Zen in the Art of Archery

The German professor Eugen Herrigel (1884-1955) was one of the first people who brought the Oriental philosophy of Zen to public attention in the West. Inspired by his love of Eastern philosophy, he travelled to Japan and taught at Tohoku Imperial University in Sendai. Under the mentorship of master archer Awa Kenzô, Herrigel studied traditional Japanese archery, or “kyudo”, from 1924 to 1929 before returning to Germany. After the conclusion of the Second World War, he published a book called Zen in the Art of Archery (Herrigel, 1948), which recounts his enlightenment through the process of learning kyudo, and it soon became one of the most famous works on Zen Buddhism of all time.

The Master Key Exercises

American businessman, philosopher and visionary Charles F. Haanel (1866-1949) is the most well-known thinker in the field of New Thought movement. His most famous book, The Master Key System (Haanel, 1916), had allegedly sold over twenty hundred thousand copies worldwide fifteen years since its publication. The book is rumoured to be the source which encouraged Bill Gates to drop out of Harvard and began his company known as Microsoft. It is also the origin of inspiration of many other famous classics of later generations, like Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill (1937) and The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (2006).

On Chart Patterns

The study of patterns on price charts is one of the most time-tested tools in technical analysis. Many successful traders of shares and commodities see chart patterns as an invaluable aid, including Peter L. Brandt (1990), William J. O’Neil (2009) and Mark Minervini (2013). It is commonly believed that the price chart reflects the aggregate psychology, and it often forms repetitive and statistically reliable patterns when an imbalance of demand and supply is about to occur, hence an analysis of price charts could give a probabilistic estimate of the future market direction.

The Cycles of History

There is never a more mysterious and controversial market forecaster as William Delbert Gann (1878-1955). An independent representative of Ticker and Investment Digest, a famous financial magazine of Gann’s time, verified his amazing ability of financial forecasting, “I once saw him take $130, and in less than one month run it up to over $12,000. He can compound money faster than any man I ever met.” In addition to this, Gann had also predicted many events outside of the stock market, like one World War and the elections of many presidents like Wilson and Harding.

The Mozart of Speculation

If there was ever a Mozart in financial speculation, it had to be Jesse Lauriston Livermore (1877-1940). For those who do not know him, Livermore was an illustrious figure whom Time Magazine described as “the most fabulous living U.S. stock trader” of his time. Unwilling to pursue a humble life as a farmer, he ran away from home at fourteen and got a job in a stockbroker, in which he learnt a method to predict the behaviours of the market, and profited from it immensely. His biography (Lefèvre, 1923) was recommended by many great investors like Kenneth Fisher and William O’Neil, and even former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan praised it as “a font of investing wisdom”.

The “CAN SLIM” System

American businessman William J. O’Neil is one of the greatest investors of our generation. He made a fortune in the market in his twenties, enough for him to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange at thirty―the youngest ever to do so at that time. Later, he made even more so that he could quit his job and start his own business. In 1984, O’Neil launched a national business newspaper, Investor’s Business Daily, which competed directly against the formidable Wall Street Journal right from its inception, and had remained a favourite of many investors ever since. His investing strategy, known as “CAN SLIM”, is a top performer according to the American Association of Individual Investors.

As a Man Thinketh So Is He

“We ourselves are the makers of ourselves,” wrote British philosophical writer James Allen more than a hundred years ago. Allen was a successful publisher during his time, and also one of the earliest exponents of positive psychology. His most famous work, As a Man Thinketh (Allen, 1903) is a pioneering work on the personal growth genre. The title of the book was borrowed from Proverbs 23:7 of the Bible, “For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Just as the bible quote suggests, the circumstances experienced by a man is highly dependent on the beliefs and attitudes he holds in his mind.