Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire

Author - Michael T. Kaufman ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Hardcover Book item from Knopf was reviewed on 16-Oct-2008.

Search ISBN:0375405852 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire Reference Book. Classifications : Rich & Famous Leaders & Notable People Biographies & Memoirs Subjects Books Business Professionals & Academics Biographies & Memoirs Subjects Books General Biographies & Memoirs Subjects Books Company . Click the following link to view the cover of Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire.

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1) Hardcover Book Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire by Knopf. In this refreshing biography, Soros comes out as an open-minded person, extremely focused and honest, with a child-like-curiosity. His childhood insecurities, emanating from the trying times during WWII, seems to have had, both, positive and negative impact on him. Positive as it enabled him to not get caught in status quo and negative for it left a psychological scar, which troubled him, throughout his adult life.


The key principle on which he seems to have built upon his latticework of mental models is his theory of fallibility (ie) there is no absolute truth, only informed guesses to be made, which are fallible as variables in the system change. Consequently, comprehending change is an integral element in his decision-making process. No wonder, he is known for his quick 360 degree turns.

I have fallen in love with Soros´ theory as explained in this book using some of his own words. So much so, that for a moment I ran through my core beliefs and checked it for fallibility and they were not absolute truths but conjectures based on my experiences and pre-conceived notions. Contrary to making me fall vulnerable, it made me feel ripe for building upon my understanding of things around me.

I have already read this book a couple of times and I shall pick up this book every now and then and run through some of my favorite sections in the book. I cannot recommend this book enough, particularly the first part pertaining his early life and work.
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2) Hardcover Book Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire by Knopf. The book was obviously well written and covered Soros´s life in excellent detail. The only qualm I would have with the book was of how little it covered the financial aspects of his life. I feel the book mostly gave an account of his life and really did not go into much detail at all regarding his financial successes, but rather the philosophical and philanthropic aspects of his life.¤

3) Hardcover Book Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire by Knopf. I did not get very far into this book before deciding that it was one of the most boring accounts I have ever read. I will donate my copy to a charity book sale and seek information elsewhere.¤

4) Hardcover Book Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire by Knopf. If you have read any of Chernow´s biographies, such as JP Morgan or Rockefeller, and love history, then read this book. This is not a book to learn how Soros invests.

This is not a book that will teach you about fixed income, equities, derivatives, or how to hedge. If you want to sell short...go to the finance section of Amazon and buy a finance book.

This is a brilliant biography about George Soros. You learn about his life, how he grew up, where he went to school. How his character was formed...the events that helped form his work ethic, his philosophy about world markets and peak into how he may think.

You aren´t going to get under the hood of his brain, but you will get to the core of what matters to this famous man and why. Brilliantly done!¤

5) Hardcover Book Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire by Knopf. This should be the real title. How many people does George have to screw over before the world wakes up and realizes that this guy is just one big rat!¤

6) Hardcover Book Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire by Knopf. The first biography of George Soros written with his cooperation--a dramatic story of the capitalistic genius who has become the leading philanthropist of our time.

In a fascinating narrative, we follow Soros from European dislocation to unfathomable success and wealth. Born into a Jewish family in Budapest, he was on his own by age 14, passing as an Aryan to survive World War II. As a penniless 17-year-old in London, he dreamed both of personal glory and making the world less harsh. Ambition and opportunity drove him to Wall Street, where he arrived in 1956. Soon he was "the greatest money manager in the world." In his early 50s, restless and having made his fortune, Soros turned to doing good as a full-time occupation, showing the same energy, imagination, and courage in spending his money as he had in making it. He has invested more than $1 billion worldwide through his Open Society foundations, undermining the kind of totalitarianism he knew in his youth. Kaufman reveals how Soros became a key figure in accelerating the collapse of communism, while minimizing the trauma of transition, and how his work continues today.

Packed with event and character, this is the story of a remarkable, brilliant, hugely generous, but--until now--little-understood man.¤

7) Hardcover Book Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire by Knopf. George Soros was once described as "the only private citizen [of the U.S.] who has his own foreign policy." In this penetrating biography, Michael Kaufman explores the multifaceted life of a man who instead describes himself as "a financial, philanthropic, and philosophical speculator."

Like Intel chairman Andrew Grove, whose memoir Swimming Across touches on some of the same territory, Soros grew up as the scion of a Hungarian Jewish family, many of whose members did not survive the Holocaust. Inclined toward philosophy (a field in which he sometimes writes even today, though many philosophers wish he would not), Soros escaped to England, and later America, and put his sharp mind to work making a huge fortune. Not content to live a leisurely or unexamined life, Soros put more than $1 billion to use in bettering the lives of citizens of formerly totalitarian regimes--and even in hastening the end of dictatorships around the world.

Former New York Times columnist Kaufman delivers a respectful account, closeted skeletons and all, of Soros´s life and work, and his book will interest a wide range of readers. --Gregory McNamee¤

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 13-Nov-2008, 03754058529780375405853, 520-760-950-750-371-S0B-8

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