem becomes even more challenging. However, instead if we find someone who has access to all these folks and can proxy for you? Won't that be neat? That is exactly what Steven Drobny has done in this book. He has been able to rein in some of the greatest & successful minds in the Hedge Funds arena and ask them interesting & revealing questions relating to their trading strategy, best trades, worst trades and the other lessons they learnt from their failures/successes.

As expected, this book is written in Q&A format. The author has done an excellent job of organizing and laying out the book which moves in gradual progression. The responses from the folks are equally simple and straight forward without the use of complicated financial language(except the overuse of long/short gamma/alpha) or financial models. In my opinion, the most interesting and revealing question/responses were the one relating to the biggest mistakes and the lessons learned from them. I would highly recommend reading the responses from the various folks on this particular question. It will be worth a lot.

Some of the key insights/views I found interesting ...

* Just being right does not matter. Being right at the right time does.
* Be fluid in your decisions. As fact changes, change your views too.
* If you make agressive bets, then make sure that you defend your investment with good hedging strategy.
* Cut your losses. Ride your winners.

It definitely is a must read ...

-Sachin

One of the things money can't always buy is access to the great minds. Lets say you want have an 1 on 1 with Jim Rogers(the co-pioneer of the Hedge Funds concept). Will you be able to do it? Maybe ... maybe not. And if we expand the problem to 10+ top Hedge Fund minds ... the problem becomes even more challenging. However, instead if we find someone who has access to all these folks and can proxy for you? Won't that be neat? That is exactly what Steven Drobny has done in this book. He has been able to rein in some of the greatest & successful minds in the Hedge Funds arena and ask them interesting & revealing questions relating to their trading strategy, best trades, worst trades and the other lessons they learnt from their failures/successes.

As expected, this book is written in Q&A format. The author has done an excellent job of organizing and laying out the book which moves in gradual progression. The responses from the folks are equally simple and straight forward without the use of complicated financial language(except the overuse of long/short gamma/alpha) or financial models. In my opinion, the most interesting and revealing question/responses were the one relating to the biggest mistakes and the lessons learned from them. I would highly recommend reading the responses from the various folks on this particular question. It will be worth a lot.

Some of the key insights/views I found interesting ...

* Just being right does not matter. Being right at the right time does.
* Be fluid in your decisions. As fact changes, change your views too.
* If you make agressive bets, then make sure that you defend your investment with good hedging strategy.
* Cut your losses. Ride your winners.

It definitely is a must read ...

-Sachin

If you just don't know where to begin with the hedge fund phenominon, start with this book. It is a very good 101 course, combined with the specific approaches of some brilliant investment minds.

I also find this book illuminating in terms of investment approaches, and strategies to manage risk. In that way, it very much reminds me of the New Market Wizards, as mentioned in other reviews. So for that reason, I do in fact think that reading this book closely can improve your investment acumen. Global Macro is not a strategy for only the big boys, and many of the trades they discuss are really not overly complex.

If you are interested for general knowledge of investment trends, or to specifically sharpen your investment skills, this book is a worthwhile and entertaining source of information.

Easily one of the best in the money manager Q&A genre: super selection of managers (good focus on different asset classes and variety of management philosophies; managers are also ones that have demonstrated long staying power, not simply ones that have had a stellar handful of years), questions that are on-point (from questions about general themes to specific trades), occasional sidebars/explanations that neither belabor nor condescend. Should someday be considered a classic.

waste of money and time. if yoa are interested in q. like "how did you become a property trader" buy the book. If on the other hand you are interested in "why the markedd is behaving like it does", "how to be a better trader" find another book. This book is one of the most usless books I have ever read.

I became a millionaire at 23, and there is only one way to do it. to think the information in this book will make you money is to be severely deluded. go on, buy it, and you will be lucky to be earning a brass razoo more a year from now. books like Why We Want You To Be RIch by Trump and God Doesn't Run a $2 Shop by Sage Saint Francis are much more useful than this dreck. This guy is making a buck, the people that read it ain't. Wake up people!

