Because of the high praise this book recieved I was expecting some new insights or a different perspective on market psychology. Here it failed miserably. Pass on this one.
Chu enlightens us with notions such as "living to accumulate more money suggests that we are somewhat empty and incomplete, dependent on some external activity or substance to give us meaning." Chu also advocates trading with Zen-like detachment from short-term consequences. AS a money manager, I can attest to his wisdom.
Yet Mind of the Market doesn't face the unpleasant and unprofitable truth about the unfettered free market. Chu contends the existing market gives participants an opportunity to "lift themselves off their knees and to walk out of the darkness towards the sunlight." Although he admits a "small minority" doesn't have access to self-advancement (a "flaw" of a market economy), other people simply "whine about their unequal status." After all, unequal status is the market's incentive for production.
Chu's celebration of the unfettered free market ignores the huge number of souls who don't have proper nutrition, let alone capital to invest. This "flaw" is no more inevitable than it is tolerable, for there is nothing in the concept of a market economy that requires that purchasing power and opportunity be highly concentrated rather than widely distributed. While I agree with Chu's claim that unequal status motivates people, the important question is how much inequality is enought to motivate people.
Poverty is not a popular concern these days, and raising questions about distribution of wealth won't help anyone's career on Wall Street or in politics. But unflinching intellectual honesty can raise one's spiritual standing. Chu could teach the world some important lessons if only he would rethink Wall Street's advice to let capital be capital. As Chu himself says, "Few individuals have the nerve to stand outside the crowd. Indeed, to go against the crowd successfully is the hallmark of greatness...[Capitalism] humiliates those who defensively cling to the status quo."