The Intelligent Investor, Rev. Ed [Kindle Edition]

This edition of The Intelligent Investor is really two books in one. There is the original 1973 edition of Ben Graham's classic on "value investing" and then a commentary on each chapter by Jason Zweig.

Graham's text is solid, a little heavy, sometimes a little out of date, and some of his tables a bit user-unfriendly; but no matter: it is the timeless lessons he teaches that matter. He is very methodical, a bit mathematical and -- if you follow him all the way -- will leave you with a good grounding in how to approach the stock market.

Basically his gospel is this: ignore all the hype and blather around the stockmarket. Invest for the long-term in big, rock-steady, simple businesses, after analysing them with a few financial criteria. But only buy when the market is offering them at a bargain price.

Unfortunately, each of Graham's sober tutorials is followed by a commentary by Zweig. He may claim to be a disciple of the great man, but he is certainly not cut from the same cloth. Zweig is just one more financial markets cheerleader: repetitive, pushy, and rolling out the same old disaster stories from the dot.com era ad nauseam, supposedly to show how wise Graham was (in case you didn't understand Graham's chapter). He also repeatedly cites his own magazine and keeps naming the same fund, which is annoying at the very least. He also resorts to a lot of "if you had bought shares on every third Wednesday since 1974 you would have made a 3,859 percent return!!" kind of hocus-pocus which is a complete waste of time.

Zweig could have used the opportunity to unpick some of the knottier points of Graham's book and help readers understand the harder parts. The worst thing is that he sometimes goes against Graham's teachings, so he should NOT be taken as an extension of Graham! (For example, on page 129 he says if you don't have time to choose your own stocks, there's no shame in hiring someone to pick them for you. On page 243, he says "In the financial markets, luck is more important than skill". Ben Graham must be turning in his grave.)

One more caveat: this volume boasts a preface and appendix by Warren Buffett, Ben Graham's most famous pupil. But don't be swayed by that. The preface is an obituary written by Buffett and the appendix is an edited talk that Buffett gave in 1984. They're okay but it doesn't mean that Buffett is backing this schizoid volume.

My advice: read the Graham chapters, ditch the Zweig commentary. You'll save time AND be wiser.

i would acually give this 700 page tome 4 and a half stars, but there isnt a button for that.

this book is a very useable, inspiring and thought provoking investment guide. it was produced out of half a centuarys worth of trial, error and sucess by an unquestionably cleaver man. should someone interested in stocks read it? yes, proably.

for a book claiming to be for the 'layman' this book doesent give some of its secrets up easily. now im not an idiot (ha ha) but there were places in the book where i was reading the words but could come up with no meaning for the sentences. but i found it got easier to understand as i went on, perhaps it just takes a while to get used to grahams style. some, but not all, of the tables have been described by other reviewers a 'user unfriendly'. i wouldnt disagree.

enough of the bad, whats good?
graham really knew how to asses the financial health of a buisness and how to calculate its value. his 'value' and 'margin of safty' ideas are common sence writ large. his phlegmatic approach helps the investor to keep an even keel whilst navigating the stormy seas of the stock markets waves of irration optimism and pessimism.

some reviewers have criticised jason zwiegs footnotes and chapter summeries, but for me they were exelent and nessary. i can only guess that critics object to having new text interpolated in to what they, understandably, consider to be a perfect and complet work. but zweig helps to make to book more current and fills in a few areas where graham gave a less than satisfactory explination.

also one last thing, warren buffets little story at the end is brilliantly amusing and also very encouraging.

in sum, this book is full of gold; but be perpared to dig for it.

With more than one million copies sold and an endorsement on the cover by Warren Buffet, you know there has to be something to this book- and I think I know why. Simply because it is the first book ever to describe the emotional framework and analytical tools necessary for financial success for individual investors.

Probably the single best book on investing written for the lay-public and the stock market bible since its first appearance in 1949, it's a great resource, although it's quite a thick book and filled with detail- and probably not for anybody but the serious stock market investor. And if getting motivated to start investing is your problem, suggest The Sixty-Second Motivator. Good luck!