If your looking for an autobiography of someones life then this is the book for you. But if your buying the book to learn the darvas system of the stock market then this is not the book for you. I gave this book a 1 star rating because the book jacket said that the book contained information about nicolas darvas' system for profiting in the market. But nowhere in this book does he give you any information about it or how to use it. It sounds like all he did was buy a stock that was in a strong uptrend and then bought it when it passed the resistance level. Nicholas also gained most of his money when he bought a cheap stock on a wim for maybe 5 or 10 dollars and it shot up in price overnight and was restricted for anymore trading. He ended up selling for 171 dollars a share and sold for a profit of 250,000. His idea of buying resistance is nothing new and it sounds like he was lucky more than anything else.

This book laid the foundation for the type of investing I do today. Although, this is not the 1960's and today's market is in many ways different than the market in Nicholas Darvas' days, the underlying principles he teaches has influenced many great traders. I love the book so much I have sent hundreds of these books to buyers of my momentum trading course-that's how much I think about it.

Paul E. Lemal
Author-"The Surfer's Guide to Stock Investing"
bottomspringers.com

The Darvas trading technique was designed as a simple method for identifying the strength of a trend. Buy signals are created on new bullish strength and managed by a volatility range with a stop loss. This approach is built around long term trend trading and is most suited for trending stocks. All in all, the book is an easy and fun read and highly recommended for beginners and experienced traders alike!

I read the 1960 version 40 years ago and just found the paperback. This is the only person I have read who has stop-loss plan. Great book for an individual investor.

I rarely give 5 star reviews but this book was truly an enjoyable read that taught me alot. Here are the key lessons:

1). ALWAYS have a stop loss order in place when you buy stocks, about $1.50 to $2.00 under your purchase price, this safeguards you against the huge losses people experience in a bear market.
2). Watch unexpected volume surges in stocks that push the price up, this is a sign that other investors know something that you do not.You can partner with insiders and people in the know with out knowing what is really driving the price.
3). Never sell a stock that is rising in price.Only sell on declines.
4). Watch price boxes that develop in stocks, if a stock is trading at $66 to $70 for 6 months then suddenly goes to $72 it is likely the sign of a new price range box, buy at break outs.
5). Take emotion out of tading set your rules and follow them.
6). Stay away from the rumors and mob mentality of Wall Street, get your information from Barron's weekly and daily quotes, everything else just leads to confusion.
7). Watch stock prices and go with the patterns you watch develop.
8). Look for the break away stocks that will make you rich, trade the stocks that are at their 52 week high if they are growth stocks and if they appear to be breaking new highs.

Darvas has an entertaining writing style and gets to the point. 5 strong stars, this is great information to tie in with what can be learned from Warren Buffet, Benjamin Graham, Philip Fisher, William O'Neal and Jim Cramer.