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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.6092
EAN num: 9780471119777
ISBN number: 0471119776
Label: Wiley
Manufacturer: Wiley
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 336
Printing Date: August 04, 1995
Publishing house: Wiley
Sale Popularity Level: 96059
Studio: Wiley
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George Soros Ends the Speculation
'The outcome [of this book] is a summing up of my life's work. . . As I finish the book, I feel I have succeeded.'—George Soros from the Preface
Critical praise for Soros on Soros
'If you have ever wanted to sit down for a candid conversation with a phenomenal financial success, George Soros's book provides the opportunity. You will meet a complex man and a first-rate mind.'—Henry A. Kissinger
'The best expert on Soros is undoubtedly George Soros! After all, who is better equipped to tell us what he really thinks and how he thinks, a matter of some importance given the fact that he has translated a remarkable personal financial sucess into a truly generous and historically significant effort to promote postcommunist democracy.' —Zbigniew Brzezinski
'The best X-ray of the mind of the master yet.' —Barton M. Biggs
'George Soros brings a lot more to the world of finance than the intuition and nerve of a born trader—and in Soros on Soros he's no longer bashful about telling us about it. A philosopher at heart, George attributes his sucess at investing to a theory of the interaction of reality and human perception. What really drives the man now, with a personal fortune beyond all personal need, is a different kind of strategic investing—investment to build in Eastern Europe the kind of open societies he came to value in his own life.' —Paul A. Volcker
Financial guru George Soros is one of the most colorful and intriguing figures in the financial world today. Now in Soros on Soros, readers are given their most intimate and revealing look yet into the life and mind of the one BusinessWeek dubbed, 'The Man Who Moves Markets.'
Soros on Soros interweaves financial theory and personal reminiscence, political analysis and moral reflection to offer a compelling portrait of the world (and its markets) according to Soros. In an interview-style narrative with Byron Wien, Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, and with German journalist Krisztina Koenen, Soros vividly describes the genesis of his brilliant financial career and shares his views on investing and global finance, politics and the emerging world order, and the responsibility of power.
Speaking with remarkable candor, he traces his progress from Holocaust survivor to philosophy student, unsuccessful tobacco salesman to the world's most powerful and profitable trader and introduces us to the people and events that helped shape his character and his often controversial views.
In describing the investment theories and financial strategies that have made him 'a superstar among money managers' (The New York Times), Soros tells the fascinating story of the phenomenally successful Soros Fund Management and its $12 billion flagship, Quantum Fund. He also offers fresh insights into some of his most sensational wins and losses, including a firsthand account of the $1 billion he made going up against the British pound and the fortune he lost speculating on the yen. Plus: Soros's take on the devaluation of the peso and currency fluctuations internationally.
He tells of the personal and professional crises that more than once threatened to destroy him and of the personal resources he drew upon to turn defeat into resounding victory. And he explains his motivations for establishing the Soros Foundation and the Open Society Institute through which he worked to build open societies in postcommunist countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Finally, turning his attention to international politics, Soros offers keen insights into the current state of affairs in Russia and the former communist bloc countries and analyzes the reasons behind and likely consequences of the West's failure to properly integrate them into the free world. He also explores the crisis of the ERM and analyzes the pros and cons of investing in a number of emerging markets.
Find out what makes one of the greatest financial wizards of this or any age tick. Soros on Soros is a must read for anyone interested in world finance and international policy.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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Only those readers interested in Soros 'the man' as a whole -- as trader, philanthropist, and philosopher -- will find the whole book appealing.
Other readers are likely to find 1/3 to 2/3 of the book appealing. For example: I really liked PART ONE (Investing and Global Finance), kinda liked PART THREE (Philosophy), and didn't much care for PART TWO (Geopolitics, Philanthropy, and Global Change).
Philosophy students might like Soros's take on Karl Popper in PART THREE, but might not care for PART ONE. Traders will like PART ONE. Students of hitory and politics might be drawn to PART 2.
As another reviewer mentioned, Soros seems to be searching of a 'theory or everything'. But can his 'reflexivity' be that all-encompassing theory?
