Investor Behavior: Book review by David Merkel, CFA of AlephBlog
Ordinarily, I read all of the books that I review, but when I don’t, I tell my readers. This book I started to read, but I found it so dry that I started skimming it. It’s not that I don’t know the material; it is that I do know it.
The book covers most areas of behavioral finance, however, it does it in an academic way. The book would be ideal for academics and those that appreciate an academic approach to finance, that want to have a taste of many different areas of behavioral finance.
There are more engaging books for practitioners and average investors to read — you would even do better reading articles like this from a leading blogger. (Those at Amazon, please come to Aleph Blog if you want the links.)
Summary
When I review books, I try to say who it would be good for — in this case, it is academics. Let average market participants seek elsewhere for more engaging content. If you still want to buy it, you can buy it here: Investor Behavior: The Psychology of Financial Planning and Investing.
Full disclosure: The PR flack asked me if I would like a copy and I said “yes.”
If you enter Amazon through my site, and you buy anything, I get a small commission. This is my main source of blog revenue. I prefer this to a “tip jar” because I want you to get something you want, rather than merely giving me a tip. Book reviews take time, particularly with the reading, which most book reviewers don’t do in full, and I typically do. (When I don’t, I mention that I scanned the book. Also, I never use the data that the PR flacks send out.)
Most people buying at Amazon do not enter via a referring website. Thus Amazon builds an extra 1-3% into the prices to all buyers to compensate for the commissions given to the minority that come through referring sites. Whether you buy at Amazon directly or enter via my site, your prices don’t change.
