The Zurich Axioms: The Rules of Risk and Reward Used by Generations of Swiss Bankers Paperback – International Edition, January 18, 2005

This book is filled with gold. It is fun to read and you may not even notice how much valuable information you will find in each page. The axioms cover so many areas of human psychology and trading that you may only later realize what you have in your hands.It does not go into details about trading strategies, money management (apart from the basic but fundamental ones such as "cut your losses" and "realize your profits early") and position sizing. But this is not what this book is about. It is an eye opener with key fundamental ideas and principles that you will soon or later find more than essential.Two of the many fundamental principles stated there that many people ignore - and many may not see their full value at first reading (or even later!):- do not diversify your capital allocated to risk investments if your goal is growth,- to invest is essentially to speculate.You will be more than excused to read about speculation when others think that you should be reading about investing. You will understand why.Yet it is not a perfect book. It gives no value to any kind of technical analysis or trading system. But it is so, because it does focus on a healthy scepticism - which is without doubt better than taking the opposite side! So its shortcomings are forgiven.Not often will you find this kind of information packed in a concise, straightforward and fun-to-read style. A great book! Highly recommended for just anyone.

I have been a professional investor for about 15 years. If I had to choose only one book for my bookshelf, The Zurich Axioms would be it.Consider the puzzle of Switzerland. It's a rocky country, half the size of Maine. It has not one inch of seacoast, no oil, and a climate and topography that is inhospitable to farming. It has stayed out of wars for 300 years because no invader really wanted it. Yet the Swiss are among the most affluent people in the world. How? By being the world's cleverest investors and speculators.This book suggests that to make any kind of gain in life, you must place some of your material and/or emotional capital at risk. The Swiss conclude that the sensible way to conduct one's life is not to shun risk but to expose oneself to it deliberately. To make money you must bet, but not in a mindless way. To bet, instead, with care and in such a way that large gains are more likely than large losses.There are twelve major "axioms" or rules that guide investors to much better results. This book is a simple read with powerful rules. If you follow these guidelines, investing success will be much easier. But, of course, most people will let their emotions get in the way and let hope, greed, and stubbornness dominate. They will listen to "experts" make forecasts and make investments accordingly. And, as you can imagine, most investors will do very poorly.Buy this inexpensive book and take the axioms to heart. It will make you a much better investor.

This is a real easy book and refreshes a tired mind in trading. I recommend this book strongly for any trader. Max Gunther write very clearly. Anytime I seem to move away from rules of trading I pick up this book. Not only have I kept a copy next to my terminal at home and office but also have one copy on kindle.

Awesome insight into the world of speculation. I immediately felt at home inside the pages of this book. It is a must read for any investor and will equip one with the guidance needed to meet the challenges of not only how and when to speculate but how to mentally deal with the ups and downs of profits and losses.If there is a primer for the speculator this is it. I know I will consult it frequently.

Max Gunther summarized "the speculator's wisdom" into 12 major and 16 minor axioms. The axioms sound true and useful, although interestingly they lean toward defensive strategy in the spirit of "first rule is not to lose any money". Gunther dismisses technical analysis as pointless staring at random patterns, he thinks markets are entirely random and unpredictable (bordering playing the lottery). He cites earth quakes, terrorist attacks, financial collapse to prove that point, but these events are indeed extremely rare. He advises against diversification, one should go all in with meaningful bets, without diluting the gains. Then stay there, but not too long. He dismisses long term planning, listening to the crowd (although multiple studies prove the wisdom of the crowd over the individual, disregarding bubble effects), dollar cost averaging, forecasts, intuition, patterns, but offers no alternative.Very little can be used in trading or speculation. When, what, why, how, where should a speculative bet be made?( Jesse Livermore’s book “How To Trade In Stocks” is dismissed as “perfect nonsense”. At least Livermore attempted to be more specific than listing “axioms”. )After the reader is convinced about unpredictability of the market (with ever present danger of losing all investment money) he is left with no counterpoint. This is the biggest weakness of the book. While it is an entertaining read, if someone is looking for truly useful advice, I would recommend "The Coffeehouse Investor" or "Millionaire Teacher". If one aims to be more than an "investor", I suggest "The Perfect Speculator". But if one is an “axiom” believer, I recommend the excellent “Simple Rules” by Sull and Eisenhardt.

I gave this book 5 stars because I can't mark 10!Was written in the 1980s and still ahead of its time today. If you are already familiar with some of the principles it vouches for it will fill in more details and enforce them. If not, it has the potential to shake your mind set's foundations and approach to risk taking and opportunity evaluation. Short and easy at just over 160 pages. Very well written and narrated, a pleasure to read. Can't recommend it enough. If I had to read just one book this year, this would be it.