I had received an ad in my mailbox about this one. Described as better than Bridget Jones for spreadbetters, I decided it might have been worth a read. I was disapointed.
Ms Nicoll needs a boyfriend and a good deal for a novel. In the meantime while she was busy trying for both she decided to venture into spreadbetting. Why not?. The only thing I can say is that she didn’t learn much within the year and a bit she started trading. She basically punted- quite erratically- for quite a while and went to meet a few traders who were professionals thanks to her broker. One thing I do admire though is her honesty about the whole matter- she makes a fool of herself and I believe she knows it. She ends up going to a Greg Secker course- that doesn’t seem to change anything to her capacities- and that’s where the book ends. If you’re more curious than I am, she has a blog on the net about her exploits.
So basically this a book about what NOT to do when you’re trading. Does this help? I don’t think so. I hope that her love life is a little bit less clueless and that her novel makes more sense. I wish her all the best though- she needs it.
“The new spend less revolution” by Rebecca Ash
This book is for people who don’t know where to start when they have to spend less. It gives you an idea of the reasons why you overspend, how you can change this ( although I thought this was the weakest part of the book) and finally 365 tips you can follow to reduce your expenses. The book is modest but the tips are interesting. It makes sense but if you buy it, it probably is because you don’t have any when it comes to money. I have read quite a few of these books but I’d say this one is simple to understand and very basic, so if you want to take some good New Year’s resolution in the department of your finances ( like me….), it is a good start- i.e. not discouraging. I don’t know if Ms Ash spends less but I hope that with this book she will earn more.
book of the day:” The full fact book of cold reading” by Ian Rowland
I have a little bit of curiosity in NLP and hypnosis. My husband is keen on magic too, which leads us to Ian Rowland. This man has written a book that people who believe in tarot, mediums and astrology should definitely read. His book is a quite exhaustive review of all the tricks that are being used to convince clients that their past, present and future can be told or predicted. Derren Brown has quite famously demonstrated how this work shortly in one of his broadcast. He wrote down a paper that he gave to several people and asked them to read it and tell the camera how accurate he was about their personnality. Derren Brown had actually never seen these people before so it was interesting to see what they would say. I more or less remember that the general opinion was that the reading was 99% accurate. Once this done, the people had to exchange the papers that they had been attributed. Now go and buy his dvds and see by yourself what happened next. Derren Brown might have a”deranged sense of humor” ( said by Ian Rowland) but he is an extraordinary and very convincing illusionist. Yes, I know how his tricks work. But still, I love to see him in action.
Anyway, back to the book. Ian is very precise in his descriptions of the different ways you can be compelled to believe that what the medium/astologer/con person is telling you is the absolute truth. He is not forgiving as he also explains how our minds work and have a natural tendency to compensate for any lack of acuteness in the predictions. But once you’ve read his book, I can bet that you stop throwing money out of the window for thsi sort of frivolous pastimes and start enjoying the fredom you finally gain by discovering that your future…is all up to you. How great can it be?
Thank you Mr Rowland. I wish you write another one. I love your tongue in cheek sense of humor.
Sacha Jenkyn 