ignoring commodities as these potentially offer a better rate of return than running after stocks, bonds, real estate, some currencies or timber (that's an interesting one).

The first four chapters of the book give you the nuts and bolts of investing in commodities accompanied by plenty of anecdotes from Rogers' own investment activities. Of this first half of the book, chapter 4 is by far the most important. You need to know this information inside out, otherwise there is little point in investing in the futures market.

In the second part of the book - chapters five to the end - Rogers explains why China is likely to drive commodity prices in future largely based on where it is going economy-wise and even though there are certain long-term risks with regards to China's political stability, this is unlikely to dent much the country's demand for raw resources. Rogers follows this up with looking at five commodities, namely, oil, gold, lead, sugar and coffee. Some of his thoughts are quite convincing, but at the end of the day you will have to make up your own mind. In fact Rogers mentions on more than one occasion that every investor must do his own research before committing his money.
In his conclusion, Rogers again urges the investor to look `deeply' into commodities if only that it should make any investor a better investor even if he only ever invests in stocks and bonds.

I also urge you to read the appendix. You will find the information given here quite useful.

This book was published in December 2004 but this does not make it history as many of the underlying fundamentals of commodities are little changed.

When Jim Rogers speaks, I listen; when he writes something, I read it. If you go back years and years and check out what Rogers anticipated and predicted, he's been consistently accurate. His perceptions, opinions, and predictions in the 1980s and 90s, were spot-on. With "Hot Commodities" he does it again in many areas: geopolitics, equities, bonds, current and future international political trends, commodities, and more. We are seeing what he's saying in this latest book unfold in front of our eyes, right now.

"Hot Commodities" is a continuation of Roger's past works, obviously focusing on commodities. Chapters are organized well and categorized by topic, so you don't have to read the book from start to finish but can jump around from chapter to chapter to your liking.

Hot Commodities starts off with the basics and eventually tells you how to find and choose a licensed trader and invest in commodities. The important questions are answered: what are commodities? Is investing in commodities right for you? Why is there a market for them? What variables (questions) do you ask about a commodity (e.g. sugar)? What questions do you need to ask yourself and a broker who's licensed in them. What kinds of accounts can you have? What is the commodity lingo (words) you should know? How do you learn to read the symbols on the ticker tape? All the answers for the beginner and more are in this book. He has a knack for explaining commodities to the layperson.

You'll know what GH 355.5, WU 369, SN 725, and HOX 101 mean when you see them.

Although past performance is not an adequate way to predict future behavior of a group of funds, the historical trends of commodities are noted.

Also noted are some misconceptions about investing in commodities, and bad investor stories. Many people who got burned did so using margin, according to Rogers. Supply and demand are straightforward indicators. But he does note, an investor should know what they're doing and know if commodities are appropriate for one's personality and investing style.


OIL:

Now, talking about oil is the new fad on the mainstream media. Only because, gasoline prices are currently high enough for the public to whine about it. The possibility of rising gasoline/diesel/fuel prices has always existed and Rogers noted it years ago. The author believes that world oil production has peaked and the numbers on worldwide output of MBP (millions of barrels per day) reinforces this. The "new finds" and offshore drilling will only put drops of oil in the worldwide demand bucket.

Rogers noted his own Commodity Index Fund only a couple of times and didn't push it, nor provide contact info for his fund. He doesn't try to sell it. (He doesn't need to.) He also listed other Commodity Index funds. This was professional and reinforces his credibility.



CHINA IS ON THE UP-AND-UP, AND THE USA IS SLIDING DOWN:

This is Roger's opinion and I agree with it. Rogers is still bullish on China for the short and long-term. In addition to rapid growth and hard-work he notes that before the Communist revolution in 1949 the Chinese had a merchant class that operated for centuries, unlike that of feudal Russia. Therefore, the merchant and trade knowledge base is already in China, obviously. The Chinese save on average 40% of their income, while Americans save an average of only 2%, and often spend more than they make. (American per capita savings was -2% recently.)

China is the number #1 consumer of copper, steel, iron ore, soybeans and number #2 in oil and energy products. China is rising fast.

The United States on the other hand, seems to be moving in the opposite direction. The US is the world's number #1 debtor with $9 Trillion in international IOUs. The US is living off of other people's money. Is anyone talking about this in the mainstream media? Politicians? Only a few are. Tying the Oil Bourse to the US dollar has propped the dollar up. The US dollar is now a declining currency holding little confidence of the world. Remember, when the American government borrows all of this money (via T-bills) it's backed by "faith in the American government." Not if the Fed has the Treasury Department keep printing money and providing Helicopter Bailouts. The M3 Money Supply is now secret. Economists can only guess how much money the US government prints.

