“Ta nghèo khi sinh ra nhưng khi chết ta sẽ không nghèo”, đây chính là tín điều của George Soros - một người được ca tụng là “nhà đầu tư vĩ đại nhất thế giới” và là “ông vua của những Quỹ Đầu tư mạo hiểm”.
Cái tên George Soros đã trở nên hết sức quen thuộc với phố Wall cũng như với toàn thế giới. Người ta biết đến ông như một nhà tỷ phú thành công nhất trong lĩnh vực đầu tư tư bản. Phía sau những thành công đó, Soros là một nhà kinh doanh đầy cá tính và đã phải trải qua nhiều thăng trầm trong kinh doanh...
Ngay từ khi còn bé, Soros đã tự nhận mình là “thần thánh” và thích cư xử như mình vượt lên trên những trẻ con khác. Lớn lên, mong ước đó của cậu bé Soros có thể nói đã trở thành hiện thực. George Soros đã là đề tài tranh luận trên báo chí trong hơn bốn thập kỷ, nhưng hơn bao giờ hết, ông vẫn là một bí ẩn - đặc biệt là đối với những ai muốn tìm hiểu các bí mật đằng sau thành công kỳ lạ của ông trong vai trò nhà đầu tư toàn cầu.
Tuy nhiên, với cuốn sách này, Robert Slater - nhà viết sử, tác giả của trên 30 cuốn sách bán chạy nhất nước Mỹ, đã đưa ra ánh sáng con người đứng sau các huyền thoại. Slater đã theo dõi chặt chẽ sự vươn lên nhanh chóng của Soros từ một người chẳng mấy thành công trong kinh doanh vàng lên vị trí “người làm dịch chuyển các thị trường”. Ông cũng ghi chép lại nhiều thắng lợi và những bước hụt của Soros trong ngành tài chính, đào sâu vào để có cái nhìn thấu đáo mới về một vài phi vụ nổi đình đám nhất của Soros, kể cả nước cờ làm nên lịch sử của ông chống lại đồng bảng Anh - một canh bạc đã mang lại cho ông một tỷ đô la và cũng gần như đe dọa làm phá sản Ngân hàng Anh Quốc.
Với cách viết rõ ràng, rành rọt, có sức hấp dẫn và thu hút người đọc, Slater đã đặt chúng ta vào tâm trí của một thiên tài đầu tư toàn cầu và cho chúng ta một cái nhìn vô giá, vượt qua thời gian và không gì so sánh nổi trong tính nhạy bén về tài chính cũng như lòng vị tha rộng khắp của Soros.
Đọc "Soros", ta sẽ thấy sáng sủa thay cho hỗn loạn, lợi lộc thay cho mất mát. Đặc biệt, với những người quan tâm đến kinh doanh, tài chính và đến tương lai thì càng không thể bỏ qua những điều viết trong sách này.
Lưu ý khi đọc
Nội dung sách còn có một bài phỏng vấn với Soros mà chưa bao giờ được công bố trên các phương tiện thông tin đại chúng về những dự đoán về thị trường toàn cầu trong tương lai.
Những trích dẫn đặc sắc / Những lời nhận xét đặc biệt về sách
"Khi thị trường sụp đổ bạn hãy vớ lấy cuốn sách này, tìm một chỗ yên tĩnh nằm co lại mà đọc, thở một hơi sâu rồi sẽ thấy sáng sủa thay cho hỗn loạn, lợi lộc thay cho mất mát." - Robert E. Wright, GD viện bảo tàng tài chính Mỹ
Những nội dung khác
Những học thuyết tài chính, tiền tệ mà ông đưa ra thật khiến ta được mở mang đầu óc nhưng phải suy ngẫm, phải xoay qua xoay lại mới có thể hiểu phần nào đó. Mỗi câu nói của ông đều bao hàm ẩn ý, những chỉ dẫn sâu sắc.
