First of all, "The Money Game" starts out with the thesis that the stock market and all other equity markets are just a game. It is not long-term investing that wins in this game for most. This would be heresy for most finance professors and financial planners out there. One example from the book involves a family that passed IBM stock down from generation to generation, it was only sold to cover estate taxes. Many members in the family became very wealthy. However, they worked just hard as their cohorts with no money, and the buy and hold stretagy profited them almost nothing despite the fact that they were "wealthy." Another example is a man who died in the late 1800s with a portfolio worth over $1,000,000. By the time the inheretence was passed down, the portfolio was worth 0, as the companies had gone out of business.
"The Money Game" gives a great explanation of crital issues such as technical analysis, fundamental analysis, mass psychology, mutual funds and their managers, "performance" vs. more conservative funds, accounting practices, random walk theory, "valuation" of equities, and most importantly the money game itself.
Ever wonder how a company like Priceline.com could be worth more than the market capitalization of all the airline stocks put together? This book explains how something so out of whack can happen and gives many examples.
In this game, money is how you keep score. When someone is making lots of money, they are winning the game. When they are loosing money, they are loosing the game. But the game is there to be played, win, lose, or draw. For the players, it's just too tempting to stay in, it is vital, it is life for many.
If you want to learn how to apply analysis for making money in the stock market read Peter Lynch's books Beating the Street and One Up on Wall Street, read Malkiel's book A Random Walk Down Wall Street, read Jack Bogle's new book on mutual funds, read all of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reports, and subscribe to Outstanding Investor's Digest.
The one interesting point in The Money Game worth learning is that corruption has ALWAYS been a part of Wall Street. All earnings reports should be taken with a grain of salt unless you're an expert in analysing them! Companies have been managing their earnings for decades! Wall Street is like any other market: Caveat Emptor