Book Review: An American Hedge Fund
I was sent a pre-publication copy of Timothy Sykes’ book An American Hedge Fund and found it to be a quick and fairly enjoyable read.
The book recounts the improbable tale of how Sykes turned his Bar Mitzvah money into a multi-million dollar hedge fund, and reads as much like a trading diary as it does either a novel or a personal finance book. As to what it actually is, if you were one of those people offended by the “truthiness” of A Million Little Pieces you may want to steer clear. The book is billed as a memoir, categorized under Business/Personal Finance and described in the cover letter I received as a novel. Not to mention it was published under Sykes’ own “Bullship Press” label, so consider yourself warned if not every fact in the book is verified.
Personally, though, I could care less about whether a story is truth or fiction as long as it reads well. And here the book turns out to be quick and, assuming you are into the stock market, enjoyable. The biggest turnoff was that hardly a page goes by without a clinical description of the gain/loss on some trade that was made. I would have preferred a more general discussion of how Sykes learned from his successes and mistakes, with the trades serving as illustrations rather than the other way around.
Sykes is able to tell the story with the right mix of chutzpah and humility, fessing up to his mistakes - some of which he continued to make even after professing to learn from them. I find it particularly ironic that late in the book Sykes says:
Looking back, I had foolishly gotten into this industry thinking I could easily grow my operation to the $20 to $50 million asset range based on my performance alone. I would’ve saved a great deal of time, energy and money if somebody had written a book like this to warn me about the true nature of the industry.
Four pages later, he says:
I’d read up on the self-publishing industry and thought I’d found another niche market ripe with opportunity. If I went this route, I’d have total control over my book, quadruple profit margins, and I could distribute the truth to the general public within a few months.
Something tells me his next book will be an expose of the publishing industry.
For more information, see all articles on: Book Reviews, Investing in Stocks, Technical Analysis See also:
The Intelligent Investor: The Classic Text on Value Investing
Financial Statement Analysis: A Practitioner's Guide, 3rd Edition
Managing Investment Portfolios: A Dynamic Process (CFA Institute Investment Series)