For anyone who has read the Market Wizards you know what to expect as this book is written with the same kind of format. It is a series of interviews with a number of people who I must admit I had never heard of before. Not that that means anything.

There are a total of 13 interviews dealing mainly with the subject of Global Macroeconomics. It is 349 pages long that will go by relatively quick. The first chapter is an introduction to Global Macro Hedge Funds and chapter 2 and 3 deal with it's history and future. Chapter 4 starts the interviews with Jim Leitner. Then Christian Silva-Jothy, Dr. Andres Drobny, Dr. John Porter, Dr. Sushil Wadhwani, Peter Thiel, Yra Harris, Jim Rogers, Dwight Anderson, Scott Bessent, Marko Dimitrijevic, David Gorton with Rob Stading and finally in chapter 16 an anonymous currency trader.

I found it interesting reading and learned a few things in the process. It was interesting to me that a number of these guys said the Economist was one of the most important magazines that they read. I thought the best interview was of Jim Rogers who is always very insightful and entertaining. There are all kinds of interesting tidbits throughout the interviews along with some great trading stories. I think most people who are interested in finances will enjoy reading this book and glean some useful information along the way.

Very well written, interesting and easy to read, this book is a wonderful piece of knowledge from people who is "in the market". Recomended for every one involved in managing money.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Inside the House of
Money is an amalgam of perspectives from about twenty of the world's most
successful "global macro" hedge fund players in the vein of similar books
like Barton Biggs' Hedgehogging, Schwager's Market Wizards, or Elder's
Entries and Exits. The players range from home office hedge fund managers
to chief treasurers of Barclay's to reknown bow-tie wearing commodity
market demagogues. New Jersey's governor (a Goldman Sachs alumnus) even
makes an brief appearance in this book.

Of course none of these folks are like us, as inside the House of Money
they deal in highly leveraged $100 billion positions in esoteric financial
exotica like swaptions and steepeners. Readers whose experience may be
limited to discount brokerage stockpicking will quickly find theselves
submerged by the quasifantastic instruments hedge fund players flip
almost effortlessly. Drobny sometimes eases the impact with explanatory
side bars, and price graphs illustrate many good (and bad) market bets.
Nonetheless, feeling a certain amount of disorientation when first
entering the House is only to be expected.

When these trades go wrong, they are Oh So wrong, as revealed in many
personal reflections throughout the book. Yet given their failings they
have managed to survive global macro, and that much makes them remarkable.
We hear in the news with alarmingly increasing frequency of one fund after
another "blowing up," and reading Drobny's interviews with Wall Street's
elites you can see how nothing more than plain human pride, hubris, and
an unwillingness to recognize one's mistakes is to blame. For every
successful trader, there are countless mere mortals who must fall by
the wayside into ruin.

A subplot throughout the book, if not the author's stated goal, is to
answer the question "What is global macro?" When every story has been
told, you can rule out domestic investment and microeconomic analysis,
and in those leftovers that make the banquet look like only an appetizer
is a wide world of different kinds of investments which let hedgies do
nearly whatever they please.

The book is best regarded for retelling the financial history from
the collapse of Bretton Woods in the seventies to the Asian currency
crisis of the late nineties. The introductory chapter concisely hits
on a number of financial events that shaped the success of some, and the
losses of many. These events (and others like them) recur continuously
in Drobny's successive interviews with participants who traded them and
lived to tell about it. We see periods of low volatility regularly
awaken with a tectonic upheaval, and therein we glimpse tomorrow's dangers
and opportunities. Drobny calls on Dr. R. Lee Thomas III to conclude the
book with a short qualitative discussion into the probability of making
multiple independent bets, the classic "hedging" theory that reduces
risk.

Readable and contemporary, Inside the House of Money should grace your
nightstand (or bustling train commute into the city) before you think of
entering into a yen carry trade, going short volatility by selling
options, or just planning for your retirement. It's wisdom and
experience shall prove invaluable when the next economic dislocation
unwinds before us -- is it your opportunity, or your ruin?

