The Alchemy of Finance
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The Alchemy of Finance
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Narrated by:
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Grover Gardner
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By:
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George Soros
About this listen
Critic Reviews
"An extraordinary...inside look into the decision-making process of the most successful money manager of our time. Fantastic." (Wall Street Journal)
"Breathtakingly brilliant." (Esquire)
What listeners say about The Alchemy of Finance
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- mick
- 25-05-2019
Very wordy, I’ll probably have to listen to it twice
Very wordy, I’ll probably have to listen to it twice. But interesting, just needs to be simplified
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- S K M
- 01-03-2021
Mind blowing
Forget all popular (and unpopular) commentary you may have heard about Soros and listen to his actual words. It totally changed my view of him, and of financial markets.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Bill the Purchaser
- 21-08-2021
Review of The Alchemy of Finance
Maybe too abstract for most people but the thoughts have great value in our investment activities.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Simon Thomas
- 28-11-2023
In his own words
Soros is routinely demonised. You only have to read this book to realise that many of the “quotes” of things he has said/written, are entirely removed from their proper context. Reading this you should walk away having shared some time with a mind that aims to be a philosopher first, trader second. His theory of reflexivity follows from his personal philosophical insights on the nature of consciousness and how inherent subjectivity corresponds to objective real world consequences (the first chapter and epilogue summarise this well - the latter also includes one of the most bastardised quotes used to defame him). Although there is some repetition and redundancy in what he writes across chapters, it helps to reinforce his main points that are in fact rather simple. Having them front of mind then helps you enjoy the moments when he finds concise and simple ways to explain their relevance to all sorts of problems. For example, he posits that both the dogmas of planned economies and perfect competition in market economies are based on the same false premise of perfect information. The answer lies in the middle somewhere, but not as a tendency towards an equilibrium (a purely theoretical concept he thinks has little bearing to the real world), but because the world is dynamic and (in an open society at least) is self-creating, and so necessitating ever new solutions to ephemeral problems. Indeed, our tendency to think that problems can be solved once and for all is a mistaken belief from our misguided commitment to the existence of equilibriums. This is reminiscent of Poppers critique of Plato and Marx in The Open Society, and indeed, Popper has been a big influence on his thinking. He says his only disagreement is that social phenomena are not really amendable to the scientific method. His reasoning is compelling, but I don’t think Popper would really disagree. Both espouse criticism rationalism as a means for progress, whether scientific, moral or aesthetic. I think the deeper point that Soros emphasises that subjects such as economics are inherently entwined with reflexivity (what we think impacts what we do and what we do impacts what we think) that it is in principle unscientific. In contrast, matters of science eg the laws of physics, are not impacted by whatever scientists think or feel about them. Again I’m not sure Popper would disagree.
Overall it is a short book that is well worth the time to understand what his thoughts are in a variety of topics, meanwhile acknowledging his attempts to present himself in the best light. On the other side of it, there is but a shred of contempt for him from the words he uses here, and no shortage of it for those that choose to mince them for their own ideological agendas.
Granted that people can debate his actions or influence in markets (in the past) or politics (more recently), but at the basic level of intellectual honesty, this book is hardly what his enemies so readily misconstrue it to be.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- MB
- 28-01-2023
One good concept, but not much content
Soros’ discussion of reflexivity is interesting. But overall the book is very verbose, and given it doesn’t pretend to adhere to the scientific method, the approach is somewhat dull and can take too long to get to the point
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