Hari Gopal

A must-read for anyone who desires a greater understanding of stock markets, and how regular people can make money outside of speculative actions on the market. This book clearly defines boundaries between stock market speculation, and stock market investment, which is probably the most important lesson that wannabe investors should grasp.

Graham's writing is often hard to chew and digest. The presence of commentary on each chapter by Jason Zweig, however, ameliorates the difficulty by providing well-written, often funny, insights into how Graham's teachings still apply to the stock market.

I stopped reading this book quite some time ago, and every time I considered picking it back up, I was reminded of how dreadfully boring the writing was. What annoyed me most was what seemed to be the overdone british-ness of the characters... its hard to explain. The way the characters conversed just got on my nerves!

This is only the second book that I've read about Stock Market speculation, but I'm pretty sure that it'll be hard to find any better. While the second half of this book pretty much flew right over my head, I'm sure that there's something in the first half for everyone - especially amateurs or beginners such as myself.

Even though this book was written such a long time ago, I think the basic principles discussed here are still valid - many reviews echo this sentiment. I suppose the biggest plus about this book is that these principles aren't discussed in a dry, theoretical fashion, but instead, delivered through a series of (entertaining) experiences recounted by the narrator. If you're new to the stock market game, read this book. And if you're not, and you still haven't read this book, you probably should.

It's great for absolute beginners - examples are thrown in here and there to help explain concepts. This title covers pretty much everything that's needed for someone to get started with stock market investment. There are plenty of plugs of Kotak's services, but that's to be expected. And considering that the coupon in this book saved me from spending ₹750 for a Demat account at Kotak Securities, I think the plugs can be safely excused.

I loved this book. Just thought that I'd write that down here. In case, I forget.

According to Aldiko, I'm at the 27th page of a total 160 that this book possesses, and I've encountered dozens of grammatical mistakes, and improper word uses. This writing is dreadfully boring, and sentence construction is headache-inducing.

Yes, you may think that I'm not giving this book a chance but, quite frankly, I'm not willing to spend time on something that reads like an inept high-schooler's D-grade essay. The only upside, as far as I can tell, is that I spent only $2 to get this on smashwords.

You should take away two words from this review: Stay. Away.

Just couldn't bring myself to complete this one. Got about halfway through before I decided that I'd had enough of the whole air of hopelessness. I didn't particularly like the author's handling of ‘God' issues either. Every time the topic of a character's belief in god came up, all I could think was “Oh, please, not this again!” This sparrow is flying straight into the trash-can!

This is a great, quick read. Couldn't put it down once I'd started late yesterday night. Now it's 5:00 AM, and here I am writing a review.

I kept picturing the lead character, Jack Holloway, as some sort of American Old-West Anti-Hero. The way he slid into the role of the fuzzies' protectors was both believable, and... satisfying. It helped that the story moved at a very brisk pace, spending just enough time on characters and settings. Events that occurred towards the end of the story even made me cry (a bit). I really can't remember the last time, that's happened.

Still, this is not a masterpiece. Superb, but not special. Hence, the four stars.

What strikes me most, after reading this huge novel, is how well the large number of story threads are weaved together. And there is such mind-boggling variety in the stories! This book... well, I shouldn't call it one book, for even though, all the threads are connected (in fantastic ways), each can stand alone. Heck, there's even a murder mystery thread in here whose prime purpose is to familiarize us, the readers, with one of the existing lead characters, and introduces another who we'd never imagine could play a large role in such a story.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who thinks of himself / herself as a Sci-Fi lover. However I'd also warn them that the sheer bulk of the story can be intimidating. I was more than a little confused during the first third of this epic, mainly due to barrage of new threads. But eventually, I figured out that I shouldn't be trying to find connections in such a huge book, and it got a lot more enjoyable after that.

This is one very long journey and, you should be warned, its destination is a cliffhanger of, literally, epic proportions. The journey, however, is certainly worth it.

Entertaining, and gripping. Those two words describe this book for me. It isn't complex, in any way - but neither is any of the content dumbed down. I was surprised to learn that this book was published more than a hundred years ago - the writing felt surprisingly modern, well, except for some rare (glaring) oddities.

By the way, Goodreads' blurb for this book is misleading. It traces the entire life of our hero White Fang, and the nice prospector enters the story only towards the end.

Oh, and it has a perfectly happy ending. So yay for that!

The idea behind this story is something a fantasy-addict like me can't help but love. The execution was, however, somewhat lacking. I kept hoping Zelany would shed some light into how the world, that the new Buddha lives in, came to be, but alas! This story sticks like superglue to a short (relative) time-frame.

This same lack of information extends to characters as well. I really would have liked to find out how the gods came to their powers, but other than hints dropped here and there, distant background information is utterly absent. Zelany teases us by inserting the real names of the god-humans in a few sections of the story, and then... nothing. Other than making it obvious that our protagonist knows a whole lot more than he's speaking (or even thinking) of, we're left high and dry.

Still, this is a book that no sci-fi / fantasy lover can ignore. The meat of the book is highly satisfying, and while the thus-spake-thee speech becomes boring after a while, it's easy to appreciate the contrast between the old-style speech of the future and the modern speech of the past in the few places they occur.