I could hardly believe that it would have taken that long for the creation of another great interview type of trading book of the superb standard set by Market Wizards (1989), and The New Market Wizards (1992). Any further recommendation of mine will be nonsense. Get one and start reading it immediately.

As usual, please find some of my favorite passages for your reference.

Once we realize that imperfect understanding is human condition, there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes. - George Soros

The best compliment anyone's paid me over the years was when one of my traders said, "I can never tell whether you've had a bad day or a good day". ...I've seen people get very stressed, and if you're stressed, you cant do this job effectively. - Christian Siva-Jothy, SemperMacro

When things go badly for reasons you don't understand or for reasons that you understand but that aren't the reasons that you initially got into the trade, you really should cut the trade ASAP. - Dr. John Porter, Barclays Capital

One of the key things I learned from Paul Tudor Jones was that good defense is paramount. That's something he drilled into you. Another one of the key lessons from Paul was intellectual flexibility. However strongly you believe in something and however coherent the case is, you need to be 1) willing to accept that you might be wrong, and 2) able to take the position off even though you may not be wrong in a medium term sense.
- Dr Sushil Wadhwani Former BOE Policy Committee Member

90% of my time is figuring out what I'm doing wrong...You can be right, but your timing can be totally wrong.....We are here to plagiarize the best ideas we can and we'll take them from any source.
- Dwight Anderson, Ospraie Management

In a low volatility, low return environment, people mistake low volatility for low risk. We're setting for another perfect storm and it's going to be because we haven't had much movement and everyone is leveraging to get returns. What's different now is it's at every single level.....One of the things I learned from Stan Druckenmiller is how to enter a trade. The great thing about Stan is that he can be wrong but he rarely loses money because his entry point is so good. He has an incredible constitution. So I try to make sure that my entry point is good enough that I rarely stop myself out of a trade. Profit targets change with more information. I have a plan that "If this happens, I'll sit with it; it that happens, I'll buy more," and so on. I visualize what might happen and what would get me out, what would make me buy more, what will keep me in.
- Soctt Bessent, Bessent Capital

p.s. Copied from my Jan 2001 review of Market Wizards on Amazon: "However, I must warn you on this: Dont be too carried away by the rosy pictures of these top guns and try to copy a bit from each of them to form your own strategy. Instead, know yourself well and develop your own. Otherwise, you will become the footstool of these market wizards."

I love this book. I've been trading personally for just under a year and have been getting creamed. I know why now. This book interviews several of the best traders in the world. They all have different styles, and investment vehicles, commoditites, currency, bonds, equities. Yet whatever the vehicle they all seem to drive on the same steet. There are lessons to be learned throughout your trading/investing life, they are all here.

Great writing, great questions, even better answers. A great read, right up there with "Good to Great"

In a series of 'interviews', the book talks about "macro" investing from the viewpoint of a few relatively well-known managers. The reader should essentially be ready to use the book as a framework for his or her own critical thinking on what the "next big thing(s)" could be in the investing realm. While the points made by the interviewees often jump out of the book, the format of the interview and presentation leaves an incomplete picture. Given that most questions asked to the different managers were similar, it would have served the reader much better if the book was organized thematically and not as a series of disjoint/stand-alone interviews (typically, that is a magazine format?). Other than that, the reader will be able to pick up some interesting observations on risk management, asset allocation, information gathering and analysis and behavioral aspects of trading. Overall, a decent addition to the library. The reader shouldn't expect any hand-holding, though.

This book comes a welcomed addition to the burgeoning literature on hedge fund trading stratagems for the professional/informed layman. Each interview appears carefully selected to demonstrate the wide variety of professional backgrounds of the individuals working in the industry, as well as the ways in which each has attempted to add alpha to assets under management.
Among the highlights are Jim Leitner's approach to asset allocation; John Porter's reliance on behavioral finance to divine the direction of the markets; and Jim Roger's now well-known remarks on commodities, the US dollar, and Asia.
What many of those interviewed look for in new recruits (traders) is also instructive, and underscores the importance of humility, hard-work, and the necessity of being capable of generating new trading ideas. On the latter it was significant to read that many of the managers reviewed read rather widely, including such publications as The Economist and the International Country Risk Guide.
For those wishing to catch a partial glimpse of this increasingly less secretive industry, or those simply loking to pick up a tip or two on becoming a better investor, the book is well worth the price.

