No Bull: My Life In and Out of Markets Paperback – Illustrated, December 27, 2004

Terrific read

It is an easy fast read, but you won't get a whole lot out of it. He does a huge amount of feather preening that just gets boring. He's a great man, but this is a trivial book.

From humble beginnings with a gambling, absentee father, Michael Steinhardt worked his way through an Ivy League school to Wall Street. But a very low level of Wall Street and it's only through luck and good fortune he was able to become a successful Hedge Fund manager. And very successful he was.The unique fact about Steinhardt is he never seemed to be quite comfortable with his profession or his religeon. Early in his hedge fund career he took a year off only to come back for many more years. Later, he shut down his hedge fund in what you could argue was the height of his career.His views on religeon are even more unique. Very Jewish, he considers himself an atheist while supporting Israel and charities to promote the Jewish culture in younger Americans. I applaud his philanthropic commitment.I strongly recommend this book if you have interest in investing and want to read about one of the success stories and how it happened.

The main rap about "No Bull" is that the author doesn't really disclose any winning trades, nor a trading methodology. Yes, he does both, but for the latter, you'll have to read the chapter on Steinhardt in "More Money Than God" by Sebastian Mallaby.I bought this book back in 2001, shortly after it was published, and had the same criticisms. However, an excellent trade has come to light recently, and has much to do with a disastrous short position Steinhardt had on Occidental Petroleum in either the late 1960's or the early 1970's; the book is vague on when, and my personal stock price history on OXY only goes back to around 1981 or so.Apparently, there were rumors that Occidental Pete discovered huge oil reserves in Libya, and the stock price doubled. Steinhardt was short OXY, and there's a very entertaining bit about how he and his erstwhile partners attempted to hang a friend of his who kidded Steinhardt about his losses out the window by said friend's ankles. This was shortly after Khaddafi came to power in September of 1969. Although "No Bull" doesn't state why Steinhardt was short, it would be logical to assume that it was because Khaddafi, a self-described socialist revolutionary, was about to expropriate Occidental's Libyan oil reserves. Had I been following OXY in 1969-70, I would have shorted it myself, with equally terrible results. During his first year in power, however, Libyan oil production rose significantly and OXY made tons of money.As a result of the 1973 Arab oil embargo, and the subsequent strengthening of the OPEC oil cartel, Khaddafi turned into an oil price hawk who wanted to limit production to keep prices high; most of the reserves discovered in the late 1960's were never exploited. Libya now has 45 billion barrels of proven reserves of very high-quality oil, with enormous potential reserves beyond that, and before the civil war started early last spring, was producing about 1.8 million barrels a day, about half of its optimal producing capacity even if not another drop of oil were ever discovered. In fact, in 1970, Libya was producing about double what it was producing in early 2011.Well, it looks like the Khaddafi days are dwindling down to a not-so-precious few, and Morimar himself will either end up in exile in a place like Zimbabwe (I doubt if the Saudis will take him) or in little pieces somewhere in one of his many bunkers; what happens to him physically is more or less irrelevant. But whoever takes control of Libya will be hard-pressed to restore oil capacity back to its 1970 level as quickly as possible, and yes, if the OXY stories are even partially true, there's lots more oil out there. At the minimum, this will keep a lid on oil prices in the future.Thus, history sometimes does repeat itself, albeit in unexpected ways. If the ascent of Khaddafi was (incorrectly, in the short run) considered bearish for OXY, then his departure should be considered bullish. OXY still is a major player in Libya. Thus, a hedge fund manager's trade that went against him more than 40 years ago may well produce some very profitable investment ideas today, most of which would involve industries and products which consume petroleum, although large discoveries and production increases wouldn't be so bad for certain oil companies even if prices fell back to the mid-$70's a barrel.Other than that, "No Bull" gets my vote because it's extremely entertaining, not for its investment insights, although one of its chapters is devoted to Steinhardt's best investment of them all, which wasn't in petroleum. Was it Steinhardt's buying the 14% of 2011 U.S. Treasury Bond back in 1981, when it was first issued? (Currently, the 10-year T-note yields around 2%, so 14% wasn't too shabby; bond yields move inversely with bond prices). Buy the book and find out.Full disclosure: I own lots of oil and gas stocks but not OXY, except as part of index funds.

Exceptional read to get insight of how the legendary investor make one of the best track record in history. The intensity, intellectual rigor and courage and conviction to carry out variant perception against herd are truly exemplary.Super intellectual stimulating and remind me what it takes to become a good portfolio manager. A role model for me not only in investment career but also how to give back to greater cause once you are at a position to give.Thanks for the generosity of writing the book and share the insights with me.I wish reading more biographies from legendary investors.

I really enjoyed the book. Although far from having reached the success / stardom MS has achieved, I find many parallels in our lives. The book taught me how he dealt with these things in life, from his modest childhood, to divorced parents, to being an atheist, to have two personalities (one at work and one outside of it). Thank you, MS. Your lack of spirituality is more than made up, not by your financial successes, but by your unspoken devotion to stability, tradition, and "equal opportunities" given to "your people" and non Jews. It's a great read.

I bought the book to gain some trading insight from one of the greatest hedge fund managers ever, but it left me wanting. About 1/2 the book deals with religious and cultural issues regarding his heritage. His most profound investment ideas had more to do with the bond market, not the stock market. He detailed one trade in Occidental Petroleum that went bad for him, but didn't go into details.

THIS IS THE BEST BOOK ON REAL LIFE WITH A MAN WHOPULLS NO PUNCHES.HE DOESN'T HOLD BACK THE BAD INHIS LIFE, AND HAS THE BEST OUTLOOK OR BETTER YETINSIGHT INTO HOW HE OVER CAME HARDSHIP AND TOOKIT TO HIS ADVANTAGE, BUT NEVER FORGOT HIS ROOTS.I WISH HE WAS MY BROTHER, SO HE COULD TEACH MESOME OF THE INSIGHT HE HAS AND THE FEELINGS FOR OTHERSTHAT HE SHOWS IN HIS BOOK.