Scratch the 'If you bought X in 1958, you would've made Y!' sentences and the 90s-focused political commentary and this is actually a great and timeless book about investing. ( )

Not really for me. This book mostly focuses on his years running a Mutual Fund. An interesting book but not a very educational one for the adverage investor. ( )

Best book on investing. Have read 3 times & may read 100 more times. A must read for beginners in stock investing. ( )

For all of the financial capital under their control, it has always amazed me how anonymous most portfolio managers are. Money management companies (e.g., Fidelity, Putnam, Vanguard) are well-known, but the men and women who actually make the investment decisions typically are not, particularly to non-groupies who don’t stay glued to CNBC. Of course, Peter Lynch is an exception; his performance record while running Fidelity’s Magellan fund was so spectacular that the firm simply could not keep him hidden.

This is the first of two books—Beating the Street being the other—that crystallizes his “power of the little guy” investment philosophy. If Ben Graham is the quintessential value investor, Lynch embodies the GARP (Growth at a Reasonable Price) strategy. His straightforward approach is based on two imminently sensible ideas: (1) good, well-run companies with expanding franchises make the best investments over the long run, and (2) individual investors often have an advantage over institutional investors because, as everyday consumers of goods and services, they are in a better position to gather information on the quality of those firms.

Lynch develops these ideas in a practical and approachable manner, usually illustrating his points with examples from his own experience. Although some of these stories feel a little dated by now (e.g., Micron Technology, Service Corporation International), the wisdom inherent in his approach is timeless. He was truly a master at the art of building a stock portfolio from the bottom up and much of that accumulated wisdom is captured in this volume; in fact, the chapter on 'Some Famous Numbers' is worth price of the book alone. ( )

I found this an interesting book about how one man made decisions about what companies were worth investing in. It's not a practical guide but it shows you Lynch's perspective on the process, the rewards and the pitfalls, and how to view companies as an investor. It made the whole thing less mystifying. I didn't come away feeling I could necessarily make the best decisions, but I did come away feeling I could spot someone making poor decisions, especially poor decisions for me. ( )