The book truly interviews the best out there!

Well written + fun to read = you can finish it in one session and want more.

Other reviewers have noted this book's deserving place in the tradition of Schwager's great Market Wizards books - so I risk redundancy. It's an important point to make, nonetheless. A wise man (someone named Buffett, I believe) once said, "If you want to succeed, it's common sense to study success" - and this is the great strength of the interview-and-commentary format that Drobny adopts from the Market Wizards books.

Another wise man (Gerald Loeb) once said, "Nothing is more difficult, I truly believe, than consistently and fairly profiting in Wall Street" - and that is why the Market Wizards books, and now INSIDE THE HOUSE OF MONEY, should be at the top of any serious trader/investor's reading list. The interview-and-commentary format avoids the credibility gap that plagues so many trading books: If the author is so smart, why is he spending time writing books when he could be trading instead? If the author's methods are so effective, why is he telling everyone about them in a book - the surest way to nullify any effectiveness the methods might have?

Drobny's interview subjects are guys who have *made it*. They are the success stories in this most difficult and fascinating endeavor. The interviews, packed with pithy wisdom and surprising candidness about specific trading strategies, provide windows into their minds - and readers have the great fortune to peer in for 25-30 pages each.

Global macro is the most intriguing of investment strategies. It is, quite simply, everything. Equities, fixed income, currencies, and commodities; long or short; directional or relative value; foreign or domestic - wherever opportunities exist. The masters of global macro are the biggest thinkers in the business, and their insights will benefit even those who inhabit more specialized niches in the markets.

Finally, pick this book up sooner rather than later. Drobny elicits ample commentary on the current state of the markets (as of mid-2005), which should serve investors well over the next few years.

One of the Soros alums, and one of the more intriguing of the interview subjects here, is Scott Bessent, Bessent Capital, New York. Mr. Bessent was with Mr. Soros in 1992 when he famously `beat the Bank of England' and he gives his take on that here.

Mr. Bessent recounts that he made an analytical contribution via a study of the United Kingdom's housing and property market. He found that about 90% of mortgages in the UK at the time were linked to the overnight rate, so that if the Bank of England raised rates on Wednesday, mortgages were up on Friday.

As the Soros team pushed the central bank "up against the trading band" stipulated by the European Rate Mechanism, the bank had to raise interest rates to defend the currency, and that meant the average homeowner's mortgage payments went up. The connection helped make a prolonged defense of the pound politically impossible, and of course the huge position Soros had taken paid off handsomely.

Mr. Bessent gives the officials of the U.K., especially Chancellor Norman Lamont and Prime Minister Major, credit for folding when they did, which was for the long-term good of the country. "I mean, look at the muddle France and Germany are still in," he says. Predictably, given that sentiment, he has an unflattering view of officials of the European Central Bank, "a bunch of clueless college professors," each elevating a different peripheral concern to an undeservedly pivotal position. Oddly, though, Mr. Bessent said that he's long the euro, but only because the U.S. dollar is in such a "predicament" as to make the euro worthwhile despite the incompetence of its trustees.

Another interviewee here, Yra Harris, also has a take on Mr. Soros and the events of 1992. Mr. Harris has been a floor trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange since 1977, which might explain, Mr. Drobny writes, "why he looks slightly older than his years." One aging experience came about in 1989. Mr. Harris, confident that Great Britain was about to enter the European Monetary System at about 2.70 deutsche marks per pound, because anything higher would be irrational, took a position accordingly.

Prime Minister Thatcher didn't agree with him, but evidently the markets did. She announced that Great Britain was joining at 2.95 DM per pound. In reaction, the market took the pound's value right through the 2.95 level, all the way to 3.06.

