This extraordinary book introduces a new, unconventional way of thinking about investing. To understand the behavior of such a complex system as the stock market, Hagstrom offers a lattice of intelligent models. He proves that the key to long-term success in the investment business is to think about finance and capital investment as an element of a single whole, about one segment of the body of knowledge. After reading this book, you will understand more clearly how markets and economies work - and you can extract all this from the fundamental truths interspersed in a series of seemingly unrelated disciplines: physics, biology, social sciences, psychology, philosophy and literature. The book is addressed to individual investors, financial managers, market analysts, teachers and students of business schools and specialized universities, as well as everyone who is interested in market trends and investment activities.