Help Dr. Brett Write His Next Book!

Dear Readers,

It's about that time when I devote time to writing another book. This one will be my fifth--I have two psychology texts and two trading ones--and it will be my most unique.

My first two trading books were trader-centric, focusing on the psychology and performance of the trader, respectively. This one will emphasize the psychology of the markets themselves, highlighting trading strategies that are grounded in trader/investor sentiment and behavior patterns.

I say the book will be unique, because it will be an electronic product as well as a print text. That means that it will incorporate annotated color graphics, links to online resources, audio presentations, and trading videos in a single package.

Most e-books are simply electronic versions of print texts with a few HTML links tossed in. In the future, books will be multimedia publications that integrate text, graphics, audio, and video in a single package. The text will explain a concept, the graphics will illustrate it, and the audio/video will explain and show how to utilize it.

That means that readers will learn more effectively, seeing, hearing, and reading information, processing the material through multiple sensory/learning modalities.

Static text is great for conveying factual information, not so good for illustrating and demonstrating skills. The books of the future will be anything but static.

My next book will also be unique in that I will make an effort to incorporate the ideas of many different writers from the trading literature. One of the surest signs that trading is a non-scientific field is that it lacks a literature that is cumulative. Books rarely make a conscious effort to survey existing knowledge in the field and add to the corpus. Instead, writers tread old ground and fail to advance the solid understandings from the past.

So, to the best of my ability, I will review a range of trading literature. My aim is to give credit to those who have lent their shoulders and provided me with a broader view than I could ever have achieved on my own.

Finally, I'm hoping that the book will be unique in that its content will be influenced by its future readers. I'm asking interested traders to either comment on this blog or email me (at the address at the bottom of the "About Me" section of the blog home page) and suggest topics they would like to see covered in a book that addresses trading strategies that draw upon the psychology of markets themselves.

What would most help you in *your* trading? Pass along your questions and topics of interest, and I'll do my best to incorporate them in the new book.

Or maybe you have strategies you'd like to share with others: ones that have worked for you and draw upon an understanding of trader psychology. I'm also open to incorporating those in the book and citing you as the source.

As an electronic text, some of the book will reside on the Web. That means the book can always be updated, always be elaborated. No need for second and third editions: as markets change, ideas will be added to the book and chapters will be revised. The book, if done right, will evolve with our own understandings. And it will never go out of print.

For those who engage in the commerce of ideas, these are exciting times indeed. The technology is there to create books like those in the Harry Potter movies: you open the cover and the material literally comes to life.

I invite you to be my co-author and suggest topics for the book to address and ideas to share.

As always, I greatly appreciate your interest and support. The many fine people I've met through the blog have been one of the true joys and rewards of my life.

Brett