"My sister Joyce was working for me at the time. ...As the cross rate got there [to 2.95] she didn't waver," and got them out of that position, at a sizeable loss but one that was a good deal smaller than it might have been. "Had she waited just 10 minutes, it would have cost me a lot more."

The government's decision, three years later, to pull out of the ERM strikes Mr. Harris as a vindication of his original view that the ratio should have been about 1:2.70 at the start. "They should build a statue of George Soros in Trafalgar Square."

All in all, this is a very stimulating book, combining anecdotes and insights well.

An easy to read, yet mind challenging book lifting the reader's view across borders and outside the boundary of routine. Don't expect to zero in on a magic formula. Expect to be smarter after digesting the deeper messages. A recommender for those who are serious in making money work one way or the other.

When this book first came out, many assumed it was a book by Ron Suskind, the author who wrote the book, The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill . I think a few thought this book was about politics. The title (Inside the House of Money) seems to lead to that conclusion. The book features interview with traders who trade all kinds of financial instruments going well beyond stocks and trade globally. In the past, only few individuals like George Soros or Jim Rogers had the clout to do that. The book offers a unique perspective about where the future is heading--a US Dollar that will continue to lose value, the rise of China, India, and a huge demand for commodities. I happen to pick the book up before it was written about in Barron's and Active Trader. The interview with Jim Rogers is worth the price the book. The interviewees offer a candid view of the interviewee's perspective and offer a variety of tips. It appears that everyone reads The Economist and The Financial Times. Warren Buffet does. Financial markets are much more global now and accessible. In some ways, the book is like a suspense story or more like a horror story. The author, Mr. Drobny, has done a great job putting this book together by choosing great interviewees and offering some perspective.

Hedge fund managers are increasingly on top of the world. They can move money around the globe quickly. They can borrow many times more capital to play. These guys are bold and greedy. This book is superb in telling their stories. Great read.

One untold story is that these fund managers are said to partly cause the Asia Financial Crisis of 1997-8. Basically, some of them shorted the emerging markets in many Asian nations and regions. They made a kill over the crash. Also, they are active in taping into emerging but weak markets like China and India, which is told by another book: China's global reach: markets, multinationals, and globalization, which offers very interesting insights on the role of the foreign multinationals and investors in these late developers.

If you manage money or trade for a living, this book is AWESOME. In fact, I'd say it's in the same class as 'The Money Game,' 'Market Wizards,'and 'When Genius Failed.' Why do I like it so much? The guys interviewed in it are totally real. They understand that the money-making business is an iterative process, and they generally have nothing to hide. You'll see that the Big Dogs play by the same rules we all do. Have a 'favorite idea,' risk 1 to make 10, if you don't have a great reason to be short gamma then don't be short gamma... Enough said.

While working on the book Steven, the author, learned and shares with the reader through a series of interviews, "how the best minds in the business think about risk, portfolio construction, history, politics, central bankers, globalization, trading, competition, investors, hiring, the evolution of the hedge fund business and a variety of other details."

The book provides an inside look at the thoughts and actions of many great financial minds. For example did you know that Maynard Keynes (the father of modern macroeconomic theory) was completely wiped out by a margin call during the commodity slump of 1929 or that George Soros's Quantum Fund averaged over 30% for it's 31 ½ years existence and that $100,000 invested in the fund at inception was worth $420 million 31 ½ years later.

Jim Leitner of Falcon Management who claims to have taken $2 billion out of the market so far in his career says he "reads a tremendous amount of books and papers" and feels, "developing a network by going out and meeting groups of intelligent people is very important". He also recommends reading the Economist. Jim says, "The Economist had something on Nigeria, stating the average beer consumption had dropped from 34 liters to 3 and then rebounded to 4. That signaled to me that there must be a trade there. There is something going on when beer consumption drops 90% in a hot country and then starts to rebound. We started buying Guinness of Nigeria and its gone straight up over the last 3 years".

Peter Thiel, the former CEO and co-founder of PayPal who runs Clarium Capital Management was given this advice from a major venture capital partner when asking about the industry, "The best way to get into venture capital is to make at least $20 million by starting a company and selling it. Take that money and invest in other companies as a VC." He would give the same advice today.

