An extremely captivating, interesting, inspiring, humbling and educational read. I can’t express how happy I am that The Investor’s Podcast interviewed Edward Thorp which led me to pick up this book.
As he covers his work from black jack card counting to wearable tech for roulette, and eventually his involvement in equities, it’s refreshing to see a man driven not by profit, but by passion and interest to solve a problem. It’s extremely motivating and excites me to tackle the problems that are constantly looming through my mind.
He does a great job at describing the various aspects of investing, from the technicalities of options to the psychological tendencies of Mr. Market. While none of the rules and insights he discusses are groundbreaking if you’ve done some reading on the stock market in the past, he does a great job and keeping things clear and concise. Reiterating concepts I’m familiar with helps me solidify my understanding of a subject, and every single author I’ve read has little tidbits that expand upon common knowledge or misconceptions through personal anecdotes.
While Edward Thorp probably meant for this book to be a memoir of everything he has done, my biggest takeaway is simply how brilliant and humbling this man is. He was always genuinely interested in everything he had done, was very logical and objective about every move he made, never had a hidden agenda, was always honest and ethical, and gave back however he could. He deserves my utmost respect.
It’s only a matter of time before this book is made into a movie.