READING ROOM: The Wall Street Journal Complete Money & Investing Guidebook

The Wall Street Journal Complete Money & Investing

Guidebook

Wall Street Journal

How many of us are guilty of only reading the firstcouple of pages of the latest financial bestseller,only to sheepishly leave it on our nightstand foranother evening when our minds are a bit more focused?Financial how-to books have the tendency to leave theirreaders feeling like they need the Cliffs Notes version to trulyunderstand its meaning. Now an easy-to-digest translationof finance is available to anyone who ever wanted to knowwhat a contango was, but were too embarrassed to ask. In(Three Rivers Press; 2006), David Kansas doesnot simply supply a map, compass, and a half-hearted "good luck,"but leads thereader through the world of finance by the hand. Part history book and part financialtext, each chapter covers a topic simply and thoroughly, as if the reader were a visitorfrom a foreign land. Economics,Wall Street, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, retirement,real estate, and nontraditional investments—Kansas skillfully covers thesesubjects by drawing on his knowledge as an editor of the 'sMoney & Investing section. Illustrations break down how to read the distinguishingmarks on paper money, and graphs show you how the Dow has fared in the pastthrough presidential administrations. Kansas even explains how to read those intimidatingcharts in the back of financial publications. As complete as its title proclaims,Kansas'200-page guidebook is a must-have crash course on money and investing.Although beginners will benefit the most, experienced physician-investors can alsodiscover new financial facts with Kansas'exploration.