Minding Mr. Market: Ten Years on Wall Street With Grant's Interest Rate Observer

by James Grant

Now in paperback - James Grant's comprehensive view of the 1980s, the least-inhibited decade in modern financial history, culled from the pages of his literate and incisive Interest Rate Observer. "A splendid work . . . filled with lucid observations".--Publishers Weekly.

Genres: Finance, Personal Finance, Economics, History

424 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1993

About the author

There is more than one author by this name on Goodreads.

James Grant, financial journalist and historian, is the founder and editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, a twice-monthly journal of the investment markets. His book, The Forgotten Depression, 1921: the Crash that Cured Itself, a history of America’s last governmentally unmedicated business-cycle downturn, won the 2015 Hayek Prize of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.

Among his other books on finance and financial history are Bernard M. Baruch: The Adventures of a Wall Street Legend (Simon & Schuster, 1983), Money of the Mind (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1992), Minding Mr. Market (Farrar, Straus, 1993), The Trouble with Prosperity (Times Books, 1996), and Mr. Market Miscalculates (Axios Press, 2008).

Reviews

[m · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 80+ essays in this book ranging in length from 700 to 3500 words comprise volume one of the "Best of" Grant's Interest Rate Observer.

The entire book is very good but these four essays are especially good:

Forbearance, Ahoy!
December 21, 1990, pp. 85–93.

Is It Inflation?
March 15, 1991, pp. 309–315.

Yo, Stock
March 13, 1992, pp. 51–55.

"C-SPAN — OVER HERE!"
July 31, 1992, pp. 101–108.

And these essays are worth honorable mention:

The "L" Word
April 20, 1987, pp. 297–299.

The Annotated Harcourt
October 5, 1987, pp. 245–251.

Bells Peal in Brooklyn
February 8, 1988, p. 126–128.

Sumitomo On Holiday
February 22, 1988, pp. 329–338.

A "Thrift" For Our Time
May 13, 1988, pp. 128-132.

Napoleon Advances on Moscow
June 24, 1988, pp. 255–257.

Defaults of the Future
October 27, 1988, pp. 266–274.

McMortgages
February 3, 1989, pp. 76–83.

Wild Blue Yonder
August 18, 1989, pp. 338–350.

More Junk Food
October 27, 1989, pp. 274–277.

Klarman Baits A Hook
February 16, 1990, pp. 278–287.

Hot Light on GE
September 14, 1990, pp. 358–365.

Betting The Store
December 20, 1991, pp. 209–218.

Florins and Photons
March 27, 1992, pp. 319–326.

The Slowest Asset
April 24, 1992, pp. 218–225.

Eat My Bread, Sing My Song
June 5, 1992, pp. 386–388.

[Red Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure if Jim Grant is the most-read writer on financial matters by the professional financial class, but he has influenced the thinking of thousands, primarily with his central thesis of being a contrarian.

"Your strong points determine your potential in the market, but your weak points determine your actual results."

"In banking, pricing is set by the stupidest person in the market - the marginal lender."

[Yes & Not Yes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of writings from the skeptical, bearish, value-minded thinker and investor, James Grant.