For nearly 50 years, I have avidly read nearly every worthwhile book available on the subject of investments and trading (and many of lesser quality as well). Of the many titles I have studied, one comes to mind as the most entertaining, enjoyable and educational of all: Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. Written and first published nearly 75 years ago (1923), it is still just as timely and relevant today as it was when I first read it some 30 years ago. For many reasons, it gets top billing among my own all-time favorites.

Reminiscences is the thinly-disguised biography of Jesse Livermore, an exceptionally colorful and flamboyant speculator in stocks and commodities in the early-to-mid-20th century who made...and lost...four multi-million dollar fortunes. A contemporary of other legendary traders, such as Arthur Cutten, Jay Gould, James Keene and John D. Rockefeller, Livermore was once blamed for causing the 1929 Crash and for precipitating every market break from 1917 to 1940. Equally adept in the stocks and commodities markets, Livermore is one of the most exciting figures haunting the annals of American market history.

The first part of the book provides some of the most interesting history, describing Livermore's early career as a young boy working as an operator in a brokerage office, chalking up prices of transactions. In these early days, prior to government-enforced security regulations, "bucket shops" were prevalent. They were little more than betting parlors, where speculators could place bets on razor-thin margins.

The operators were often swindlers who never actually executed buy or sell orders but, instead, threw them into a bucket. They knew that, because of punitive margin rules and other tricks they employed, the vast majority of bets would be wiped out by minor fluctuations, enabling them to pocket a good portion of the invested funds.

Young Livermore developed an uncanny feel for market movement after years of daily observation, and he learned to out-swindle the bucket shop swindlers by turning their own dishonest methods against them. He discovered how to anticipate their manipulations and those of large market operators.

He was a devoted tape reader who developed an exceptionally accurate ability to anticipate price fluctuations and who amassed huge fortunes from his trading activities. Livermore soon became so well known among the bucket shop operators that he was banned from "playing" (this is "reminiscent", no pun intended, of my friend Russell Sands at the Vegas blackjack tables!).

Once called the Boy Plunger, he lost heavily when occasionally wrong or when opposing market operators successfully "ganged up" on him, twice losing all his capital, starting again from scratch, and each time rebuilding large fortunes.

The book recounts the many trading campaigns and escapades of Livermore's illustrious career and is replete with insightful market wisdom, philosophy and anecdotes. It is thought to be one of the greatest books ever written on trading psychology, offering an enormous degree of insight into the psychological aspects of successful investing.

The timeless themes discussed in Reminiscences make this book difficult to put down and as timely today as it was decades ago. It's a book bound to become your own favorite among investment titles, destined for many delightful re-readings during the coming years of your own investment career.