A Million a Minute: Inside the Mega-Money High Tech World of Traders

Anyone who has ever wondered about those people down on Wall Street described as ""traders"" is bound to be intrigued by this book by a former London-based trader now on her own. Davis does an excellent job of bringing a representative cross section of her subjects to life. To her credit, she profiles both the famous--Michael Bloomberg and Muriel Siebert--and the unknown, showing that they are almost all Type A personalities driven as much by the thrill of competing against the best as they are in making money. Davis brings an insider's perspective to these profiles when she points out that it is no coincidence that many traders are devotees of blackjack and/or bridge--forms of gambling where, just as in their day jobs, ""probability and statistics help you decide how much risk to take."" Similarly, her ""Trade$peak"" glossary, ""a sometimes irreverent guide to traders' terminology,"" is both funny and knowing. On the downside, a previous version has been published in the U.K. and this updated and expanded version does not always take the American audience into account. But the biggest flaw is that readers never quite get a sense of what traders do: How does a currency transaction work? How is a derivative or block trade structured? Despite all the energy and knowledge Davis brings to the subject, some of her topics remain difficult to grasp. (Nov.)