The Chapters:

1. The Next New Thing Is - Things
2. "But...."
3. Stepping Up To Commodities
4. Stepping Into The Commodities Markets
5. Notes From the Wild, Wild, East
6. Goodbye, Cheap Oil
7. Gold - Mystique Vs. Fundamentals
8. A Heavey Metal With Potential To Be A High Flyer (lead)
9. Searching For The Next Suguar High
10 Can Coffee Perk Up?

Rogers is and has been one of the most successful investors in the world. He's often made successful personal and fund-managed investment decisions when digressing from the myopic tramped path of the sheep. As usual, the sheep that follow the herd discount and scrutinize Rogers when he just answers the questions they ask him. He makes hiw own decisions. And he proves to be right, time after time. Sheep follow fads and trends, with the most sheep piling on top of a bubble right at the top of it right before it bursts, as all bubbles do. The equity tech-stock bust, shifted the sheep into housing and REI. Now that the RE bubble has burst, some sheep are gravitating (although slowly) to what Rogers has been saying for years. Commodities is in a cyclical bull phase. He cites statistics, historical trends, and the current and future world climate to reinforce his points.

Attention sheep: he's right again.

I almost gave this book 5 stars for the mere fact that Rogers' predictions have come true since the time the book was published. For example, gas and gold prices have increased dramatically, as predicted, since 2004. S&P has been mostly going sideways and Rogers' prediction of the housing meltdown was right on. From an investment standpoint, the book would have been more helpful 4 years ago than today. Nevertheless there is still a lot of value here. First, Rogers' writing is engaging and interesting. Second, he offers readers a different way of looking at the world which is valuable regardless of your investments. Finally, he claims that his ideas and predictions of rising commodity prices will continue at least to 2015, so there is plenty of time left to profit from his wisdom.

This book is an introduction and individual investors will have to do a lot more research and thinking before they can actually implement Rogers' ideas. The author admits that point, himself. Furthermore he does not really tell readers a logical way of even trying to profit from rising commodities. He claims the best way is to buy commodities directly, but after reading the book I have little idea how to go about buying commodities for the long term. Futures allow investors to profit in the short term but if you believe that lead prices will peak in 2015 or so, how can you profit from that prediction? After all, prices are not predictable in the short term and an investor can get burned badly speculating in the commodities' futures. Oil has been rising in value steadily since the Iraq invasion but an investor could have still managed to lose money investing in oil futures. Need to research and read a lot more on the topic if your goal is to actually invest in commodities.

An interesting read giving insight of a master investor in the domain he understands best. Many logical reasons for his argument for several commodities mentioned that has been a guide for my investments in the Indonesian stock market. Though not many mortals would have access nor capacity to have direct investment in the minerals and commodities mines and plantations as he advocates.

As a successful fundamentalist retired at 37 and traveled the world, Jim Rogers gives a solid recapitulation of commodities with enough facts to practically turn speculation into prescience. With charts and graphs he translates price movements through time and turns them ahead in the future with sense. The bullish rises and bearish declines are nicely justified in terms of supply and demand without neglecting China, Brazil and other large powers. Jim Rogers offers fresh economonic insight that cannot be passed.

as always, Jim Rogers did it.
I am writing down all the tips in this book. It is very useful for investment purpose. Thank you, Jim.

I recommend this book to anyone who has never traded commodities/futures and want to learn background information about what commodities are, why they are traded, and why they are key to having a well diversified portfolio. I also recommend this book to traders (like myself) who have previously traded futures on one or two commodities, and are looking to expand their trading book to include other commodities.

For those who are looking for a book on how to trade commodities, this is not it. This book only goes into the backgrounds of various commodities, what drives their supply and demand relationship, and what Jim Rogers sees occurring in the future. Finally, the book includes several charts and indexes that show various commodity's relationships when compared to things like equity market prices when adjusted for inflation, and how index's like the GSCI are calculated and weighted.

I would like to say that i learned a lot from this book, and its well worth its costs.

The book stresses the basic concept of trading commodities....look at the supply side and the demand side and see if there there is an imbalance. If there is too much supply, prices will probably go down. If there is too much demand, prices will go up IF there is a catalyst. Brief examples are given throughout the book for various commodities and how an imbalance results in price changes. If you are new to commodities, this is good common sense advice and a nice introduction. But that is about all you get. If you looking for a detailed breakdown of information on each commodity (industries that use the commodity, countries which are main producers of the commodity, a history of how commodity prices changed with time, etc.), look elsewhere. Also, if you are looking for detailed trading techniques other than how to read the symbols for a futures contract, you will be disappointed. Finally, be prepared to be bombarded with the point of view that you should learn Chinese now because China is going to rule the world; about 20% of the book is devoted to this rather than actually discussing commodities, to the point that I actually got tired and skipped half the chapters on it. You just have to watch CNBC a couple of times to learn China is one of the largest consumers of commodities and that you should watch their economy if you want to trade.