Then there is Jim Rogers, the co-founder of the Quantum fund in 1969, and author of, Investment Biker, Adventures in Capitalism and Hot Commodities, who lives in a Victorian mansion overlooking the Hudson River on the Upper West Side of NY that he bought for $105,000 and is worth $15 million today. He's so hot on commodities he says, "one day lumberjacks and farmers may be on the cover of Fortune magazine" and thinks in the next decade, "oil will be at $150 a barrel and they will be drilling for it on the white house lawn and cotton will be $4 and they will be planting it in central park".

He is so bearish on the dollar he believes it can fall to half the value of the Euro. He says, "the pound sterling was once the worlds reserve currency and it went down 80% from top to bottom. The dollar went up 400% against it."

For market enthusiasts this book is tons of fun and you sure as hell pick up real insight as to the thoughts of some brilliant traders. I may pull more of my favorite parts that I'd like to remember and post them on my blog.

By Kevin Kingston, author of: A 20,000% Gain in Real Estate: A True Story About the Ups and Downs From Wall Street to Real Estate Leading to Phenomenal Returns

My Blog: The Real Estate Investors Blog

Hedge funds are highly influential around globe. This book offers very nice information on the industry and their influences. These funds are increasingly going to Asia. Some say that the Asia Financial Crisis of 1997 was partly caused by these funds. Anyway, they are everywhere. Now they are tapping into the Chinese market. For this, read another nice book: China's global reach: markets, multinationals, and globalization, which gives huge info on the foreign investors and multinationals doing biz in China.

Global investment is a buzzword today. Investors usually employ fund managers for international markets. This book nicely covers many aspects of this work. Worth read. Actually, these fund managers have tremendous power over small emerging markets. For example, they have huge influence in Asia and Latin America. Now, they are tapping into China and India in a big way. For this, read: China's global reach, which gives huge information on foreign investors and banks doing biz in that frontier market.

Tons of money is in the hands of very few players today. They can change the fortunes of all nations through stock and bond markets. Some Asian governments claim that the 1997 Asia Financial Crisis was caused by Soros and many hedge fund managers. True or not, these hedge funds are increasingly on top of the world. All these things are partially revealed in this exciting book. I was happy to run into it. But its stories are not very penetrating on the influences of fund managers over the emerging markets like China, India and Brazil. So, this book should go with another book: China's global reach: markets, multinationals, and globalization, which offers very interesting discussions how foreign money managers affect China's stock and financial markets, among other things.

Steve Drobny has written in The House of Money what I consider to be the best book available on the subject of global macro investing. I am a money manager with 25 years of experience. I have managed a hedge fund company for 10 years, including a global macro strategy with excellent returns. I know a lot about this business and industry, and what Drobny has written is accurate and reliable. More importantly, I learned a great deal through the book and have improved my investment strategy by applying a number of the ideas that were garnered. Steve, thanks for a tour de force! And for my competition, don't buy this book.

I just finished this book and my first impression was what a shame...

Don't get me wrong. By and large, I enjoyed this book and got some interesting ideas from it. It helped that the book was only published a few months ago so a lot of the big themes/ideas remain current.

In case you are wondering, the world is on the cusp of some big changes. How the investment community negotiates through the upcoming sea change is another question ? Unfortunately, the book did not provide a clear answer nor could/should it. It is up to every individual to work out the best risk/reward trade for every one of us. In summary, be careful. The world is changing...What worked in the past 10 years may not work for the next 10 years.

Unfortunately, I only think the author has done a marginal job in the interviews. Lots of the questions were pretty pedestrian, with all due respect to the author. He got a collection of very interesting fund managers but I got the impression he was more interested in going through his list of standard questions. Disappointing. Wish he could dig in more.

Since other reviewers have done it, I would still rank the Market Wizards as my favourite series. This book could have been far far more than its present form. Decent book but boy what could have been.....