There's only so much negativity that I can take before I decide that a book isn't worth it. Considering the fact that I really liked the first, I had high hopes for this one; But the whole air of hopelessness that hangs over every single event in Royal Assassin just makes it hard to swallow. I'd have imagined the lead character ‘Fitz' to have grown up a bit for this second book but, if anything, he's more of an idiot. Some of the decisions made by the good guys just make no sense whatsoever.

MINOR SPOILER ALERT

We're told in this book that Fitz is strong in the ‘Skill', but because of how he was traumatized by Galen's teachings, he's somehow blocked his own powers. We're also told that the King-in-waiting - who desperately needs strong Skill-users - simply has no time to teach Galen how to to use his powers. I'm simply not able to swallow that load of rubbish! Practically all of the problems in this book follow from our dear Fitz being powerless to do anything!

Then there's how the Verity and Shrewd manage Regal. If one of your sons just tried to (and nearly did) kill the other - I imagine there'd be a bit of an issue raised. In Robin Hobb's world, the worst that the perpetrator can expect is a slap on the hand and a (gentle) reminder that it isn't polite to kill one's siblings.

Oh, and don't even get me started on the ‘Fool' character - Hobb tries so hard to make him interesting, fascinating, and all that - but the fact that his cryptic clues always leave our poor dim-witted Fitz scratching his head... it just makes for really poor reading material.

So... I'm definitely not picking up the third book and, possibly not any R.H. books - for a very long while.

Anybody who has read and liked ‘The Name of the Wind' should pick this one up. Easy to read, and high quality all the way through.

I just don't want to read any more of this book. The pacing is quick, but unexciting. The setting is unique (in my experience), but the execution is boring. I thought I'd love a book about cats, but I guess my affection for felines can't get me through strictly average writing.

Jim Butcher is the first author I've encountered whose writing style reminded me of David Gemmell. And from my point of view, that's a very good thing. I didn't like how little time we spent with the main character, though - very non-Gemmell-ish in that respect, but the fast-paced action, grey-ness in good and bad, magic system is all very nice and gripping. Quite a page-turner.

So much of this book is different from the previous two entries that it just felt wrong. And the lead character, for a myriad not-so-believable reasons, has become whiny and introspective. We spend, maybe a solid 50% of the text listening to what's going on inside her head - and none of it is impressive. I found it really, really hard to trudge through this volume - and did so, only for series completion's sake.

Couldn't get through this book. It felt like dragging myself through mud. Very thick, goopy, mud. The writing was dreadfully boring! I stopped when the protagonist and his girlfriend-like companion got to some weird huge greenhouse-like place where a whole bunch of weird things were happenening.

I was worried whether, after how the last book ended, this one would turn out to be a sop-fest. To my relief, the ‘soppiness' is kept to a minimum, and the focus is squarely on action. The ‘revelation' towards the middle of this volume was a surprise (in a nice way), but the scenario that led to seemed rushed. And the ending, sigh... talk about leaving you hanging!

Usually I find if troublesome to get through books with female lead characters. Thankfully, ‘The Final Empire' is an exception. This ‘totally serious' book describes a world where there is constant Ash fall (the source of which is never discussed), where a God-emperor rules with the an iron fist. Hah! See what I did there? No? Then read the book to find out. :)

First of all, this is a must read for any fan of fantasy books. Go get a copy (quick!), and start reading.

There's everything in here that one expects from a regular fantasy novel, except that the quality is leaps and bounds beyond any ‘regular' novel.

Can't wait for the rest of this series to be published!

Protagonist is an ‘Angry Young Man'... Check. Has great hidden powers... Check. Meets a beautiful maiden at the beginning of the tale... Check. Falls madly in love with her... Check. Has powerful friends (Wizard / Warrior)... Check. His enemies are even more powerful, and are absolutely Evil (with a capital E)... Check. I could go on and on.

If someone were to sit and create a template for Fantasy-Action-Adventure genre, they'd be wasting their time - ‘Cuz this book is IT.

And I can't really recommend it or, the rest of the 12 books in the series. If its action you're looking for, there are better options - Gemmell's works, for example. If its quality of writing and a believable world, there are better - check out Guy Gavriel Kay or Dan Simmons. And if you have the time to invest in a epic storyline, you could do better there as well - see David Eddings' or Robert Jordan's work (though those aren't exactly high quality either, just better).

This book is just so... mediocre. I felt like stopping more than a few times, but I plowed through - to an ending that I saw coming a mile (and a half) away.

This is high quality science fiction. Technical jargon is kept to a minimum, and the focus on character development is extreme. Do not skip this book if you're even slightly interested in the sci-fi genre.

There are a lot of fun moments in here, but everything is so similar to the last three books that it's hard to recommend it.

Percy starts to grow up... and everything starts to get mushy. There's really nothing new in this book. No ‘startling' moments, only more of the same from the last four entries in this series. To top it all, the ending was totally predictable. IMHO, this is the worst book in the series, but it's still ‘OK'.

Quick read, just like there first book. Content is somewhat better, and the ending was surprising!