Originally published in 1973, this investor's tour guide is frequently revised. The copy I own was updated in 1995, just months before baby-faced Internet stocks began their conquest of America's headlines. Yet, as I read, it seemed that Malkiel had seen it all before it happened. And in fact, he had -- in the form of the biotech boom of the 1980s, the IPO craze of 1983, the "Nifty Fifty" of the '70s, and wave after wave of irrational exuberance, dating all the way back to the legendary tulip bulb mania of the early 17th century. Random Walk is a truly enlightening read for those who have money to invest, as well as those who just want to understand how the game is played.

Harold Check