Soros: The Life, Ideas, and Impact of the World's Most Influential Investor

By Robert Slater

Book Overview

"A penniless survivor of the Nazi occupation of Hungary, George Soros is now one of the richest men in the world, and Robert Slater does an excellent job of helping us understand how Soros did it. . . . Slater distinguishes Soros from other great investors by explaining his mental processes . . . . He explains how Soros views markets as chaotic, not efficient, and very prone to boom-bust sequences. . . . Slater has written a fascinating volume."--Barron's

The highly acclaimed bestseller updated to reveal Soros' role in our new economic and political era

As a financial genius, global philanthropist, political activist, man of conscience, and the world's only investor with his own foreign policy--it cannot be denied that Soros is an enigmatic man of enormous influence. For more than four decades he has been so successful that he has been accused of directing the course of global markets and shaping the destinies of nations.

Now, in this exhaustively updated and expanded edition of his 1996 bestseller, biographer Robert Slater separates fact from fiction to get at the truth about the mysterious figure of George Soros. Working from extensive interviews with Soros and those closest to him, Slater combines compelling biographical detail with scrupulous analysis to: Detail how Soros made his billions as a global currency trader and stock operator Chronicle his role in bringing down communism and establishing open societies to Eastern Europe and the former USSR Demystify Soros's macroeconomic approach to investing and his oft-misunderstood theory of reflexivity Explore his fanatical obsession with unseating George W. Bush in 2004 and his growing involvement with left-wing political activist groups Reveal George Soros's strategies for surviving and thriving in the chaos of today's credit markets --------

He's been hailed as the "World's Greatest Investor" and "King of the Hedge Funds." In the 1980s he worked tirelessly and spent lavishly to help bring down communism in Eastern Europe and establish open societies where none existed. Yet he now asserts that his life's mission is to defend democracy against capitalism and "excessive individualism". An avowed liberal, he's vilified on the right and admired by many on the left.

George Soros has been making headlines for more than four decades, yet he remains as much an enigma as ever--especially to those who would divine the secrets behind his phenomenal success as a global investor. Now, in this thoroughly updated, substantially expanded edition of his 1996 bestseller Soros, biographer Robert Slater goes beyond the headlines and the oft-told tales to reveal the man behind the legend.

Working from extensive interviews with Soros himself, as well as Soros's business associates and friends, Slater traces his subject's life across two continents and more than seven decades. We see Soros as a Hungarian boy whose favorite game was Monopoly; a Jewish teenager on the run from the Gestapo; an migr in England who waited tables and served as a lifeguard tp survive; a burgeoning intellectual at the London School of Economics with a flair for analytical philosoph; and as a new arrival to his adoptive homeland, the USA.

Slater also closely tracks Soros's meteoric rise from unsuccessful gold arbitrageur to "The Man Who Moves Markets." He chronicles many of Soros's financial triumphs and missteps, digging deep to provide new insights into some of his most sensational coups, including Soros's history-making move against the Pound-a play that netted him a cool $1 billion and seemingly threatened to break The Bank of England.

And in entirely new chapters devoted to Soros's political awakening, Slater describes his growing involvement with national politics during the 1990s, his role in helping to launch the liberal political action group, Americans Coming Together, his mountin

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0071608443
• ISBN13: 9780071608442
• Release Date: December 2008
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.49 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

An interesting story book, but not for trading

Although quite out of date, this is the most interesting amongst all other bibliographies of Soros I ever read. This could be attributed to that the author could not get direct info from Soros or his associates at all. Without the burden of returning any favor, the author could quote whatever and whoever (some ex Soros partners) he liked, particularly criticisms, which were the most interesting parts of the book. Other parts, like how Soros broke the Bank of England, how he identified with his Hungarian Jewish identity, how he failed to become a philospher and turned into a trader, should be good enough to satisfy most readers' curiosity on the early part (on or before 1994) of Soro's life. For those traders who want to know the trading secrets, go somewhere else. p.s. As a trader, I still would like to quote something from the book for my fellows' reference:-1. Page 60: What Soros understood better than most were the cause and effect relationships in the world's economies. If A happened, that B must follow, then C after that.2. Page 83: The stock market is always wrong, so that if you copy everybody else on Wall Street, you're doomed to do poorly. 3. Page 85: In 1979, Soros renamed his fund...Quantum Fund, in tribute to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics. That principle asserts that it is impossible to predict the behavior of subatomic particples in quantum mechanics, an idea that meshed with Soros's conviction that markets were always in a state of uncertainty and flux that it was possible to make money by discounting the obvious, and betting on the unexpected. 4. Page 92: Soros always says that you shouldnt be in the market unless you are willing to take the pain.5. Page 110: Short term volatility is greatest at turning points and diminishes as a trend becomes established. 6. Page 159: It is not whether you are right or wrong, but how much money you make when you are right and how much money you lose when you are wrong....If you have tremendous conviction on a trade you have to go for the jugular.It takes courage to be a pig. It takes courage to ride a profit with huge leverage.... When you right on something, you cant own enough.

Primer of Thought

This book helps decipher the code of a great speculator. Financiers like Soros help keep the financial and economical mkt mesh in sync. Recent news on the dismantling of his Quantum (largest hedge fund in the world) and Quota funds has many on the street bewildered about his authority, but it should be understood that Soros publicly announced about two years ago that he no longer meddled in any of the funds' investments. This is a good book that explains the why's of a worldly speculator.

good book, bad character

After reading this book, I thing the author was pretty neutral. But the conclusion is just one:these kind of investors are the synthesis of what rotten there is in capitalism.

Interesting. A must for understanding the great speculator

Actually, this is the first of biography I reads about an investor. I am quite amased that I would enjoy it. I don't care what other people think of it or whether it is "authorized" or not. It tells a great story about the life of the great speculator from his early life, which shaped his investment and personal philosophy, onwards. It is a good book of introduction for understanding Soros investment theory -- "reflexism", because it kept track of facts, and put the rights and wrongs of his investment decisions in the frame of reality. It also recorded the comments from people worked with him. Thus, more objective or factual than "Soro on Soro", which is the next book I read about him. I also like what the author write about the collapse of British Pound in 1992. It gave details about how Soro formed his strategy and excuted it, with undoubtly a great success.

Incisive literature about the "World's Greatest Investor"

Amazingly enough, I actually enjoyed reading this book. Not only was it informative, it also gave good insights into Soros's investment strategies and philantropic work. Still, since this book is an "unauthorized biography", I believe that a better product can be written by synthesizing the contents of this book with those of "Soros on Soros".