I read about a dozen reviews and realized that no one really grasped
the essence of the book, its theme you might say. Rogers is explicit about it at one point. The main purpose of the book is to teach the reader how to THINK about investing. Consider this. As I write these words it's December 2007. With his knowledge of the cyclical nature of markets and his willingness to stand apart from the crowd, he picked the bottom of the commodities market in 1998. He acknowledges that he was lucky to do so. But, there was no luck in riding the commodity markets up for 8-9 years. Doesn't he say in the book that the real price of oil at the time he was writing was $90? Well, we are at $90 now! Nice bit of profit there for him, considering how long he has been bullish on oil. He has been short the dollar too and has undoubtedly profited from big moves in other commodities. I am surprised that he doesn't trade, by which I understand him to mean that he doesn't take positions in the futures markets. I have always had great respect for his opinions, which are based on a keen understanding of market fundamentals. His message is that the reader too can acquire the same understanding and reap the rewards.

It's a quick read and if you've ever seen Jim interviewed on a financial show, the book has his the no nonsense style that one would expect.

Discusses the cyclical nature of commodities markets and then goes into more detail about specific commodity selections.

If you are interested in investing alternatives as the DOW creeps up to the precipice, get and intro into commodities from Jim Rogers.

My title says it all. I'm looking forward to his next book. I have read other books by different authors but Mr Rogers states the case for commodities in a way that is easy to read and understand. This and his previous books have opened my mind and changed the way I look at futures, markets, finance, and politics/politicians.
Enlightening.

The book is well written,Jim is very knowledgeable and gives ways in which anyone can invest in commodities. He explains a complicated subject in laymans terms. He also describes the world today and how politics and logistics come into play, a fascinating book.

Before reading this book, I barely knew how to spell commodities, much less trade them. This book gives a good high-level introduction to what the commodities market is all about and attempts to get you jazzed about the market for the coming decade. After reading the book, you'll be able to understand the commodity trading lingo and know how to read prices, but will not have enough information (nor the confidence) to make your first trade. It lacks thorough details concerning trading in general, fundamental analysis of futures, and direction on creating a trading plan. I'm currently reading Trading Commodities & Financial Futures by George Kleinman which goes into much better detail of these subjects. I certainly got a better handle on trading by reading Hot Commodities, but it's a bit novice, even for a novice.

As a result of Jim Rogers, I've actually changed a substantial part of my portfolio. However, this is an endorsement of Jim Rogers, and not the book, "Hot Commodities." I knew no more after reading the book than I did after hearing and seeing him on TV. The message could have been summed up in about ten pages, not 255.

The author gives some of his logic why he believes the commodities market is entering a bull market for maybe the next decade, then he follows this with some alternatives to the commodities market followed by the usual introduction about how the commodities markets function. Next he turns to showing how to think about the markets as a fundamentalist--he claims he is the world's worst trader. He talks about the impact of China on the markets, as contrasted with the impact of India and other Central Asian emerging economies (including Russia). Then he illustrates the fundamentalist logic for supply, demand and world politics and their influence on the prices for oil, gold (and lead), sugar and coffee. Along the way he mixes in some of his market experience and insights.

I find the value of the book primarily in his illustration of the kind to thinking and resources needed to perform fundamental analysis of the commodities market. And this is one of the cheapest books to cover the basics.

Simply coherent, myth depleting writing on what is mistakenly viewed by many as an obscure subject; the coin of which Las Vegas is not made...

One of the most famous commodity and global investor, and a good friend of Marc Faber. Rogers said if you want to make money in the 21 century, learn Chinese. He hired a Chinese nanny for his baby daughter, who only speaks Chinese to the baby girl. Rogers wanted to move his family to Shanghai, but discouraged by the high prices there, and settled in Singapore instead for now. He predicts that the commodity market will boom at least through 2010, due to the global unbalance of supply and demand. Thanks to Rogers, I started buying commodity stocks in 2004, and did quite well so far.
Combinding with Marc Faber's "Tomorrow's Gold", the two books provided me with a global and historical view of investing. In a given time, when somewhere in the world is over valued, somewhere else may offer undervalued investment oppertunities.

I can summarize this book in three sentences, saving everyone's money.

1) China has a lot of people and those people need raw materials (commodities). I feel like the 214 page book would be about 100 pages if he would just make this one statement and move on.
2) Commodities go in 17 year cycles and we still have awhile to go.
3) Buy commodities because they are another media of investment that have proven to have good returns and diversify a portfolio. (Negative correlation to stock market.)

If someone were to try to use this book to trade Futures they would have a very basic knowledge and most likely lose money. There are better books out there.

The same junk from a really smart guy.
No real NEW ideas on how to invest.
just another book to make money .

AWESOME! When Jim speaks you should listen! Read it, learn, and make money! As Jim says, "luck follows the prepared mind". :-)