Leon Levy was a legendary investor, a founder of Oppenheimer Funds and the guiding force behind Oppenheimer as well as several other investment ventures. Now, with Wall Street stuck in a prolonged rut, it's appropriate to turn for insights to a man who predicted the current decline, and who managed to prosper in nearly every market of the past fifty years.

Levy explains why the market so often confounds us, and why those who ought to understand it often don't. It was Levy's avocations, psychology and archaeology, that led to his most perceptive and lasting insights into the market--many of his innovations and investment instruments are now familiar parts of the financial landscape--and in The Mind of Wall Street he recounts stories of his successes and failures to illustrate how investor psychology and willful self-deception so often play critical roles in whether money is gained or lost. Like his peers George Soros and Warren Buffet, Levy took a long and broad view of the rhythms of the markets and the economy. His thoughts are sometimes surprising, and his advice is always sound.

Into the breach comes one of Wall Street's legendary investors, Leon Levy, to explain why the market so often confounds us, and why those who ought to understand it tend to get chewed up and spat out. Levy, who pioneered many of the innovations and investment instruments that we now take for granted, has prospered in every market for the past fifty years, particularly in today's bear market. In The Mind of Wall Street he recounts stories of his successes and failures to illustrate how investor psychology and willful self-deception so often play critical roles in the process. Like his peers George Soros and Warren Buffett, Levy takes a long and broad view of the rhythms of the markets and the economy. He also offers a provocative analysis of the spectacular Internet bubble, showing that the market has not yet completely recovered from its bout of "irrational exuberance."

The Mind of Wall Street is essential reading for all of us, whether we are active traders or simply modest contributors to our 401(k) plans, as volatile and unnerving markets come to define so much of our net worth.