Inside the Mind of the Turtles: How the World's Best Traders Master Risk

Inside the Mind of the Turtles: How the World's Best Traders Master Risk Summary:

  
By Curtis Faith
Publisher:   McGraw-Hill
Number Of Pages:   240
Publication Date:   2009-03-25
ISBN-10 / ASIN:   0071602437
ISBN-13 / EAN:   9780071602433


Product Description: 


“I like risk. I embrace risk.” -Turtle trader Curtis Faith

Risk is scary, to be sure, but it's a fundamental aspect of the investing world. Without it, profit would not exist. The trick is to accept, anticipate, manage, and mitigate risk. In other words, master it.

In Way of the Turtle, Curtis Faith revealed the extraordinarily successful trading system of the now-famous group of investors known as the Turtles. Now, in this highly anticipated follow up to that bestseller, Faith delves deeply into the risk-mastery strategies that made the Turtles the envy of the investing world.

Inside the Mind of the Turtles provides expert insight into how great traders combat the natural but counterproductive response to risk. Faith begins by examining the nature of risk and the human being's natural response to it. Then he outlines proven techniques for seizing control of it. You will learn how to:

Set your main focus on acquiring gains--not avoiding losses

Place equal importance on assets already spent and those still on hand

Judge the quality of decisions based on their inception rather than their outcome

Avoid drawing conclusions using too little information

You'll find valuable advice not only from Faith, but from some of the greatest financial minds on the scene today, including fellow Turtle Jerry Parker, venture capitalist Simon Olson, and Howard Lindzon, founder of the popular Web site, "WallStrip." Use their collective advice, and you'll find yourself approaching risk in ways you never dreamed possible.

In today's economy, controlling your aversion to risk is not just prudent--it's an absolute necessity. Economic turbulence more often than not leads to poor investment decisions. Inside the Mind of the Turtles will help you conquer the fears that can cripple even the most experienced investors out there.

Summary: Mediocre

Rating: 1

If you're expecting a "How-To" practical approach, forget about it. Faith's indifference was evident in his borrowed platitudes and anecdotes. It appeared this author was just meeting a deadline; i.e honoring the remnants of his publishing contract. Maybe his previous Turtle books had more to offer but you wouldn't know it by this one.

Summary: Well worth the read

Rating: 4

Inside the Mind of the Turtles is a great companion book to the author's first, more technical discussion of Turtle trading. In this new book readers will have the benefit of the author and other experts' experiences on understanding and controlling their reactions (behavioral and heuristics) to risk. It offers perspectives outside of traditional trading books and gives readers a broader understanding of risk itself. A reader of trading books, this was a fresh take on the practice. It's well worth the read.

Summary: Disappointing, especially compared to "Way of the Turtle"

Rating: 3

I was happy to see this book, having greatly enjoyed, admired, and learned from Faith's first book, "Way of the Turtle." I was looking to learn more about risk and risk management in both investing and in gambling (poker). When I thumbed through the book and examined the contents, I thought it would be just what I was looking for. The book disappoints. While it does deliver 7 rules for handling uncertainty and risk, and provides what I consider to be a superior definition of risk, overall it falls well short of what I hoped for. Some specifics. First, lots of the book is not about trading or handling risk in investing, which is Faith's claim to fame. It meanders into and out of various subjects. In Faith's mind--and his intent for this book--I think the common thread is that all the stories are tied together in that they involve uncertainty and risk. Well, lots of life's decisions involve risk, so he's right about that. But as soon as he wandered into non-trading subjects, the quality of writing plunged, became almost like a high-school term paper rather than the observations of a mature and polished professional. Second, I use words like "meanders" deliberately. About a dozen times throughout the book, I suddenly realized the subject had changed, segued from, say, trading into entrepreneurship. More than once I had to check to see whether two pages had stuck together and I had inadvertently jumped ahead and missed a transition. That was disconcerting. No pages had ever stuck together. Rather, the author just changed subjects without warning or transition. Third, since I was interested mainly in the ideas of risk as applied to trading and investing, and finding his digressions to be unhelpful, after awhile I just skimmed through the off-point stories (to be sure I didn't miss a dropped-in sentence about trading). I did not find any of the other subjects to be helful, and the stories weren't that interesting. Fourth, I usually don't like boxed-in quotes (from another person) that are placed nearby relevant text. They interrupt the flow, and I often consider the technique lazy: In a non-fiction book where you are developing a theory, it's the author's job to develop that theory in a sequential fashion. The dropped-in quote allows the author to get in an idea that doesn't quite fit without really explaining it. And the quotes themselves were mostly low quality. The book would have been better without them. Finally, in the last 3 chapters (or so), the author attempts to develop theories about how handling uncertainty and risk can make for a better world. The effort seemed juvenile, again like a term paper. Bottom line: If you are looking for a book about how the Turtles handled risk and uncertainty in their trading, you will find it (somewhat) in this book, but you will have to find it among lots of off-topic, poorly developed writing. About half the book is for you, but it's spread around among the whole book. You'll have to search for it among the irrelevant stuff.

Summary: Balance Risk

Rating: 4

"Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out." - James Bryant Conant I usually do not read books about the stock market/trading etc. but I figure a change never hurts. I am not an active trader. Inside the Minds of the Turtles is a book about risk, markets and trading. The Turtles are a group of traders who studied under Rich Dennis in the mid eighties. They were rampantly successful. The book emphasizes the need for risk taking (and as an entrepreneur, I always do take calculated risks). It also emphasized the need to moderate those risks. I have always said "fail often, fail fast, fail cheap". Turtles focuses mostly on the fail often and fail cheap. And not to let fear paralyse. Faith says "Fear is a mind killer", "Fear can paralyse" and "adapt or die - survival of the fittest is not survival of the strongest but survival of the most adaptable". So true. In reading, I was worried the "systems" practised got results only through luck. Or perhaps I missed the logic underlying the decision. Perhaps I do not believe in trading systems and believe more in fundamentals. Not sure I will take any action as a result of reading but it was an interesting and fun read. Almost like a good fiction book. He shared stories of skydiving, sailing accidents and adventures. Good book for a diversion. 

Summary: Definitely NOT "Way of the Turtle" or "Complete Turtle Trader"

Rating: 1

I've read three of the "Turtle" books, two by Curtis Faith and one (Complete Turtle Trader) by Michael Covel. And, the other two were just much better in many ways than "Inside the Mind of the Turtles." I was expecting this book to cover the idea of risk in trading from the "Turtle" perspective, and while some digressions into other types of risk (skydiving, emergency rooms, business start-ups) are fine, Faith spends way too much time on these subjects. Obviously, to some degree, they are related to risk in trading, but I would like to have read more about market risk management than spending more than half the book on these slightly-off-topics which have not-quite-enough relevance. 

One other thing that bothered me is organization of the book. Faith often lists 3 or 4 bullet points which are easy enough to understand, but then goes into more detail than necessary explaining each point. The entire book is structured like this, and due to the topics mentioned above, the stories of personal success, as well as the structure, I felt like I was reading someone's self-glorifying high-school essay. 

To be fair, Faith does stick with the topic of risk and I did get a little bit of useful information, but this book is just nothing compared to the other two "Turtle" books. They are more well-written, more informative, more useful, and more fun to read. This one was kind of a disappointment.

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