Product Description

Rare is the opportunity to chat with a legendary financial figure and hear the unvarnished truth about what really goes on behind the scenes. Hedgehogging represents just such an opportunity, allowing you to step inside the world of Wall Street with Barton Biggs as he discusses investing in general, hedge funds in particular, and how he has learned to find and profit from the best moneymaking opportunities in an eat–what–you–kill, cutthroat investment world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #87911 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Review
"Highly Amusing" (Financial Times, Saturday 25th August 2007)

Review
"Highly Amusing" (Financial Times, Saturday 25th August 2007)

From the Inside Flap

Praise for

HedgeHogging

"Barton Biggs writes about markets with greater style, clarity, and insight than any other observer of the Wall Street scene. His new book, Hedgehogging, entertains immensely even as it provides countless valuable lessons regarding hedge funds and the investment world they inhabit."
—David F. Swensen, Chief Investment Officer, Yale University

"Since the glory days of the tech bubble, investing has become a perilous enterprise. Not the least for those running money in the proliferating hedge fund business. In Hedgehogging, Biggs offers a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes at the personalities and egos making decisions about the enormous sums being dumped en masse into these funds. This book is great. It′s full of personal anecdotes and critical insights from an insider′s insider. You should not even consider giving money to anyone on Wall Street ever again until you′ve read this book."
—Addison Wiggin, Agora Financial LLC, author of the New York Times bestseller The Demise of the Dollar, and coauthor of Empire of Debt

Rare is the opportunity to chat with a legendary figure and hear the unvarnished truth about what really goes on behind the scenes. Hedgehogging represents just such an opportunity, allowing you to step inside the world of Wall Street with Barton Biggs as he discusses investing in general, hedge funds in particular, and how he has learned to find and profit from the best moneymaking opportunities in an eat–what–you–kill, cutthroat investment world.

Customer Reviews

How did I survive without it
I have worked as a portfolio manager at a hedge fund for over 5 years. Nevertheless Barton Biggs' book Hedge Hogging taught me more about hedge funds than I had learned on the job during those 5 years. It is a true must read for anybody interested in or working in or in close contact with the hedge fund industry. Read it now!

market reflections

This book is more a collection of personal observations about entering the hedge fund industry and anecdotes from a long career in stock broking rather than an up and down guide to the hedge fund industry. Anyone looking for the latter may be somewhat disappointed. However, Barton Biggs has been around a long time and has put together an interesting collection of market tales. To his credit he is also big enough to admit that he has called it wrong on a number of occasions - I was in Indonesia in the early 90s when he called a buy on that country, in the middle of a bear market. On one point I wold take issue with him. He glosses over the fact that most hedge funds returns, after fees, are no greater than the average mutual fund. Those that do offer superior returns are either closed end or effectively closed through high minimum investment levels.
But an entertaining book none the less.

Poorly written, but not a total loss.
Biggs isn't wise and he isn't smart. Don't read this book for investment advice. That said, the book does give a decent insiders view of the Wall Street culture, with plenty of character sketches and a good description of the mental agony of investing.

Overall I was left wondering how this joker survived on the street for as long as he did. I think Emanuel Derman had it right - all the brains in banking are in fixed income rather than equities "because there's no competitive edge to being smart in the equities business".