Good subject but the book is very repetitive and shallow in context. I will skim through the second half of the book in case something interesting comes up.

I was disappointed by this book. I have been a HUGE fan of Howard Marks' Oaktree memos. They are well-thought out, well-edited, and have useful information. Unfortunately, this book makes broad, repetitive generalizations with no data to prove its points. Yes, he says in 12 different ways that it's better to buy during the depths of a recession and sell during bubbles/manias, but zero actionable information is revealed in this book. No rules of thumb. No metrics. No resources. It ends by saying that most of the time, we are in between bubbles and deep recessions, and it's super hard to make money during these middle periods even though it can be more than a decade between these market extremes. Gee, thanks.

I was expecting a much more detailed explanation of market cycles and the techniques to exploit them. This book would be better titled "Why you should pay attention to market cycles". If you're looking for a technical book on tatical asset allocation through different market cycles, I highly recommend "Applied financial macroeconomics and investment strategy". Overall, if you are above novice level of investor I do not recommend this book. However, if you are novice level then this book can give you solid general philosophies and general strategies which is essential when beginning your investing journey.

I truly could not put this book down. I have been managing money for clients for 21+ years and the one individual who has had the biggest impact on my investment thinking, discernment and results is Howard. Like Howard's memos and his first book, The Most Important Thing, this book continues to help me look at investments/cycles on a distribution curve with a range of outcomes whereby as an investor you are looking for asymmetrical investment opportunities with counter-cyclical strategies--to quote, "When the market is low in its cycle, gains are more likely than usual, and losses are less likely." He reminds us that the "investor's goal is to position capital so as to benefit from future developments." To paraphrase Howard, "it isn't about buying any great company or the most admired company at any price, but it is truly about buying any company at the right price."Lastly, he also provides signposts with regard to inferring where we could be in the cycle--i.e. availability of credit or lack thereof; lower/higher lending standards; less/greater restrictive debt offerings; lack/abundance of enthusiasm/skepticism; widely held belief/disbelief by the masses in a specific investment.I hope you find his book and his teachings as valuable as I have.Thanks Howard for taking the time to write this~Luke

TIMING WAS EXCELLENT> Thank you.