More Than You Know: Finding Financial Wisdom in Unconventional Places

LEARN HOW GREAT INVESTORS THINK

Michael J. Mauboussin is known throughout the financial world for his innovative approach to succeeding on Wall Street. His unconventional methods have earned him a place on Smart Money's list of the Most Influential People on Wall Street and in the Wall Street Journal's All-Star survey. In More Than You Know, Mauboussin shares his secret to becoming an insightful investor and provides invaluable tools to better understand the concepts of choice and risk.

Mauboussin develops sound investment strategies by drawing on diverse sources and disciplines. He builds on the ideas of sage yet diverse visionaries including Warren Buffett and E. O. Wilson, but he also finds wisdom in a range of activities and fields that is both broad and deep, including: casino gambling, horse racing, psychology, and evolutionary biology. He analyzes the strategies of poker experts David Sklansky and Puggy Pearson and pinpoints parallels between mate selection in guppies and stock market booms. Ant colonies, Tupperware parties, hot hands in basketball, slime mold, and Tiger Woods's swing all have something to tell us about smart investing.

More Than You Know is written with the professional investor in mind but extends far beyond the world of economics and finance. Mauboussin groups the essays into four categories: Investment Philosophy, Psychology of Investing, Innovation and Competitive Strategy, and Science and Complexity Theory, and he includes useful references for further reading on the topics he discusses. A true eye-opener, More Than You Know shows how a multidisciplinary approach that pays close attention to process and the psychology of decisionmaking offers the best chance for long-term financial results.

"Mauboussin is not your average Wall Street equity analyst, writing investment recommendations whose topical interest wanes a few days after the report is issued. His strategy reports begin with scientific findings from diverse fields, then show why an investor should care. This book is a collection of 30 short reports, revised and updated, covering animal behavior ('Guppy Love: The Role of Imitation in Markets'), psychology ('Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers'), philosophy of science ('The Janitor's Dream: Why Listening to Individuals Can be Hazardous to Your Wealth') and other fields. Each essay describes a fascinating scientific finding, then develops and applies it to personal investing. 'Survival of the Fittest,' for example, begins by discussing how Tiger Woods improved his golf swing, introduces the concept of fitness landscapes from evolutionary biology, then explains why investors in commodity-producing companies should like strong centralized management, while technology-stock buyers should prefer flexible organizations with lots of disruptive new ideas. The book is breezy and well written, but not dumbed down, and provides extensive references. It can be read for entertainment as popular science or to broaden your investment thinking. However, it suffers from a common problem among compiled essays: despite the revisions, some material is out of date and other material is repeated. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Mauboussin mines disciplines that are not normally associated with finance such as biology, physics, and psychology to help investors make better decisions and to argue for a new model of investment philosophy.

Smart Money has called Michael J. Mauboussin one of the Most Influential People on Wall Street, and he has been repeatedly named to the Wall Street Journal's All-Star survey. Known throughout the financial world for challenging conventional Wall Street wisdom, Mauboussin explores and applies ideas from a variety of disciplines to develop sound investment strategies and new approaches to understanding such concepts as choice, risk, and innovation. In this engaging book, he builds upon the visionary ideas of such figures as Warren Buffett and E. O. Wilson to offer surprising insights from unexpected sources.

How can an investor learn from poker experts David Slansky and Puggy Pearson? What does guppy mate selection tell us about stock market booms? Do Tupperware parties have anything to tell us about how we select stocks? These are just some of the questions Michael Mauboussin considers in More Than You Know. Illustrating his points with lessons drawn from casino gambling, horse racing, psychology, evolutionary biology, and other activities and disciplines, Mauboussin shows how attention to process, an understanding of the psychology of decision making, and an even temperament produce the best long-term financial results for investors.

Like Freakonomics, The Tipping Point, and The Wisdom of Crowds, More Than You Know extends far beyond the world of economics and finance to reveal the logic (or illogic) behind the choices we make.