CONTENTS
Preface 13
Acknowledgments from Earlier
Editions17
Part OneStocks and Their Value1.

Firm Foundations and Castles in theAir23
What Is a RandomWalk?24
Investing as a Way of LifeToday26
Investing inTheory28
The Firm-FoundationTheory29
The Castle-in-the-Air Theory 31
How the Random Walk Is to BeConducted33
2. The Madness ofCrowds35
The Tulip-BulbCraze36
The South SeaBubble39
The Florida Real EstateCraze45
Wall Street Lays an Egg46
An Afterword53
3. Stock Valuation from the Sixties through the Nineties55
The Sanity of Institutions 55
The Soaring Sixties 57
The New "New Era": The Growth-Stock/New-Issue Craze57
Synergy Generates Energy: The Conglomerate Boom 61
Performance Comes to the Market: The Bubble in Concept Stocks 69
The Sour Seventies 73
The Nifty Fifty 73
The Roaring Eighties 76
The Triumphant Return of New Issues 76
Concepts Conquer Again: The Biotechnology Bubble 78