Books in the news; The Money Game

Alex Boyd on books in the news. A quick look at newly published material and books of current interest. Your host is Alex Boyd in the cereal department at the University of Illinois Library. The trouble with most books about the stock market is that the reader doesn't know when to believe and when not to believe. With the money game by Adam Smith. Published by Random House. Most of what is written is highly believable and therein lies the problem. The picture of the market and investing presented here is to the neophyte a little depressing. This is one of those books which were all a pleasure to read is disturbing in its content. If you have never dabbled in the market but have intentions of joining the 24 million Americans who do and that's a gesture read this book first. The author's name. Adam Smith is of course a pseudonym is taken from the original Adam Smith who wrote perhaps the most famous work on money the wealth of nations some 200 years ago. The blurb on the book jacket implies that Adam Smith may be one person or number of persons. Whoever the real Adam Smith is he

is obviously well versed on the stock market and writes this book from his own professional experience. The result is a book filled with. Quite a bit of common good sense type advice. It is not a guide to the market nor treatise on how to get rich quick. The author offers no tricks or schemes or sure thing approaches to investing. What he does offer is a perceptive witty appraisal of the money game as it is played on today's market. His emphasis is on the most important part of the game. The individual investor. He believes out of the 24 million who play the game fully 80 percent fail to make money and most actually lose. Apparently like in a game the fun is on the playing winning or losing money is relatively unimportant. Smith devotes a major part of the book to scrutinizing the psychology of this phenomena. Since he has been in the market for so many years and knows quite a few large and small investors

he's able to speak from first hand experience. He relates many interesting informative and sometimes sad or amusing tales of the predicaments investors can get themselves into and their rationales rationalizations for either quitting the market or continuing to invest. Another strong emphasis is on the new breed of market men. The managers of mutual funds these individuals are for the most part young aggressive and knowledgeable and are definitely where the action is. He contrasts them with all lined more conservative brokers but neither condemns nor praises either group. This is in line with his approach throughout the book. He seeks to be informative without moralizing and to a great extent succeeds. Yet he does bring out disturbing elements in today's market which confront the potential investor especially the small investor. The computer explosion for example has made it a whole new game from that which existed one or two decades ago. With the almost instantaneous analysis one for mation the new

developments and trends that the computer provides and with access to more vital information about business activity. The Arts Today I heavily in favor of the large investors and brokerage houses. One of the authors most disturbing observations is that most big investors attempt to find out what the masses of small investors are doing and then do the opposite. This is only one of the realities of investing that few small investors know about or care about. It is part of the American ether those that all men can be rich and tales of a thousand dollar investments growing two hundred thousand dollar investments constantly pull new individuals into the market each day. The authors seem somewhat undecided as to whether this method of trying to make money is good or bad. As an investor himself it's obvious he too is caught up in the game and enjoys it. It's not clear though whether he's been a success although the reader must wonder how he could possibly fail with so much expertise about the market. If he hasn't made money in the market have with the literary ability displays in the money game.

You need never worry about going hungry. This has been books in the news prepared and presented by Alex Boyd and sponsored by the Illinois State Library. This program was distributed by the national educational radio network.