"Technical analysis may sound dry as dust but the results are fascinating because the art of charts is more about crowd psychology than numbers. In his book, Marber quotes from the forward of the 1932 edition of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay. When Stephen Eckett at Harriman House, the publisher, asked him to write a personal account of his career in technical analysis he jumped at the idea. The result is refreshingly different from any other financial "how to" book I have read. For a start it has a glossary at the front, right after an extract from the Book of Sisylana (try spelling it backwards). All those strange terms, such as "head and shoulders", "bottoms" and "bull and bear traps", are explained. Fundamental analysts, economists and other so-called experts are treated with splendid irreverence. "The function of an expert is not to be right but, when wrong, to have intellectually sound reasons for being so," is one favourite. Apart from the jokes, some of which are painfully arch, Marber's book is a useful tool for those who genuinely want to understand charts. It is being published at a time of turmoil in financial markets, so I asked him for his best forecasts for gold, the dollar and the stock market."
