The Trillionaire Next Door: The Greedy Investor's Guide to Day Trading

It's hard to dislike any book that's dedicated to Oprah--in the blatant hope that she will endorse it on her television show--then blithely dismisses $9 billion as ""chump change."" Borowitz, a magazine writer whose humorous satires have appeared in the New Yorker and the New York Times, has captured the style that permeates just about every get-rich-quick book: a knowing tone coupled with ridiculous mathematical abstractions. ""Five years ago, no one traded stocks online. Today, over one quarter of all investors are trading electronically. Do the math; at this rate, in 20 years, there will be more day traders in the United States than people."" As in all these books, Borowitz presents ""the essential 10 rules"" of becoming a trillionaire, each of which is followed by a ""real quote"" from a day trader. Rule number seven is typical: ""Control your emotions."" The quote: ""I try not to take this business seriously, but some of my stocks are really out to get me."" Essentially a long magazine piece padded with graphics (such as an asset-allocation pie chart divided into segments marked ""Day Trading,"" ""Lotto"" and ""Poking Around on the Beach with a Metal Detector""), this is nonetheless an entertaining diversion. (July)