REMINISCENCES OF A STOCK OPERATOR: With New Commentary And Insights On The Life And Times Of Jesse Livermore

By Edwin Lefevre (Wiley)

It's been a tough two years, and few in the financial world have been able to avoid a serving of humble pie. Let this picaresque tale serve as Champagne to wash away the aftertaste. Reminiscences is a fictionalized account of the early career of stock trader, speculator and manipulator Jesse Livermore, who netted more than $3 million in the Panic of 1907-one of several fortunes he made and lost, starting at age 14. First published in 1923, the book was annotated and updated by fund manager Jon Markman with an introduction by Paul Tudor Jones, no stranger to adventures himself.

It is an entrancing piece of history and stunningly contemporary. Here's one plus ça change passage:"a man may see straight and...yet become impatient or doubtful when the market takes its time about doing as he figured it must do. That is why so many men in Wall Street...lose money. The market does not beat them. They beat themselves." And another: "In a bull market bear factors are ignored. That is human nature, and yet human beings profess astonishment at it." How richly Livermore would be rewarded for his hard-knocks savvy today.