READING ROOM

The Short Bookon Options

We're Americans. We like havingour options. But when it comesto making investments in the stockmarket, many careful, conservativephysician-investors shy away fromoptions, mainly because they haven'treached a comfortable understandingof how they function. The word"options" translates in some mindsto "speculative endeavors." MarkWolfinger met apathy, lack of information,and bad publicity wheneverhe tried to educate investors onoptions. In response, addresses key points thatall buy-and-hold investors shouldknow about options, which can givethem a huge portfolioadvantage.

As its title promises,the book is indeedshort, at only112 small pages, andcan easily be flipped through to gainuseful information on several conservativeoptions. Specifically written forbuy-and-hold investors, it's a greatintroductory book, with some innovativeideas for those already familiarwith options. Beginning with thebasics, Wolfinger goes over whatoptions are, how they function, andhow to go about trading them. Hehighlights the pluses and minuses ofselling stock options and offers adetailed description of the conservativecovered-call writing strategy. Itssimple format includes a handy glossaryof terms, an index, tables, anduseful calculations.