Maggie Mahar's Bull! is
worth your reading time, if you invest. It's a recounting of the late great
bull market, with tons of thought-provoking(!) quotes by people such as Jim
Chanos, Marc Faber, and James Grant (people to read further on). That said,
Mahar acts more as a compiler of quotes, and doesn't provide any useful
analysis regarding the bear market's causes. Worse, she anthropomorphizes the
bear market into some sentient Beast from Hell. This narrative shortcut
undermines her education of the masses, as the reader is tempted to think that
bear markets may not have identifiable causes.
The true measure of a career is to be able to be content, even proud, that you succeeded through your own endeavors without leaving a trail of casualties in your wake.
I wonder if Alan had someone specific in mind, when he made this comment.