Mutual-fund superstar Peter Lynch and author John Rothchild explain the basic principles of investing and business in a primer that will enlighten and entertain anyone who is high-school age or older.

Many investors, including some with substantial portfolios, have only the sketchiest idea of how the stock market works. The reason, say Lynch and Rothchild, is that the basics of investing -- the fundamentals of our economic system and what they have to do with the stock market -- aren't taught in school. At a time when individuals have to make important decisions about saving for college and 401(k) retirement funds, this failure to provide a basic education in investing can have tragic consequences.

For those who know what to look for, investment opportunities are everywhere. The average high-school student is familiar with Nike, Reebok, McDonald's, the Gap, and the Body Shop. Nearly every teenager in America drinks Coke or Pepsi, but only a very few own shares in either company or even understand how to buy them. Every student studies American history, but few realize that our country was settled by European colonists financed by public companies in England and Holland -- and the basic principles behind public companies haven't changed in more than 300 years.

In Learn to Earn, Lynch and Rothchild explain in a style accessible to anyone who is high-school age or older how to read a stock table in the daily newspaper, how to understand a company annual report, and why everyone should pay attention to the stock market. They explain not only how to invest, but also how to think like an investor.

Develop a Winning Investment Strategy -- with Expert Advice from "The Nation's #1 Money Manager"

Peter Lynch's "invest in what you know" strategy has made him a household name with investors both big and small.

An important key to investing, Lynch says, is to remember that stocks are not lottery tickets. There's a company behind every stock and a reason companies -- and their stocks -- perform the way they do. In this book, newly revised and updated for the paperback edition, Peter Lynch shows you how you can become an expert in a company and how you can build a profitable investment portfolio, based on your own experience and insights and on straightforward do-it-yourself research. There's no reason the individual investor can't match wits with the experts, and this book will show you how.

In Beating the Street, Lynch for the first time:

* Explains how to devise a mutual fund strategy
* Shows how he goes about picking stocks, step-by-step
* Describes how the individual investor can improve his or her investment performance to rival that of the experts of the investment clubs.

October 28, 1997. The Dow drops 500 points. Investors the world over receive a startling reminder that "what goes up, must come down." It is a profoundly unsettling experience for those of us who have either forgotten or have never known the experience of a bear market. Half of the money invested in U.S. stocks in this century entered the market from 1991-1996, making the dark days of October memorable for their bloodletting. Overall, this was just a scratch, and despite the optimism of so many investors, history has shown that the bear attacks time and time again.

John Rothchild, critically acclaimed author of the bestselling A Fool and His Money, isn't even afraid to face a full-fledged bear market. In his topical and timely new book, Rothchild reveals how to prepare psychologically and tactically for the looming debacle. Breaking from the pack of investment books which tacitly assume a bull market, The Bear Book focuses on protecting assets and minimizing losses during a bear market and on taking advantage of unique opportunities for profit.

With customary flair and style, Rothchild chronicles the long history of bear markets, exploring in detail exactly what constitutes a bear market and how it affects us. Along with his own expertise, the author draws on respected and knowledgeable names such as Jim Rogers, Jim Grant, and Martin Zweig, among a host of prominent investment advisors, strategists, and fund managers. The result is a comprehensive chronicle that deftly and definitively fills the "bearish information gap."

John Rothchild's masterful penchant for blending wit, good storytelling, and sound investment analysis makes The Bear Book both informative and vastly entertaining. He distinguishes the characteristics of past bear markets, examining what triggered them, how long they lasted—and why. He probes the unique psychology of bearish investing, concentrating on which types of investments generally do well during a downturn in the market. His often surprising answers to some straightforward, no-nonsense questions clarify, among other key issues, what can happen to mutual funds in a bear market, and exactly what the dangers are of selling short. Of critical importance is Rothchild's overview of the alternatives to stocks, including gold, bonds, and money market funds, as well as tips on what stocks to buy when the market starts to turn bullish again.

For historical perspective, The Bear Book also includes a unique and eye-opening account of the Crash of '29 and its survivors. Profiles of prominent bearish investors—Roy Neuberger and Philip Carret, among them—contain illuminating long-term perspectives on the ups and downs of the stock market over the past fifty to seventy-five years.

A bracing tonic for investors at all levels of experience, The Bear Book offers a veritable blueprint of the various stages of a typical bear market. It will prove invaluable to those of us who wish to protect our savings —and peace of mind —whenever the market drops.

THE NATIONAL BESTSELLING BOOK THAT EVERY INVESTOR SHOULD OWN

Peter Lynch is America's number-one money manager. His mantra: Average investors can become experts in their own field and can pick winning stocks as effectively as Wall Street professionals by doing just a little research.

Now, in a new introduction written specifically for this edition of One Up on Wall Street, Lynch gives his take on the incredible rise of Internet stocks, as well as a list of twenty winning companies of high-tech '90s. That many of these winners are low-tech supports his thesis that amateur investors can continue to reap exceptional rewards from mundane, easy-to-understand companies they encounter in their daily lives.

