Scam Dogs and Mo-Mo Mamas: Inside the Wild and Woolly World of Internet Stock Trading

This rogues' gallery of Internet stock investors, scam artists and tipsters sheds fascinating light on an unseemly universe powered by caffeine, nicotine and the sweet scent of profits. Emshwiller, who covers Internet trading for the Wall Street Journal, trails a cast of often bizarre characters, such as Joe Park, the legendary trading guru who launched the popular stock-discussion site Tokyo Joe's Caf , who submits to an interview sitting lotus-like in front of his computer screens while steadily ingesting Marlboros and orange juice. Then there's Park's arch-enemy, Big Dog, who is actually 41-year-old, 400-pound Mike Nichols, a former textile-coatings salesman turned rabid Internet junkie. And don't forget Cairo-born Anthony Elgindy, the one-time Chevy dealer who finds a new life and a tidy profit as a visionary corporate scam-buster, who conveniently short-sells the stocks he helps take down, profiting from their falling share price. They're all chasing after ""mo-mo mamas,"" those momentum-generating stocks that shoot up suddenly and make spectacular money for savvy traders. Emshwiller's reportorial instincts make for an engaging narrative, but his lengthy quotations of inane e-mail chatter (""the stock is so cheap!"") edge out more essential discussion of the rising power of stock discussions on the Internet. For all their interest, these scam dogs end up snarled in endless e-mail squabbles, revealing a petty and not particularly edifying counterculture. Agent, Geri Thoma, Elaine Markson Literary Agency. 15-city radio tour. (May)