By Scott Goold
Major Street Publishing

There is a conundrum that faces teachers endlessly – how do you make your subject matter appeal to your target market? Cue Whoopi Goldberg and a couple of singing kids in Sister Act 2 and you get the idea. Goold has chosen to use fighting as his method to reach the masses – the first clue should be the James Bond-esque dollar symbol in the crosshairs on the cover. Sometimes it works well, as sections titled “know your weapon” and “battlefield tactics” attest to and other times it is clumsy – there’s really no need to compare learning charting techniques to completing basic training camp and being ready to move on to specialist officer training. It’s such a shame that this theme becomes so distracting because the basic book offers a solid grounding in the basics of ETFs.

Sure, it’s probably not going to wind up dog-eared and covered in highlighter sitting beside the computer and referenced every day, but there is a chance you will keep it to remember the book that got you started in ETFs.

Market Appeal: Novice
Verdict: To continue the warfare similes this author is fond of, this book is on target but lacks the full firepower to appeal to more sophisticated readers.