Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire Paperback – March 11, 2003

If you want a quick and easy broad overview of Soros then this is your book, but I would recommend Soros on Soros as being more useful at understanding the man.Also if you're a trader, don't even waste your time on this book. Get Alchemy of finance. This book is a fairly quick read but as you can imagine with a man like Soros, any authorised book is going to be mostly flattery.But it has it's amusing moments and some good pictures. I wouldn't pay more than $5 though for it. Then you can chuck it like a magazine when you're done.

Great writing - great topic. I've always thought Soros was fascinating but didn't know much about him before reading the book. Even if you don't understand the world of investing, this biography is definitely worth reading.

I'm not a fan of biographies and seldom read them, but Mr. Kaufman has done an amazing job here. I was particularly engaged about stories of his upbringing and early adult age. What can I say? I love rags-to-riches stories.Anyway, having previously read a book from Soros himself, I was aware of the fact that this is an exceptional individual with what I consider a very fuzzy way of thinking that I can't really fully understand and who - while I consider many of his endeavors somewhat overreaching - has much to offer and has offered a lot.

Soros is an enigma, and you'd expect to know more about this man when you bought this book. Indeed, you would, this book gives you a clear history of this man, from his childhood to his vision to his philantrophic reasons.However, if you buy a book on Soros, you'd probably want to know a lot about what made Soros famous in the first day: The Black Wednesday, in which Soros gambled on the depreciation of British Poundsterling against the Bank of England and won US$1 billion, making his known as "The Man Who Broke the Bank of England."Unfortunately, there is only a short chapter on this, even though I would bet people would be more curious on this than Soros's childhood days.The author also speculated that the Queen of England profitted from the loss of the Bank of England, but it sounds more like a rumor because he could not confirm if there was some truth in it.Anyway, this book is still good if you want to know abot Soros, but moves very slowly.

George Soros has based his investing, philanthropic and life career on trying to discern when he is mistaken and act quickly. This book told me so much I didn't know about this heroic figure.Pursuing his lifelong interest in philosophy, he paid philosphy students to critique his ideas and, when older and richer, held parties to which he invited well-respected philosphers to do the same. How many people are that serious about self-criticism?I was fascinated that he became friends with Allen Ginsberg and was influenced in his views about the harmfulness of harsh drug laws by Ginsberg's belief that it was a way to continue to fund those who had benefitted from alcohol prohibition after that ended.With his philanthropic endeavors as with others, he has been willing to change course when they didn't prove fruitful, abandoning futile efforts in South Africa some years ago for example.His financing of initiatives behind the Iron Curtain may have had more to do with the fall of Communism than Reagan's bluster; he worked covertly to encourage dissidents at a crucial time.Kaufman is candid about Soros and it only made me respect him the more. Soros's own prose tends to be rather turgid; read this book to understand him better.

Initially I borrowed this book from the library and I loved it!Recently I was looking for it on my shelf and remembered that I didn'tactually own it - so I immediately came onto amazon and bought it!If you're a lover of biographies, the wealth mentality and how to createwhat you want in life - buy this book.George Soros is a genius and an amazing mentor from afar.Michael Kaufman is a great writer.

This is a merely average biography written about a truly exceptional human being.I find it strange that a book about the `Greatest Money Manager of All Time,' contains hardly any deep insight into his investment methodology.A few rather simplistic observations are made however.Most striking is his concept of reflexivity. Many majority investment gurus that I have encountered are characterised by extreme, even delusional confidence in their own opinions. Soros provides a refreshing contrast. He is obsessive about his own fallibility, with a rare ability when needed to suddenly detach himself from prior opinions. He will follow them fanatically as far as they will lead him, and casually dismiss them upon their expiration.The raw personality of Soros is enough to just about earn this four stars. That said, I feel that the subject probably deserved better.