Jesse Livermore - Boy Plunger: The Man Who Sold America Short in 1929 Kindle Edition

Being a stock trader for many years, I loved this book.Almost everyone interested in stock trading has heard of Jesse Livermore who made $ 100 million in the crash of ’29. He was a fascinating man who lived fully and knew everyone on Wall Street from Joseph P. Kennedy to Bernard Baruch. Yet when he died in 1940 less than $ 5 million was left. His fictionalized story appears in “Reminiscences of a Stock Operator” by Edwin LeFevre who knew him and interviewed him thoroughly. Many young stockbrokers are required to read that classic. A good, relatively recent book focusing on his techniques was written by Richard Smitten. It’s for the reader to decide the extent to which these techniques are still usefulI’ve read LeFevre and Smitten, both good, but this book is simply spectacular. It is wonderfully written and a very complete biography. The author extensively reviewed, it seems, everything about Livermore. What I especially like is the way the author explains the economic and societal environment at each stage of Livermore’s career. Also, he appears to have gained great insight into the evolution of Livermore’s mind over his career of more than forty-five years.This work has an extensive bibliography, active index, and some good pictures (a bit small on Kindle). All in all this should be the classic Livermore story for modern traders and those simply interested in the American economy from 1890 to WWII.

The life of Jesse Livermore was not quite what I expected. As someone who made money from the stock market crash I was curious as to his methodology. I got a lot more than that, including an education into the finance of the late 19th century and 20th century.Jesse Livermore started from very meager beginnings and the early part of the book was about how he used networking skills to change that very quickly. His father pulled him out of school at 14 and told him he would be a farm laborer. A life that didn't interest him. He ran away from home with his mothers help.In town he went right up to a financial house and asked for a job. So begins his first stock experience. Bucket Shops. This was a new concept for me. They enabled people to bet on stock prices without actually owning stock. These operated like mini casinos including turning people away for winning too much. They were shady and eventually were banned.Jesse made and lost fortunes time after time. In this respect there is a lot about him not to model. His personal life was often a disaster. My original goal of learning from him was altered because there is so much I don't aspire to. Making a fortune is great, but not if you lose it shortly thereafter. He also had a number of bad marriages and ended his own life.The parts I do want to copy are his methods of determining if something was working. He believed that the only way to test the truth of something was to see if he made money with it. He also used a method that stopped losses from becoming dangerous as he was often right, but early. The only time he felt guilty was when he altered his method on another persons advice against his better judgement.He did spend an absurd amount of money on stupid things and without this vice a lot of his life would have ended up better. This was a fantastic book, not just because of his personal history, but because of what it says about the period he lived in.

Excellent book. I did not know about the early workings of the stock market. It is fascinating.

international book purchase

I read everything that I can about Jesse Livermore, and have adopted most of his successful trading strategies. Livermore was also a master on speculating, and this book explained it well. I love this book because it filled in many details of his life that were unknown to me. But most important, the author included a number of Livermore trading gems, which I was able to put to use immediately. For example, I didn't realize how important it was to Livermore to only trade a few times a year, and only when he was sure he was right (he didn't always follow his own rules, unfortunately).Livermore was a fascinating man and the world's greatest speculator. I liked the book so much I read it twice and highlighted the most important parts (to me). Mr. Rubython did an excellent job of researching this book. Highly recommended.

The biography goes in to such detail and adds so much information about Livermores time and life. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in history, stock investing, trading or wants to know more about this legendary man.

The ups and downs in Livermore's life were stunning. I had some time ago read Reminiscenses of a Stock Operator and don't recall reading many of the facets of Livermore's life that are chronicled in this book. While the author admits that some details have been lost to time, I'd say a lot of attention was paid to getting the details right. Most events were 100 or more years ago, but I enjoyed an easy ability to imagine something of what those days must have been like.5 stars for this engaging story!

This book is a good complement to Reminiscence of a Stock Operator. It reads like both a novel and a history book. If you are a fan of Jessi Livermore this is a must read. Otherwise, you may not enjoy it. Parts of it are boring and I just had to push though. The book doesn't really answer the question of what happened to his $100 million. It just kind of disappears.

Brilliant

Even though Jesse is from another world - many of the things he did in the early 1920`s are just not feasible anymore - you can still learn a lot from the master.The book takes you back in time where it all started...

Good book, fills in lots of the details from Reminisces and as the author rightly states Reminisces is a good book but only for the first 2/3rds, the final part is rubbish and consists of basically filler articles.I work in the markets and I often hear what a great, perhaps even super trader Livermore was. However, I don't agree because a good/super trader adapts to any market (he has to), quiet, busy, volatile, messy etc. But Livermore didn't seem able to do this, he only was able to make money in the larger moves. Not only that, he was a crazy gambler, basically for much of his trading career an all or nothing guy, Red or Black, all in, no money left in reserve. Hence when he got it right he made so much money it was unreal but when wrong, boom, he was bankrupt and normally within a very short amount of time. But to do this you still need great skills so I'm not saying he was a mug-punter although he lost most if not all of his fortune. I think this was why he finally sadly took his own life, the pressure of all in gets to most if not all.If you're interested in Livermore buy the book it's a good read.

Extremely well written and very very interesting. As Scott Fitzgerald aptly said " Show me a hero and I will show you a tragedy" seems to apply to Livermore. This book can be enjoyed even by those who are not involved in the stock market.

Mandatory lecture for everyone who play on market.