No, and I think he acknowledges the first book was difficult, so his next 3 try to address that. I will be able to judge in a few days.
Absolutely not, it's a sign that he's in there to create a GURU status. There is absolutely 0 reason to write confusing stuff and then only 50 pages later to explain what he was saying 50 pages ago. There is absolutely 0 reason to write in book 1 something and saying: I'll explain this in book nr 2. There is absolutely 0 reason to write a confusing book, to then later write 3 books with the same stuff and saying: hey I made it easier, while it's not easier and it's the same stuff he's pulling on you just now he did it in 3 books. Except if you are living from your books that is and want to become a GURU. Look, if his new books where actually better written and didn't pulled the same crap like he did in his first book, I would strongly admit that it's better. But it's absolutely not. His new book is just the same crappy written style, that is pure SNAKE OIL SALESMEN practice to me. If he didn't lived of his books, well write a clear document and post it on your blog or site. There's no reason to ask $129 for 3 books who cost $3 to print in China.
Why did you buy Al Brooks books "a second time" if you believed he's trying to become a guru as if that's his intentions and you believed strongly (via your caps) that he was a snake oil salesman. My point, did you not think he was a guru and a snake oil salesman the first time you bought his book or did you develop such an opinion because you didn't understand the book or that the methods discussed in the book failed to improve your trading. Further, Amazon has a return policy...have you returned the books to get your money back. ??? By the way, I always thought a snake oil salesman was someone that had questionable advertising/marketing practices and/or someone that lied (tricked you) to make a profit off of you. Yet, I never thought someone was a snake oil salesman because they have poor writing skills or hires an editor that has poor editing skills.
Last of all, you do realize that there will be those that will understand his books (it always happen) along with having the ability to explain the methods discussed in the books in a more coherent manner than Al Brooks. Therefore, why not seek help from them here at the ET forum or at Al Brooks method discussion forum for free especially considering you're obviously willing to pay for the books a second time. Isn't that more productive instead of calling someone a snake oil salesman because he has poor writing skills along with debating with those that understand the books. ??? This type of discussion always reminds me of college. There are students in the class that complained about the professor's poor communication skills but mainly by those getting poor grades in that particular class. In contrast, there were fewer students in the same class getting good grades while having no complaints about the professor communication skills. Yet, there were others that complain and they still were able to get good grades. I saw such in every class I took at college especially in the classes that didn't have teaching assistants. Thus, it just seems that a person's own personal performance will influence their opinion about the educator in most cases while others were able to excel somehow in the same class even when they didn't like the professor or didn't like his/her communication skills... Food for thought.
How can I form a comment about somebody if I do not make the effort to investigate what he's doing ? How can I put out that advise if I don't try to do it myself. I strongly advise people not to invest the huge amount of time needed to try to figure out what this guru is trying to say or teach. There are plenty of other profitable trading systems that ARE clearly good explained. There's no need to go true the pain of becoming an Al Brooks believer to become profitable. If I look at my P&L I do not think we can put me in the camp with people with poor grades. I actually believe it takes much more effort to write such a crap load of books than to write a normal one. The only reason he does it is to become a GURU. That's what bothers me, that's what I'm protesting again. It's not because he has poor writing skills, it's because he found a way to make easy money.
I still find it odd that you're not willing to seek the help of those that do have an understanding of Al Brooks methods here at ET or at Al Brooks forum that have publicly stated they understand the material and/or applying it profitably especially considering you're obviously willing to purchase (investigate) his books twice. Heck, in college, if I didn't understand the professor or the class room books...I joined a study group and/or hired a tutor. You can get such for free here at ET or at Al Brooks forum. By the way, when did you develop the opinion he was a GURU and snake oil salesman...before your first purchase, after your first purchase or after your second purchase Also, you said you're not in the camp of those getting poor grades. Does that imply you found value in Al Brooks methods or you're saying you have your own profitable method while willing to purchase books by someone you consider to be a GURU and snake oil salesman...please clarify.
A clue that Al Brooks probably doesn't trade successfully is the fact that he throws so much shit at you in his book that he's bound to be right on any given setup. The human brain can't process all of his different setups in the split seconds required to make a trading decision. Btw, for the supporters of Al Brooks....have anyone of you seen him trade live and successfully on a consistent basis? I suspect that the resounding answer is no...which would be truly truly sad...
Therefore, for the record, its not his writing style that qualified him as a GURU or snake oil salesman to you. He qualifies as such because you don't like the fact that he found a way to make easy money and he did such twice with you even though you didn't like his books the first time when you first investigated his methods and/or books.
How does his method and set ups work psychologically?His methods and set ups require processing information and people are not good at that. I quote Van K Tharp ''At the most basic level, people must trade by processing information. Unfortunately, we're not very efficient information processors. We have a lot of biases which enter into trading decisions. However, I think most of those biases can be summarized by realizing that trading/investing are very simple processes and we human beings try to make it into something much more complex. Those biases are all about adding complexity to the world.'' http://www.iitm.com/consulting/vkt_interview.htm