Robert Slater was an American author and journalist known for over two dozen books, including biographies of political and business figures such as Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, George Soros, and Donald Trump. Slater was born in Manhattan and grew up in South Orange, New Jersey. He graduated from Columbia High School in 1962 and graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania in 1966, with a degree in political science. In 1967 he received a master's degree in international relations from the London School of Economics. He worked for United Press International (UPI) from 1969 to 1971 before moving to Jerusalem, where he worked for UPI until 1974; and for Time magazine in Jerusalem from 1976 to 1996. From 1987 and 1990 he was chairman of the Foreign Press Association in Israel. In his later years he was a columnist for The Jerusalem Report, and mentored young journalists at The Jerusalem Post. He lived for much of his life in Israel, and with his wife, Elinor, co-authored the books Great Jewish Women and Great Jewish Men.
Having finished the book, I must conclude that a biography endorsed by Soros himself instead would've probably been a better choice. Since this "Unauthorized Biography" is the only one I've read, however, I can't and won't include any comparisons with other works about the renowned investor.
My first issue with "The Unauthorized Biography" is its fragmentary structure. Some events, such as George Soros' 1992 attack on the British pound, receive more attention, to the point that the author dumps the format of the narrative he himself established, and even goes on a digression about the British authorities' response to the crisis, which allowed speculators like Soros to make millions. On the other hand, young George remains a mystery to me even after lecturing the 250 pages of the book. The author stresses on the sufferings Soros endured as a child during WWII and his aspiration to become a philosopher, but that really doesn't shed much light on his activities before ~1980. Why did he become "The World's Greatest Investor"?
George Soros is rarely quoted directly. I constantly got this itch that we deserve to know more, but Robert Slater chose another approach. He describes certain events as if attempting to dissect George Soros' mind and inner workings. It feels like the latter, and not the author, is speaking to us directly. I started wondering if this is really how Soros thinks or thought (based on the books he wrote and interviews, I figure this is most likely) or are these just vague interpretations from the author.
Still, "The Unauthorized Biography" is worth a read if you have no idea who George Soros is and what ideas he tries to push forward. The writing style is accessible and you'll be done with the book in no time. Keep in mind that I started it because I wanted to know more about Soros; right now I want to know EVEN more. What gives? In other words, as an introduction, this book is a job well done. The only thing left to do is to read all the other books as well.
I chose to read this book because I always hear radical right wingers ranting about how evil George Soros is. I knew nothing about him, so I wanted to learn more.
The book was a bit dull for me. I wasn't that interested in the ups and downs of his financial investments. As far as being a great villain as portrayed by conservatives: first the accusation that his was a Nazi during WWII is ridiculous. According to the book he was hiding in basements with his family. The root of that accusation comes from the story that at age 13 his father bribed a local government official to give his son a fake (non-Jewish) ID card and have him pretend that he was the official's own son. The official's job was to catalogue property owned by Jews that were deported by the Nazis. At times he took Soros along on his jobs.
Beyond that Soros invested in a lot of foundations that tried to promote open societies in former communist countries. In 1994 he got involved in American politics with the goal of unseating President Bush. The book ends at about 2008. Not sure how involved he's been in American politics since then.
The book claims that Soros really wanted to be recognized as a great philosopher. He believed he created a theory that could be applied both to economics and life itself, which he called Reflexivity. It had something to do with irrational trends being created by perceptions that were not in line with facts.
My overall take is that extremely wealthy people have too much power and influence over American politics, regardless of whether they support the right or left.
Intriguing tell-all about one of the world’s most successful investors
George Soros is a fascinating personality. As one of the greatest investors in history, he is worth studying for his investment ideas alone. But Soros has never dwelled on his incredible trading success or his astounding income. Instead, he has sought recognition for his worldwide philanthropies. Robert Slater intelligently presents the story of this complicated, controversial and quick-witted billionaire. His account includes details about Soros’s investment strategies and achievements, as well as his vast philanthropic projects. getAbstract considers this an intriguing biography of one of the century’s most interesting investors and social philosophers – a remarkably complex self-made man.
The book is a biography of George Soros by Robert Slater. The author stops himself from calling it an authorized biography and has relied on documentary evidence and interviews with his colleagues and friends to stitch the story. The chapters related to origins of Mr Soros and his evolution into the financial giant of the hedge fund industry is described in detail. Successful trades and loss making trades have provided equal insights to describe the trading philosophy of Soros. The chapters related to philanthropy and the political landscape contributions tend to be lacklustre and could have been written better. Overall financial enthusiasts can feel free to skip to financial journey and ignore the last few chapters.
