Bookish Talks

Category: Non-Fiction

  • ‘Trading In The Zone’ by Mark Douglas – Best book to learn Trading

    ‘Trading In The Zone’ by Mark Douglas – Best book to learn Trading

    Book 'Trading in the zone' by Mark Douglas - Focus24 book club

    INTRODUCTION

    If you are into any kind of online trading or are curious about the trading stuff, like Trading Crypto, Forex, or Stocks, this book review is for you. I happened to read one of the most recommended books for online traders and will share my takeaways from the book with you.

    Hello book lovers, and foucs24 family. The book I am talking about is ‘Trading in the Zone’ by Mark Douglas. My aim for this blog is to explain to you what I actually expected out of the book, how good is the trading psychology explained by the author, some recommendations and finally the conclusion.

    I MISJUDGED THE TITLE

    I am someone who is into this trading field, and I wanted to learn some new trading techniques. First of all, let me confess, the book is never about the stuff which I thought it would be about. Keeping the title in mind, I expected the book to help me understand Chart patterns, support, resistance, indicators, volumes, and other stuff that is actively used in online trading. Ironically, there is nothing as such in the book. Instead, the book is all about the psychology behind the trading. I wonder why Mark Douglas gave such a confusing title to the book. The title should have been ‘Trading Psychology’ instead of ‘Trading in the Zone’, which automatically diverts one’s attention to technical analysis.

    NO BOOK HAS BETTER EXPLAINED PSYCHOLOGY OF TRADER THAN THIS ONE

    Now, as far as the Psychology of trading is concerned, this is probably the simplest and most appealing book. The book will hold your finger and introduce you to every feeling and emotion that a trader faces during his trading journey. Each of the scenarios you would recall having experienced at some point of your trading journey. Another word of caution: to get the best out of the book, you need to have some trading experience, at least of a few months, so that when the author talks about various terminologies, you are in a position to relate that with yourself. Without having gone through that, the concepts will be very difficult to grasp.

    EXAMPLES RESONATE WITH TRADER’S FEELINGS

    The wonderful thing about the book is that it covers trading psychology in a way that you would feel and nod your head when Mark Douglas discusses various reasons as to why we commit the mistakes and how we fool ourselves by sticking to those mistakes instead of admitting, and how our ego brings us to the verge of loss. In that field, this book is a masterpiece, which you must not miss out on if you want to become a profitable trader. For those not interested in trading, this book is not for you.
    Amongst various other positives of the book, one which is worth mentioning here is the Q&A session which Mark Douglas has given at the beginning as well as the end of the book. The same set of questions, if attempted religiously at the beginning as well as at the end, will allow you judge the difference Mark Douglas has left on your trading psychology. The reader will find remarkable change in his approach at dealing with various situations during a trade.

    CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS

    Amongst the negatives of the book, the most prominent again is the misleading title. A nascent reader, like me, when reads title ‘Trading in the Zone’, picks up the book with the hope of learning trading skills but ends up reading only psychology of trading. Overall, a good pick for traders. If you want to listen to the free audiobook, you can do so by clicking on this link and signing up for 1 1-month free trial https://amzn.to/3QafO2y . You can order hard copy as well through the same link. That’s all for today, till next review, stay hard, stay strong, and stay focused with foucs24.

  • I call this book ‘BIBLE FOR ENTREPRENEURS’ – BE 2.0 by JIM COLLINS

    I call this book ‘BIBLE FOR ENTREPRENEURS’ – BE 2.0 by JIM COLLINS

    Book Review BE 2.0 by Jim Collins - Focus24 Book Club

    Introduction

    Hello booklovers and the focus24 family. Today’s book, which we are going to discuss, is very very special. I have read hundreds of books on the subject over the past 12 years, but this book has got special place in my heart.

    Authors

    The book is co-authored by Jim Collins and Bill Lazier. Now, as far as Jim Collins is concerned, he does not need any introduction in the field of entrepreneurship. Various masterpieces of entrepreneurship literature, like Built to Last, Good to Great, How The Mighty Fall, and Great by Choice, are all contributions of this magnificent author.

    Background

    BE 2.0 is basically the enhanced version of famous ‘Beyond Entrepreneurship’ and is as good as the original one. Stay for a while as I bring to you the main lessons and takeaways from the book.

    Lessons Learned From The Book

    Financial Incentives: The 1st entrepreneur concept that I learned from the book and which is going to stay with me for the rest of my life is about ‘financial incentives’ to your team and employees. The Financial incentives, according to the author, are the most unproductive reasons for the people in your company and team to perform well. Listen to that once again: the ‘financial incentives’ are the most unproductive reasons for the people in your company and team to perform well. What the author means by this is that you would need to encourage and acknowledge employees’ efforts by rewarding them with financial incentives. However, if that is the only purpose that drives your team to work harder and harder, you have a very weak foundation of your mission conveyed to your team, or probably you need to reconsider your team.

    Different Shades of Leadership:  Another beautiful concept the book has given me is understanding different shades of leadership. I always heard and considered that there set number of qualities whose possession would make someone a good leader and whose absence will turn him or her into a bad leader. The book says that every leader has a unique characteristic and quality to be called a leader. (Do not confuse leadership with charisma. Charisma does not equal leadership, and some of the most effective leaders have very little charisma.) Examine the spectrum of world leaders and notice how much their styles differ: Mahatma Gandhi (frail and soft-spoken), Abraham Lincoln (melancholy and thoughtful), Winston Churchill (the fierce and indomitable bulldog), and Martin Luther King Jr. (impassioned, eloquent). Yet, despite the wide range of styles, each of these leaders was highly effective.

