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| Friday, March 28, 2008 |
| This Book Will Make You Rich |
 Calling all Librarian readers of Boston Gal (or heavy library users) - can you search for a book for me? This Boston Magazine article: This Book Will Make You Rich refers to an out-of-print book by Boston hedge fund founder Seth Klarman, which is so hot right now that folks are selling old copies for $2,500 on EBay! Why are so many willing to pay so much for an out-of-print book?"There's speculation in the hedge fund community that Klarman gave away too many of his secrets," says an equity researcher at a New York investment bank, who spent a month searching in vain for an affordable copy. Now, I don't want anyone to think I am in any way pointing out this book for someone to steal from a library. Stealing library books is unacceptable behavior and I know no one reading my little blog would ever commit such a crime against their community. I believe the punishment for library book stealing is a thousand papercuts in the after-life - or so said the sisters at my grade school.
But at these prices, it almost makes sense to have someone reserve a copy for me in another city and when available I travel to read it... Or someone could just see if it is available to read in their community and let me know if it was any good or not...
- Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor |
| posted by Boston Gal @ 1:14 PM *
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| 13 Comments: |
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For anyone interested in reading this book, and willing to pay $2000 for it, I can suggest an even better, in-print book that you can find at your local bookstore for $11.99: "Fooled By Randomness" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
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t's available at a number of libraries in the US. You could ask to get it via Interlibrary Loan through your own library.
In fact, the university library I work in has a copy upstairs. ... Wait, it's overdue right now. Otherwise, I'd suggest checking it out and mailing it back and forth. (I can check out books for months.) It'll probably be back Monday--it's spring break and was due yesterday so a student forgot to return it before break.
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As someone who works in an Interlibrary Loan office, I second what annmarie says. :)
Search http://worldcat.org to see how many libraries own this book. It looks like my library has a copy!
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Ha! I checked the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium, and the only copy was in Andover, and it was lost a year ago. Hopefully you can ILL it from elsewhere. And hopefully it wasn't sold online!
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Hi Amy K,
Yes, Boston area libraries appear to have already been plundered for the book, or the book has long wait lists.
I will see about an ILL. But a definate heads up to other libraries out there - if you have this book, keep watch over it.
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Definitely check out using ILL-- worldcat isn't a definitive listing of all local libraries, only the ones using OCLC as a catalog. Therefore, you might want to check with small local libraries and rural libraries who can't afford/don't want to use OCLC-- the book might not have been 'discovered' there yet.
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It's available at the Harvard Business School library. They have copies available for regular loan and copies for in-library use only (2 hr loan).
Know any HBSers or other Harvard grads? Of course, HBS won't let any other Harvard grad students use their gym, so maybe they're that way about their books, too.
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Too funny I just read about that book in Boston magazine today and was wondering if there was any way to get my hands on a copy (obviously through library, as I will never pay that much for any book).
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Thanks for the tip, I'm going to drop into Toronto reference library tomorrow to have a read of it!
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I haven't even looked to see if it's at my library, but seriously, if it's that great of a book then why is it out of print? You would think they would be still printing the old version or updating it and releasing a new version.....
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bostongal, it is a really good book. I actually read it and copied every page and have it looseleaf form for my reference. If you are in DC let me know and I'll lend it to you and you can go to Kinkos and make a copy.
you can email me at homeimprovementninja [AT]gmail.com
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I looked into borrowing the book in Chicago some time ago and they would not let it leave the library, as other copies had been stolen given its street value. I either had to pay 0.25 per page to get it copied or read it at the library. I'm in Hong Kong now, maybe I can find it here.
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Here's a rundown of what the book has to offer. Maybe you can take the 3 grand you saved and buy some quality mutual funds!
http://www.fool.com/community/pod/2006/060504.htm?ref=foolwatch
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For anyone interested in reading this book, and willing to pay $2000 for it, I can suggest an even better, in-print book that you can find at your local bookstore for $11.99: "Fooled By Randomness" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.