Finally, a comprehensive book about Billy Murray, the most popular and recognizable singer of the acoustic recording period! The discography alone is worth the price of the book. Titles, record numbers, labels, dates of recording, and matrix mumbers are included.

The biography part is somewhat sketchy because Murray was a private person who didn't seem to want to talk about his family or recording career. He was married three times, and had no children. His siblings had no children, either, so there were really no close relatives to provide biographical information. Still, I found the book fascinating, and it is an invaluable resource for those collectors who want to catalog their recordings, and learn about the recordings that they don't have and would like to get.

There are some nice photographs included, among them one that Mr. Murray said was his favorite. Billy was well liked and friendly, and the book was a pleasure to read. I'm glad I have it!

This book represents a fine piece of research, well documented and well presented. It follows the life story of Billy Murray, the first great popular recording artist.

However the book suffers from two serious problems. First of all, it is over-footnoted. I found myself constantly turning pages and being distracted by numerous footnotes that should have been worked into the body of the text. Unfortunately, the footnotes are all endnotes, so the reader needs two fingers to mark where he is and where the footnotes are.

The other problem with the book is more serious. It should have been two books, not one. The biography section ends at page 206. The rest of the book, all 544 pages, consists of appendixes, lots of them, in every shape, form and size. Realistically, the authors need to make one book about Murray, and another one about early recorded music. I get the impression that the authors had a lot of extra information laying around, so they decided to stick it in the back.

To the Billy Murray enthusiast, or the early recorded music aficionado, the book is a must even at $75. For all you other casual readers, check it out of the library before you buy it.

Graham is a patient logical thinker who explains his methods meticulously.Don't look here for a get rich quick scheme.If you love the markets, and already have a basic knowledge of stocks and bonds,this book will give you a good base of reference to discern true value and keep from being caught up in the latest fad.Written with the benefit of hindsight after the Crash of 29,it is a must read.It is not light reading,yet sticking with it proves very rewarding.

This is book has been updated many times (through the fifth edition). If you have read the latest edition, and believe you have read anything like the original, go back and read this one. Once you have read 'Old Ben', you will find other editions very disappointing. That could be why Warren Buffet suggested going back to the original if you want to know what value investing is all about.

Current investment practice, and later editions of this book concentrate on the one thing that Graham said was, if not impossible, very non-productive - estimating future earnings. This book concentrates on understanding proven value. Where one spends most of its time on the income statement, this book spends most of its time on the balance sheet. There is a world of difference, and the difference leads to a much different portfolio, and future.

There is, as the author points out repeatedly, a difference between investment and speculation. There is also a difference between helpful discussion and meaningful analysis. The original edition is full of meaning, written by a practitioner who also could teach. Later editions (especially the fifth) make me wonder how much of the master's works the new authors read before starting. It also makes me question how much influence Donaldson, Lufkin, & Jenrette and Autanet exercised in return for their grant to finance the book.

If you want a great book on investing read the original. It will give you much more insight and at least twice as much 'food for thought'.

Someone wrote reviews to this book indicating that the major downside to it is its age. The book was written in 1934 therefore it misses all the modern developments of finance - modern portfolio theory for example - and all the new techniques that Wall Street "experts" use today.

As an answer I give an anecdote from Warren Buffett's life:
When stock investments started to become popular, the volume increased ten fold, and the modern techniques to make a profit were developed, Warren Buffet was extremely worried. He remembered what happened in 1929. He loathed the new trends in investment that tried to predict the future price of a stock. Therefore he had a meeting with all his fellow Graham students, he expressly forbid to bring anything newer than the 1934 edition of Security Analysis.

This happened decades ago, but history repeats. We all know what happened 3 years ago. We all know how "experts" thought that the market was booming, and how they let it crash. We all know how they made a profit on the money that private investors lost.

Nowadays when I go shopping for a book I always look at the date of pubblication, if it is between 1997 and 2000 I'm very wary. All those books about "new economy", "digital era", "e-commerce", "dot coms", etc. have to be taken with the maximum attention. Usually they contain a lot of inflated ideas that as we look at what happened after they were written we understand how much those "experts" really understand about stock investments.

If they were wrong then, why should they be righ now?
Trust me, but more importantly, trust Graham, trust Buffett, (those that have been consistently right for 50 years) this is the book to buy, "anything newer looks suspicious."

Having more than a dozen years in dealing with explosives safety, I must state that this is by far one of the best books I've read in dealing with Explosives, Propellants & Pyrotechnics. This book not only covers the basics, but actually goes into enough detail to keep even the most knowledgable persons interest.

This book is a great text book that even has questions and answers for each chapter. This book is a must if you are new to the field of explosives and would be a great addition to anyones collection.