Running Money: Hedge Fund Honchos, Monster Markets and My Hunt for the Big Score

A brilliant investor, a born raconteur and an overall smart-ass, Andy Kessler pulls back the curtain on the world of hedge funds and shows how the guys who run big money think, talk and act.

Following on the success of Wall Street Meat, his self-published book on the lives of Wall Street stock analysts, Andy Kessler recounts his years as an extraordinarily successful hedge fund manager. To run a successful hedge fund you must have an investing edge — that special insight that allows you to reap greater returns for your clients and yourself.

A quick study, Kessler gets an education in investing from some fascinating and quirky personalities. Eventually he works out his own insight into the world economy, a powerful lens that reveals to him hidden value in seemingly negative trends. Focussing on margin surplus, Kessler comes to see that current American economy, at the apex of the information revolution, is not so different from the British economy at the height of the industrial revolution. Drawing out the parallels he develops a powerful investing tool which he shares with readers. Contrarian and confident, Kessler made a fortune applying his ideas to his hedge fund. Which only proves that they may not be as crazy as they sound.

Running Moneyis an insider's tale. Through witty and whacky stories, Andy Kesslertakes the reader on a tour of big-stakes investing, a bizarre trail of startup companies, anonymous investors and the occasional Elvis impersonator.

Spending almost twenty years on Wall Street as an analyst, investment banker and venture capitalist, he decided to start a hedge fund of his own. Discovering his own "tricks of the trade," he generated vast wealth with an average annual return of 55% on his fund, which makes him a top-ranking professional investor.

After turning $100 million into $1 billion riding the technology wave of the late 1990s, Andy Kessler recounted his experiences on Wall Street and in the trenches of the hedge fund industry in the books Wall Street Meat and Running Money (and its companion volume, How We Got Here). Though he has retired from actively managing other people's money, he remains a passionate and curious investor. Unable to keep his many opinions to himself, he contributes to the Wall Street Journal, Wired, and lots of Web sites on a variety of Wall Street and technology-related topics, and is often seen on CNBC, FOX, and CNN. He lives in Silicon Valley like all the other tech guys.