Book Review: One Up on Wall Street

One Up on Wall Street (1989) by Peter Lynch

The author of this book is best known as the manager of Fidelity's Magellan mutual fund from 1977 to 1990, during which time he achieved an excellent return for investors. In this book he recounts many of his experiences during that time, making it part-biography and part-investment book. The biographical parts were interesting and even amusing at times – there is a vein of humor that runs throughout the book, making it an enjoyable read. The investment parts were less interesting for me because his approach differs substantially from mine. He is all about "stalking the tenbagger" – finding a little-known company with great potential, investing in it, and then reaping the profits when the company experiences rapid growth and its stock price increases tenfold or more. This is fine for someone with the resources and connections to do the necessary in-depth research and analysis of a small, relatively unknown company, but it's very speculative and not too useful for your average individual investor. He does offer some basic, common-sense advice about investing that is good, but the book is not really a how-to guide for investing.

Note: I read this book in September 2011.