Enterprising Investor Forum

Confessions of a Street Addict, James J. Cramer Monday, June 25, 2007

Jim Cramer is a very controversial character and we were not sure what to expect from this book. The only exposure we had to Cramer was from his CNBC show and he can come across as a bit crazy, loud and very arrogant.

We say, “he can come across as” because we are convinced that after reading this book, you will start to see him in a different light. Don’t get us wrong, what you see is what you get but the book allows you to get a better understanding of where he comes from, what he has accomplished and why there is a lot more behind him than people think. For example, most don’t know that he graduated from Harvard College where he was President and Editor-in-Chief of The Harvard Crimson, that he is the co-founder of TheStreet.com and that he compounded 24% after all fees for 15 years at the hedge fund he started.

This book takes you through his life from his youth and early interest in the market to how he quickly started to manage some more serious money at Harvard. Then the adventure continues to his first experiences on Wall Street at Goldman Sachs, him meeting his wife “the Trading Goddess” and setting up his own hedge fund and eventually TheStreet.com.

Cramer is characteristically outspoken, the pace is frantic and it really feels as if you are there within him (getting to the office at 04.30 a.m., celebrating the victories, not being able to sleep through the bad times, etc…). We would almost go as far as saying that he is contagious.

Honestly, this is probably on of the best glimpses your going to get into Wall Street and makes for an exciting read even for people how are not particularly interested in the financial world. In case you are not familiar with Cramer, here is a quick interview where he candidly talks about market manipulation – truly priceless – click here.

Enjoy!