Tony Loton, author --
DON'T LOSE MONEY! (in the Stock Markets)
Financial Trading Patterns
Rated by buyers -
Edward Teller and George Soros shared few common traits; nationality, religion, and globalization. Both were Hungarian, Jewish, hard workers, and stubborn thinkers. Teller dreamed of the Hydrogen bomb and believed earlier that a nuclear explosion might detonate the earth's atmosphere and ends civilization. Even with the fission bomb out-of-reach, Teller was living in the dreamland of the nuclear fusion. Soros is less fortunate in reaching his utopian dream despite his billions. Sociology isn't physics. Soros' players have emotions and beliefs that impact their decisions. The Russian robbers had outsmarted him, as they did with Napoleon and Hitler. Yet, his driven obsession with open society made him repeat the same mistake in Macedonia and Ukraine.
Teller also confronted opponents, yet with like scientific minds and confronting limited physical constraints. Knocking down Oppenheimer was Teller's big chance to keep his status, though never became billionaire. In Soros's realm, there is no known opponent to knock down in order to satisfy his utopian dream of open society. His sense that his efforts might lead to lasting changes on the long term, even in his absence, might well be true. Ideas outlive people, though Soros' generation is unique in many ways.
Soros's basic concepts center on reflexivity, fallibility, far-from equilibrium economy, and open society. His basic tools are economic and mathematical analysis of supply and demand. The greatest challenge to his effort to utilize his tools in achieving open society is the lack of concrete principles for predicting human emotion. Not only the little players like Macedonia, Albania, Iran, and Israel are driven by emotions, but also the American Superpower shares the ailment. Noticeably however, financial investors possess detrimental emotion as well. They must win in the very first round or get out before another loss. Soros' judgment on the imbalance of receivables and production in the new Russia is an example of an impatient, selfish, and zealous financier looking merely for his immediate gain.
In his comparison to the sudden decay of the Soviet empire with the British Empire, Soros cannot conceal his wishful desire of a mechanical history. He bitterly blames the West for betraying Mikhail Gorbachev and accuses the latter of being naïve. Yet, he admits that the sick mother of communism could not carry her fetus to full term. His paternal views that eastern European and third world nations need be or anxious to be told what to do when given financial assistance, omit national emotions. Nations have pride as do individuals. Coercive politics might hinder the progress to open society. Past Germany, Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, Iraq, Syria, Cuba, and Yugoslavia are examples of how imposing politics perpetuated long conflicts.
Where does his utopian dreaming lead to? The Internet, he claims, is opening society and might seal the death of fascism, communism, and the like. However, anything could happen in the future since our civilization is fueled by energy which is getting scarcer everyday. His assumption that a new scientific breakthrough, such as carbonless extraction of energy from coal, or other innovations that secure renewable energy, could safeguard human civilization from inevitable catastrophe.
Soros' resort to philosophy is driven by his economic undertaking. In order to make financial profit, he has to tackle the emotional factors of key players. Against the common wisdom of history and science, emotional policy-makers are still blundering national treasures and human lives. Defeat or victory in war is still the controlling principal in curtailing stray emotion of nations.
Mohamed F. El-Hewie
Author of
Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training
Rated by buyers 
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I'll say this first: I am not a genius, and George Soros probably is. The book presented itself in an interesting Q&A format that made it easy to skip around and jump sections. That being said, it was still a struggle to finish.
I did not like this book because it was hard to understand and mostly discussed Soros' high-level theory on investment strategy. His theory, which Mr. Soros is very passionate about, has something to do with the universe always being out of balance. If you are a finance whiz who thrives in theoretical analysis, or if you are a new age guru curious about a billionaire's spiritual mantra, maybe you will like this book.
Rated by buyers 
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George Soros was convicted of inside trading in December 2002. He engaged in inside trading of Societe General stock.
"Mr Soros and three other defendants, the court found, bought Societe Generale stock when it was cheap, and cashed in their investment when the price rose after the bid became public.
Two other businessmen implicated in the scandal - Edmond Safra and Robert Maxwell - have since died."
Maxwell killed himself after his billion dollar scam/business was exposed. He dove off his huge yacht off the coast of France. He left behind billions in debts and thousands of British workers lost their pensions. Soros is known by the people he associates with.
It is not to hard to "stay ahead of the curve" when you trade with inside information.
For more details - go to the BBC news web site and search for Soros insider trading or Google and type Soros BBC insider trading.
Rated by buyers -
This is a commissioned book. Basically, a self-indulgent pseudo-autobiography written in an interview style. "my own estimation of myself is more important to me than other people's" (P249)
The interview style makes this work more accesable to the average reader by overcoming the intense, convoluted style of Soros' other writings. It also allows more topics to be covered in less technical detail.
If you want to learn a little about Soros, this is an interesting book with fascinating pearls of wisdom. But don't think of it as an autobiography; rather a rumination on various aspects of his character.
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