General reading for traders

Some good books other than on trading

First The Art of War by Sun Tzu.It is an absolute gem.

Some quotes here

Gordon Gekko of movie wall street said this one-Every battle is one before it is fought

"All warfare is based on deception"

"When the enemy is relaxed, make them toil.When full, starve them.When settled, make them move."

"In conflict, straightforward actions generally lead to engagement, surprising actions generally lead to victory."

“Thus those skilled in war subdue the enemy's army without battle ... . They conquer by strategy.”

“Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy, but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril.”

“In war, numbers alone confer no advantage.”

“To ... not prepare is the greatest of crimes; to be prepared beforehand for any contingency is the greatest of virtues.”

“What is of the greatest importance in war is extraordinary speed: One cannot afford to neglect opportunity.”

Here is a link on art of war applied to portfolio management
http://www.strategies-tactics.com/suntzu.htm

Other writer famous among traders is Ayn Rand.Turtle Traders have a high opinion of her.Infact Curtis Faith,turtle trader mentored by Richard Dennis has his company named after one of the characters of Atlas Shrugged-John Galt

Books
The Fountainhead
Atlas Shrugged
For the new intellectual
We the anthem
On the night of january the 16
The virtue of selfishness etc

Some quotes

The symbol of all relationships among such men, the moral symbol of respect for human beings, is the trader. We, who live by values, not by loot are traders, both in manner and spirit. A trader is a man who earns what he gets and does not give or take the undeserved. A trader does not ask to be paid for his failures, nor does he ask to be loved for his flaws. A trader does not squander his body as fodder, or his soul as alms. Just as he does not give his work except in trade for material values, so he does not give the values of his spirit—his love, his friendship, his esteem—except in payment and in trade for human virtue, in payment for his own selfish pleasure, which he receives from men he can respect. The mystic parasites who have, throughout the ages, reviled the trader and held him in contempt, while honoring the beggars and the looters, have known the secret motive of the sneers: a trader is the entity they dread—a man of justice.


An agreement reached by a group of men is only a compromise or an average drawn upon many individual thoughts.

The word "We" is as lime poured over men, which sets and hardens into stone, and crushes all beneath it, and that which is white and that which is black are lost equally in the grey of it. It is the word by which the depraved steal the virtue of the good, by which the weak steal the might of the strong, by which the fools steal the wisdom of the sages.

An idea unexpressed in physical action is a contemptible hypocrisy.

People think that a liar gains a victory over his victim. What I've learned is that a lie is an act of self-abdication, because one surrender's one's reality to the person to whom one lies, making that person one's master, condemning oneself from then on to faking the sort of reality that person's view requires to be faked. And if one gains the immediate purpose of the lie-- the price one pays is the destruction of that which the gain was intended to serve. The man who lies to the world, is the world's slave from then on.

When I disagree with a rational man, I let reality be our final arbiter; if I am right, he will learn; if I am wrong, I will; one of us will win, but both will profit.

I am, therefore I'll think.

A man who is honestly convinced that he can find no answers, would not feel the need to pretend that he is looking for them.

Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think that you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong

The reason why you'll never get rich is because you think that what I do is gambling

I am a trader in all things., I had no power to change your decision, I had only the power to consider the price and decide whether I could afford it.

i have The Art of War by Sun Tzu in an audiobook format..
wht is an audiobook ? dont ask me ...google it!

If anyone wants it.. set me up a webspace/ftp server where i can upload it .. its 44 mb
Cheers!

Very informative,credit.. I have got the art of spiritual warfare which also figures Sun Tzu. Isn’t Richard Denis the same person who was very thrifty before he hit big time.? Some of the stuff written on Traders seems as if they are intellectuals. I feel that contradictions are there though I am not aware of what exact context you are referring to when you say that they are not there. That is why Osho and Krishnamurthy suggested to be very careful about the word truth. There are contradictory proverbs and proverbs on this contradiction. Proverbs happen to be the distilled wisdom of the ages.

Also been to the site where analogy between portfolio mngmt and Sun Tzu. Very apt and enlightening.Thanks a million.

Richard Dennis is some sort of a legend among traders,very capable man.

About contradictions,ayn rand will ask u to check ur premises,always one of them is wrong.