    Every Leader has his unique style. Cultivate your style; don’t try to be someone you’re not or to take on a style that does not fit. Can you imagine Winston Churchill trying to imitate Gandhi’s style, wearing a loincloth and speaking in a soft, almost inaudible voice? Conversely, can you imagine Gandhi chewing on big fat cigars and growling, “Our policy is to wage war, by sea, land, and air, with all our might and all the strength God can give us . . .”? These images are absurd. But they’re no more absurd than if you try to copy someone else’s style. An effective style grows from within you. It should be entirely yours. No one except you should have a style exactly like yours.

    Identifying faults isn’t genius: Another takeaway from the book for me is understanding that it does not take a genius mind to find fault, criticize, and negate other people’s ideas. The hard thing, indeed, is finding enough good things in something to convince a person that he/she has done something valuable. Meanwhile, corrections can be recommended. Sadly, however, most of us have been trained to do just the opposite; we’re well-schooled in criticism, having learned that the way to show how smart we are is to cite all the reasons that something is a stupid idea or doomed to failure. Don’t shoot down an idea by pointing out all its flaws and warts before the idea gets tested. The world is full of critics—critics who never stimulate anything truly great. Don’t be one of them.

    Conclusion

    Dear booklover, if you are an aspiring entrepreneur, do yourself a favor and pick this book. You can thank me later on. Here is the Amazon link to purchase the book: https://amzn.to/4ht4Y40 (affiliate link). That’s all for today. Hope you liked this blog. Till next time, stay hard, stay strong, and stay focused with Focus24.

  • This book is talk of the town – here is why – ‘THE COURAGE TO BE DISLIKED’

    This book is talk of the town – here is why – ‘THE COURAGE TO BE DISLIKED’

    THE COURAGE TO BE DISLIKED BOOK SUMMARY

    Introduction

    Hello booklovers and focus24 family. ‘The Courage to be disliked’, the book which is talk of the town, I just finished this book twice to make this review as i wanted to make it sure that I do not end up recommending something which I am not convinced of.

    About The Author

    The book is co-authored by Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga. Ichiro KISHIMI is a Philosopher, Adlerian psychologist and translator of English and German languages.

    What Made This Book Unique For Me

    ‘The Power of Now’ by Ekhort Tolle , and this one book in my hand are the only two books in my 15 years of reading non-fiction that made me confused at the end about whether I should have read these or not. Not because the books are bad, but because these books shackle the foundations of your belief systems so much that if you don’t grasp the message exactly as being given, you are under a serious threat of losing your mind. Stay with me for a while as I give you the complete summary of the book.

    What The Book Is All About

    The book is based on the Psychology of Mr. Alfred Adler, a famous Austrian psychologist. The author repeatedly refers to the concept in the book as Adlerian Psychology.

    Style Of The Book

    The book is shaped in the form of conversations between two characters, referred to as ‘Youth’ & a ‘Philosopher’. The youth in quest of knowledge and search of answers on life, visits the philosopher for 5 nights and they discuss various philosophical issues. According to the author, the purpose of giving this book the shape of conversation was inspired from the discussions between Socrates and Plato.

    As you might know, Socrates left no written piece of thoughts behind for generations to come. However, his student Plato wrote down the conversations between him and his master, which are now a big philosophical treasure. The author says that the concepts being discussed were so difficult to understand that there had to arise various questions in the minds of the readers if the book had been written in simple descriptive form. So, he brings up the possible queries that readers might have in the shape of ‘youth’ debating with the ‘philosopher’.

    Our perception is like well water

    At one point in the book, the author says that the state of happiness and sadness is just the perception of looking at things, exactly like the temperature of well water. The water from the well remains at 60 60-degree temperature throughout the year. If you drink it in summer, you would feel its coolness, and during winters it appears to be warm. The feeling of being hot and cold is because of the temperature of the surroundings and not the water itself. Similarly, our reaction to any aspect of our life is based on our society.  Every aspect of our life can be looked at either positively or negatively basing on our state of mind.

    The urge of being important

    A Strange concept that I found repeated in the book ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People, ’ which I highly recommend by the way, is using any means to get attention or superiority – even by showing how weak you are. Yes, gaining superiority by showing weakness. Adlerian psychology portrays that the urge for attention can push human beings to any limits. People use various means and ways to stay important, and one of those is relying on misery. They explain how unlucky they are, how bad the society has been to them, how their life has been full of hardships, and all that stuff is just to remain significant and abnormal. The way a child wants attention of the parents, and if he does not find any suitable way, he would start shouting, throwing things away and becoming a bad child but, would crave for attention at all cost. The same thing continues with our minds as we grow up.

    Out of 10 People, 7 will ignore, 2 will like, & 1 will hate you

    I loved this beautiful concept shared by the author about the perception of society. He says that ‘In the teachings of Judaism, it is believed that “If there are ten people, one will be someone who criticizes you no matter what you do. This person will come to dislike you, and you will not learn to like him either. Then, there will be two others who accept everything about you and whom you accept too, and you will become close friends with them. The remaining seven people will be neither of these types.” Now, do you focus on the one person who dislikes you? Do you pay more attention to the two who love you? Or would you focus on the crowd, the other seven? A person who is lacking in harmony of life will see only the one person he dislikes and will make a judgment of the world from that.

    Conclusion

    You will find dozens of other thought-provoking ideas in the book, which I am sure you would love to read. Overall, an interesting pick and a book worth reading. I highly recommend you consider giving this book a read. Here is the link to order the book online https://amzn.to/3WPAC3p (affiliate link). You can also listen to free audiobooks, having free trial registration. That’s all for today. hope you liked this blog. Till next time, stay hard, stay strong, and stay focused with Focus24.