INVESTING UNDER FIRE: Winning Strategies from the Masters for Bulls, Bears, and the Bewildered

Global market strategist and pundit Ackerman aims to create a portrait of the current environment for professional and individual investors in this collection of 29 essays. But like the times, the book is often confusing and contradictory. Ackerman organizes the pieces into thematic sections, examining the stock market in general, niche investments (e.g., gold, oil, bonds and biotech), research and analysis tools, successful corporate models and the unsettled geopolitical outlook. The contributors in the first three sections are impressive, but the quality of the essays varies. Vanguard Group's John Bogle offers one of the best with his summary of 50 years in the mutual fund industry. Has it been good for investors? "The answer is a resounding no," he writes. Morningstar's Brian Portnoy presents a cogent analysis of mutual fund fees. His conclusion: "When you pay more, the odds are that you will get less." Less usefully, Value Line's Jean Bernhard Buttner offers only a recitation of her company's services, and most of the niche investment advisers are unconvincing as they pump their own specialties. The section on successful corporate models features essays written by leaders at Toyota, Starbucks, Washington Mutual and Lightspan who plug their own companies. The real eye-openers are in the book's final section. Events have already outrun several of these essays, but Jules Kroll's description of the still-gaping holes in our security and Harvard professor Graham Allison's warning that terrorists will soon have nuclear weapons should be enough to give even bullish investors pause. (June)

Forecast: Despite the book's roster of big names, it does not have a well-defined audience or focus. Some essays are aimed at individuals, while others are directed toward corporate managers, which could make it difficult for retailers to sell.