Investment opportunities abound for the layperson, Lynch says. By simply observing business developments and taking notice of your immediate world -- from the mall to the workplace -- you can discover potentially successful companies before professional analysts do. This jump on the experts is what produces "tenbaggers," the stocks that appreciate tenfold or more and turn an average stock portfolio into a star performer.

The former star manager of Fidelity's multibillion-dollar Magellan Fund, Lynch reveals how he achieved his spectacular record. Writing with John Rothchild, Lynch offers easy-to-follow directions for sorting out the long shots from the no shots by reviewing a company's financial statements and by identifying which numbers really count. He explains how to stalk tenbaggers and lays out the guidelines for investing in cyclical, turnaround, and fast-growing companies.

Lynch promises that if you ignore the ups and downs of the market and the endless speculation about interest rates, in the long term (anywhere from five to fifteen years) your portfolio will reward you. This advice has proved to be timeless and has made One Up on Wall Street a number-one bestseller. And now this classic is as valuable in the new millennium as ever.

-- Story of an influential life told in a unique and spirited voice
-- Nationally known as the first lady of conservation, the woman who "saved" the Florida Everglades
-- Founder of the Friends of the Everglades, a feminist, a fighter for racial justice, and always a writer
-- Her intelligence, wit, and insight mirror an indomitable spirit
-- A must-have for anyone interested in conservation, the environment, or biographies of fascinating people
-- Now in its 7th printing

"There is one thing that can be said about A Fool and His Money that cannot be said about any other volume of investment advice: You will never make a penny from the information in this book. No work on the subject of personal finance has even tried to make this claim before. That is because works on the subject of personal finance are all lying. John Rothchild is the only fully honest author in the genre."—from the Foreword by P. J. O'Rourke.

A veritable gold mine of comic insight into the predicament of an average investor's avid pursuit of wealth, A Fool and His Money is John Rothchild's critically acclaimed personal account of a year devoted to investing his money in the markets. The entire investment world—its characters, institutions, customs, and myths—passes under Rothchild's sharp and profoundly humorous scrutiny.

Acclaim for A Fool and His Money

"What makes this book so good is that Rothchild can explain things like naked puts . . . and leave the reader both edified and laughing. . . . Witty, fast-paced, and educational."—The Washington Post

"You'll relish John Rothchild's comic tale. . . . The book nears guaranteed delight."—Newsday

"A Fool and His Money may be the funniest book about investing ever written. It's a reader's capital gain."—New York Post

"Rothchild finds some compelling evidence that a Bear might be lurking in the woods. [He] addresses the subject with candor."–The Wall Street Journal

"In a timely antidote to the fever now raging in the markets, Rothchild’s new book dishes a long dive when investors least expect it." –Washington Post Book World

April 14, 2000. The Dow drops over 600 points. Investors the world over receive a startling reminder that "what goes up, must come down." Today’s exceptionally volatile markets exemplify the hair-raising financial instability that most analysts see as a continuing trend. More than ever before, investors deserve a sound explanation of how to profit–or minimize loss–in such a climate, and be prepared for the inevitable dips. In Survive and Profit in Ferocious Markets, bestselling financial writer John Rothchild provides a rare understanding of profit making when the markets are tenuous, with volatility at every turn. Here is specific, comprehensive, and timely information on:

• Where the economy is going and how exactly to invest in it
• How investors can negotiate the awkward terrain between the new and old economies
• Investment strategies at different stages of a volatile market
• The psychology of investing, a history of the markets, and biographies of prominent investors, including Roy Neuberger and Philip Carret

With wit, wisdom, and a penchant for telling a good story, Rothchild provides all investors, from novices to pros, with the tools to protect their investments and prosper.

A wandering Floridian who made his way home in the early 1970s, John Rothchild writes about the state with the savvy of a native and the perspective of an outsider. His personal and historical travelogue reads alternately like a litany of 20th-century ills and a Monty Python rendering of the Great American Dream. In Florida, both versions are true. Settled through the chicanery of a few enterprising brokers and real estate wizards, Rothchild's Florida is a civilization built from scratch, out of the most unusual ingredients. While much of the state seems younger than many of its inhabitants, he observes, it hosts all the modern demographic, economic, and social problems. Still, those ills don't dispel the magic of its sunshine, beaches, and exotic fauna or undermine its status as a great American myth. Told within the framework of Rothchild's travels from Miami to the Everglades, around the state and back again, Up for Grabs is part history, part travelogue, part journalism, part autobiography--a humorous and appreciative tour of a society fabricated from a state of mind and erected on land that was "ninety percent underwater ninety percent of the time." John Rothchild, a former editor of Washington Monthly, columnist for Time and Fortune, and contributor to Esquire, Rolling Stone, Harper's Magazine, and the New York Times Magazine, is author or coauthor of nine books, including A Fool and His Money and Voice of the River, the autobiography of Marjory Stoneman Douglas. He lives in Miami Beach, Florida.