Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire
Author: Michael T. Kaufman
List Price: $27.50
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ISBN: 0375405852
Publisher: Knopf (19 February, 2002)
Sales Rank: 72,480
Average Customer Rating: 3.4 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 4 out of 5
Not bad...perhaps a bit unbalanced
The book basically divides Soros' life into three phases:
1. Childhood survival against the Nazis in Hungary during WW II
2. Financial successes and philosophical failures
3. PhilanthropyWhat I found puzzling is how much of the text was spent on Soros' philanthropic activities. They deserve a significant portion of the text, but well over half of the text is devoted to this. I would have been interested, for example, in seeing some experts from Soros "Burden", and trying to understand a bit better what issues Soros was trying to describe in his own book, but could not.
Having said all this, this was a well researched, well written, well referenced biography. This is not a trading book, and those seeking trading advice should look elsewhere.
Rating: 5 out of 5
A Terrific Book on a Fascinating Individual!
Michael Kaufman has written a terrific biography on a fascinating, complex man. Soros has been revealed to be a man who has carved his own way in the cookie-cutter business world. I was pleased the way Mr. Kaufman wrote how Soros' dreams of becoming a philosopher manifested itself from his childhood. The book is short on investing techniques and how he got rich as a hedge-fund manager. However, it shows a man of surprising depth, integrity, and the ability to survive no matter what he has faced in his life. The book is a must-read for investors and others who want to understand what it takes to follow your dreams.
Rating: 1 out of 5
a book about his personal life (not financial life)
I was disappointed. Even if you do want a book about Soros' personal life, the presentation was boring. It was doubly boring for me because I was hoping to learn something about his financial history. There is Shamefully little of that in there. Even the 1/3 of the book entitled "Making Money" was not about that. There are enough uncritical biographies written about his personal life. When is someone going to write a critical account of his financial history? That is the interesting part. There is the story. Too much about his philanthropy...this book had an agenda. Similar Products
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