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From: daemon@decwrl.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.invest
Subject: book review
Message-ID: <5448@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 5-Feb-84 23:28:58 EST
Article-I.D.: decwrl.5448
Posted: Sun Feb  5 23:28:58 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 9-Feb-84 01:31:35 EST
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From: nacho::mpalmer  (Coffee Achiever)
>From : NACHO::MPALMER
Organization : Digital Equipment Corp.
NEWSGROUP: NET.INVEST
SUBJECT:   BOOKS ON STOCKS & BONDS

My favorite factual book on the topic is:

"Why Stocks Go Up (and down)

  a Guide to Sound Investing

Author: William H. Pike
Publisher: Dow Jones - Irwin 
	   Homewood, Illinois, 60430

The author is a professional securites analyst in Boston whose background
includes a Metallurgy Engineering degree from MIT.

It's a very factual book but is not pedantic or too dry.  It starts with
the basics of how a company is formed, does its accounting, and goes public.
This background is used later to explain how the market works.  It is the
textbook for a course he teaches to newcomers to the investment industry,
and is organized in parts - some of which may be skipped if desired without
losing continuity or necessary information to understand later parts.

Description of parts:

I. Basics: Starting a business, Financial statements, and Common Stock

Follows a hypothetical company ("Jones Mousetrap Co.") from its beginning
as a 1-man trade through its growth into a large corporation with plenty
of assets; explains the whys and hows of issuing stock to get capitol etc.
Nice round numbers used in illustrations.

(7 chapters)

II. Securities Other than Common Stock: Bonds and Preferred Stock
(3 chapters)

III. Accounting for Assests
(3 chapters)

IV. Why Stocks Go Up
(4 chapters)
includes following an 18 year history of Poloroid Stock

Two Appendices: Short Selling and Buying and Selling on Margin

It's about $17

Mark Palmer
Digital

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