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

Improving on the insipid prose that undermines much financial reporting, this book (based on essays from Grant's Interest Rate Observer ) is filled with lucid observations about the banking, financial and real estate industries. Grant ( Money of the Mind: Borrowing and Lending in America from the Civil War to Michael Milken ) describes Wall Street analysts, brokers and tycoons who gained notoriety in the 1980s with the same detachment that made Damon Runyon's tales of Broadway so real. He also profiles many less prominent but still significant members of the financial community, many of whom live and toil on the fringes of success. His acerbic analyses of the travails of the stock and bond markets round out a splendid work. Of special note are Grant's pronouncements on interest rates, credit binges and the 15-minute mortgage approval system. The book should appeal to Wall Street insiders and general readers looking for an introduction to the world of finance. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Nov.)