for ever.
In a zero-sum game, the only way players can win is by taking a larger slice of the same cake. To most people, the disadvantage of the zero-sum situation is that you can only win, over time, if you have expertise. The advantage is that you cannot lose over time if you have expertise. In variable-sum games, like stock markets, you can lose everything, with or without expertise, as many investors did in the 1930’s – and in recurrent property busts throughout history.
The currency markets are a pure zero-sum game, the only one in fact.
SHORTLIST OF MUST READING
Alchemy of Finance, The 68 . An original account of the ‘new investment way’. By George Soros. weidenfeld, London,
1988, ISBN 0 297 79331 4.
Big Hitters, The 68, 86-7 . By Kevin Koy, Intermarket Publishing, Chicago 1986. ISBN 0 9374 5300 5. Worth reading for its interview with Peter Steidlmayer alone.
Market Wizards: interviews with top traders 82 . Masterpiece. By Jack Schwager. new york institute of finance
1989. ISBN 0 13 556093 4.
Psychology of Consciousness, The
114 . By Robert Ornstein. Get the first edition 1973, if you can, for a helpful discussion of left and right brain consciousness and other topics, including Sufism. Penguin, 1986; ISBN 0 14 02 2621 4.
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator 76 . A classic. By Edwin Lefevre. The story of the trading experiences of the great Jesse Livermore – larry livingstone in the text. 1985 hardback published by Trader Press Inc. ISBN 0 934380 11 2.
The Futures Game, by teweles and jones. recommended overview of futures trading. McGraw-Hill, 1987; paperback ISBN 0 07 063734 2.
The Way of Zen . the best introduction to zen. by alan watts (Pelican ISBN 0 14 020547 0).
What do you say After you say Hello?
The best easy expose of Transactional Analysis, by Eric Berne. Corgi Books1972. ISBN 0 552 09806 X.