What is great about this book is that it gets beyond the jargon, and shows readers what is really going on inside some major money making operations. Drobny gets to the heart of the matters on several occasions; I am impressed that he got these managers to talk on record and in depth about how they trade. I work in the investment management business, and many of the profiles are of the superstars of tomorrow (Peter Thiel, Christian Siva-Jothy as examples) that many people have not heard of yet. I recommend this book to everyone with the slightest interest in global finance. People who like Tom Friedman's The World is Flat would like this book. Everyone hears about globalization and the interconnectedness of financial markets. You get a sense in this book that these are the guys connecting things, moving capital around the earth furiously and efficiently.

I looked forward to reading this book, having recently reread both Market Wizard books. The first interview with Jim Leitner was of the same calibre of anything that was in Market Wizards. Leitner is a big player, and he gave a surprising amount of detail of his investment approach. There is undoubtedly much more to glean from the interview if one was to re-read it.

The rest of the interviews were average. The fundamental problem is that Drobny did not get interviews with with either the key guys behind the long-standing global macro funds, such as Tudor, Caxton, Moore Cap, or with the 'new' players such as Citadel, Brevan Howard or Renaissance. In fact, the absence of the latter fund or any other quant/systematic funds highlights how Drobny misses the cutting edge of global macro in the new millennium - that is, the rise of quant. As a result, reading the book, it already feels dated. The final interview with the currency specialist was particularly poor, and provided little other than an insight into the life of a seemingly successful prop trader.

Despite my somewhat negative tone, I do think that the interview with Leitner alone is worth getting book. The other reason is the reminder of how good Keynes was as one of the first global macro traders. Might be time to give Skidelsky's biography of Keynes another read.

As a fixed income portfolio manager, I was pleasantly surprised by this Market Wizards for Global Macro. For comparison I pulled down my well worn Market Wizards to reread and overcome the legend of such a great classic. I really think these books are on the same level. Drobny did a terrific job of highlighting different facets of Global Macro investing, and I look forward to reading this as many times as I have Market and New Market Wizards. This book is definitely worth the investment and offers a great risk/reward proposition.

I have worked in the fixed-income industry for 8 years. This book made me want to learn more about everything macro, or as one person put it, everything secular. It is advanced reading for the novice investor, but written in such a fashion that if a novice were to read it they would have a leg up on other traders in the market. I would put this in the "must-read" category for any financial professional, investor or academic.

To anyone who sees the description of this book and dismisses it out of hand due to the seemingly esoteric strategy that is global macro, I have this to say: Don't. Whether your investment strategy involves US stocks, grain futures, risk arbitrage, currencies, plain vanilla bonds, or anything in between, global macro events and strategies affect your returns sometimes in very subtle ways that would seem nonsensical. What happens in Asian debt or Russian commodities has a huge effect on US stocks. No single market (e.g., US stocks or UK bonds) is an island, and it's important for anyone involved in the markets (which includes everyone investing directly or via a retirement account) to know how the financial world really works.

Drobny has really done a great job getting these secretive managers to open up and discuss their strategies and views. I felt as though I was sitting in each interviewee's office having a series of conversations with friends, which made for a very pleasurable read. I've already read a couple of the interviews twice.

Bottom line: great book; highly entertaining; extremely educational; and now sitting on the top shelf of my book case (which is reserved for my favorite investing books) next to such classics as "Market Wizards" and "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator."

The meter of Drobny's writing is palpable and the text, absolutely engrossing.

Drobny's refreshing interview style, neither combative nor sycophantic, quickly endears the author to his subject.

The result is an unfiltered financial worldview from the market's most successful global trade tacticians.

Drobny drives hard and forces the largest global macro strategists to encapsulate their approach to trading, how they view portfolio risk and where they see opportunity in the coming century.

The author clearly possesses a thorough understanding of complex macro strategies and the associated trade lexicon but more importantly he is adept at distilling those, at times esoteric, concepts into a lucid, understandable, and approachable percipitate.

I was honestly both shocked and enlightened by many of the trader's comments on risk and strategy. "Inside the House of Money" belongs in every trader's library somewhere between Schwager and Soros.