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A Review: Alpha Masters

Long time readers know I only review books that I really like and would recommend to both friends and family to read. I get asked to review books regularly and many I read and simply pass on. I have no desire to denigrate the hard work of others so I elect to not review them on the site. So….based on that we can infer….

 

First the boilerplate stuff…..

Written during one of the most volatile years for the U.S. markets, The Alpha Masters presents in-depth interviews with the biggest and most successful names in the history of the hedge fund business, including Ray Dalio, John Paulson, David Tepper, Bill Ackman, Marc Lasry and Sonia Gardner, Dan Loeb, Jim Chanos, Boaz Weinstein, Pierre LaGrange and Tim Wong, many of whom have never provided access to their businesses and their lives in this way. Ahuja’s unprecedented access to these managers uncovers the innermost workings of the geniuses in the hedge fund industry in The Alpha Masters: Unlocking the Genius of the World’s Top Hedge Funds.

In easy-to-follow chapters highlighting each of the top managers, the book:

  • -Provides both institutional and savvy private investors with tangible, analytical insight into the strategies and investment criteria the most successful money managers use to determine and evaluate their positions;
  • – Chronicles the differing personal backgrounds, varying personalities, academic and professional paths of each of the managers;
  • – Reveals their biggest trades, the psychology behind the trades, successes but also the inevitable missteps along the way;
  • – Delves into specific hedge fund strategies including Long/Short, Event Arbitrage, Value, Macro, Distressed, Quantitative, Commodities, Activist, Pure Short and Fund of Hedge Funds; and – In Ms. Ahuja’s own words, shows the industry leaders as “human beings,” revealing their “successes and failures equally.”

The Alpha Masters: Unlocking the Genius of the World’s Top Hedge Funds is the ultimate behind-the-scenes look at the hedge fund industry, written by one of the top industry insiders. As producer of CNBC’s “Squawk Box” for more than three years, Ms. Ahuja has been providing groundbreaking coverage of the industry. This book is for investors, business students, market participants and anyone curious about the markets and interested in a “hedge-ucation.”

About the author:

MANEET AHUJA is CNBC’s Hedge Fund Specialist and a producer on “Squawk Box”. In 2011, she co-created and developed the network’s “Delivering Alpha” hedge-fund summit in conjunction with Institutional Investor and was awarded CNBC’s prestigious Enterprise Award in 2009 for her groundbreaking coverage of the industry. Noteworthy work includes hedge-fund titan David Tepper’s first-ever TV appearance, sparking a 2-week “Tepper Rally” in the markets, David Einhorn’s warning call on Lehman Brothers as well as his bid to purchase the Mets, and John Paulson’s letter to investors in response to the SEC investigation into the Goldman Abacus deal. She has covered the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and produces quarterly shows at the Department of Labor with Former Federal Reserve Board President Alan Greenspan as well as Competitiveness Summits at Harvard Business School.

Prior to joining CNBC in 2008, she was a part of The Wall Street Journal’s Money & Investing team. She began her career on Wall Street in 2002 at age 17 in Citigroup’s Corporate & Investment Banking division as a credit risk analyst. She is one of Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30” (Jan 2012), has been featured in Elle magazine’s annual Genius issue (April 2011) and in 2010, was nominated for Crain’s NY Business’ “40 Under 40 Rising Stars”. This is her first book.

Thoughts?….. I loved the book… I can always judge a book by how fast I devour it. This one I whipped through over Mother’s Day weekend. I just could not put it down… What makes this different than the dozens of other pieces you have read on the fund managers in the book? I mean we all know Loeb surfs, Ackman plays tennis, Paulson and the “big short”, Chanos and China, Tepper likes the Steelers…stop me if you’ve falling asleep yet.

What makes this different is Ahuja brings readers along a journey from the managers pre-fund days to the fund’s inception and then through the thought process behind their investing style and various investments. For good measure she also discusses some of the tough times each went though and more importantly, they tell us what they learned from them. Ahuja bring an insider’s perspective to the narrative that holds the reader. She eliminates much of the trivial information we often read in these types of efforts and has created a page turner for those reading.

For instance rather than recounting Paulson’s housing short (it is mentioned) Ahuja gives us a fascinating blow by blow of Paulson’s Dow Chemical/Rohm & Haas merger investment. Bill Ackman’s attempt to gain control of Rockefeller Center in his early years gives readers insight into the value of making a cold call. Ray Dalio, a great investor shows us how they turn their macro theses into investments ideas. Tepper’s investments into bankrupt companies and seized financials illustrate to readers that digging deeper into situations can be very rewarding. Chanos’ shorts in Enron and Tyco are detailed but more importantly, Ahuja tell us what he looks for, the process he has for finding his shorts and what he looks for in an analyst.

There is plenty more but you’ll have t read the book for them. The bottom line here is that this is much more than simple recitation of past events and investment. Ahuja illustrates not just what investments were made but more importantly, why they were made and what they were thinking as they unfolded. Readers will learn more than a thing or two from this…..