2 billion in profit on one macro trade in 1992... amazing. I learned a lot about his fund, philanthropy, and events that shaped his life. This book repeats itself a bit, and dramatizes/adds emotion at moments that were over the top. There are probably better Soros biographies out there, but this one did the job for me.
Sebelum membaca buku ini, saya ternyata hanya tahu sedikit tentang Soros. Meskipun saya tidak sepakat dengan nilai-nilai spekulatif yang dianut oleh Soros, seperti yang diungkapkan dalam buku ini, kisah hidupnya sangat menarik untuk disimak. Buku ini juga lebih menarik karena membahas hipotesis tentang keterlibatannya dalam krisis keuangan di berbagai negara, termasuk Krisis Asia 1998.
O livro apresenta de maneira bastante fluída a biografia de um dos maiores (senão o maior) investidor da história e ainda apresenta várias nuances de suas principais ideias. Atende ao que se propõe e vale a leitura.
Found the book to be longer than it needed to be and on the dull side. From what I gathered; George Soros is not the kind of person I want to know. If anybody else is looking for a book to read or someone to read about, I’d say pass on this one.
Onaylanmamış bir biyografi olması kitabın büyük bir eksisi , internetten bile çok daha fazla bir bilgiye sahip olunacak, nokta atışları olmayan bir kitap benim için sadece yazılmış olmak için yazılmış bir kitap niteliği taşımakta maalesef:(
Perfect introduction to George Soros, not too detailed not too high level. The structure of the narration felt a bit random but did give enough insight and arguments of both sides into character and traits of the man.
In addition to reflexivity, refined intuition, and greater intellectual depth, Soros conveys an admirable stance: he doesn't want to be right; he likes to make money. Robert Slater created a brilliant biography, combining an extraordinary life story with an impressive ability to write and articulate. The book provides important lessons for investors in dealing with day-to-day market life. For those who love good reading, it shows how the mind of a great thinker works.
A pretty insightful look into the thinking and personality of George Soros. My main take away was that perception is everything in this world and you are at an advantage when you are able to see beyond what the masses see. Soros' theory of refexivity is built on the idea that there exist an gap between reality and perception and perception is really the self reinforcing effect of subjective belief evolving into fact.This to me, seems like be in the realm of Economic Psychology.
What's most interesting is that Soros' motivation to make money in investments was due to a desire to write as a philosopher. Along the way he found that he was a better investor than a philosopher and is happy to admit this.
A well written account of George Soros's life, which provides some insights into his ideas and theories of investment and market behavior. This book covers the essential aspects of Soros's life, from his humble beginnings to becoming the 'man who broke the bank of England', but the events are not narrated in chronological order so its sort of difficult to navigate through this book, anyways finance grads and young traders will find this a fascinating read.
Mặc dù quyển sách viết khá đầy đủ nhưng có vẻ vẫn chưa làm rõ được rất nhiều vấn đề về Soros. Cuốn sách cũng không có nhiều số liệu mà có thể làm người đọc choáng váng. Rất nhẹ nhàng, không quá nặng cũng không quá dồn dập. Nhưng đây rõ ràng không phải là một cuốn tiểu sử, không thể mong đợi gì hơn. Mà đây là một cuốn sách điểm qua một cách sơ lược toàn bộ quá trình đầu tư tạo nên uy thế của Soros.
Even though autobiographies can be puffed up and exaggerated, I personally found this one very motivating. Soros has a tremendous and professional work ethic both as a macro investor and a philanthropist that is very inspiring to me as a full time investor
اگر فرض رو بر فایده محوری بگیرم حجم کتاب خیلی بیشتر از محتوای مفیدی که دارد است و از لحاظ داستانی هم -به نسبت بعضی کتاب های دیگر- کشش خیلی بالایی ندارد. با این وجود کتابی نیست که خواندنش خیلی طول بکشد و افرادی که علاقه دارند را می تواند تا پایان با خودش نگه دارد.