In 1989, professional futures trader Schwager wrote the electrifying Market Wizards, featuring incisive interviews with some of the world's most successful traders, discussion of a wide variety of techniques and markets, and a detailed chronicle of various traders' track records. It quickly became a bestseller. Five years later, Schwager published The New Market Wizards, less detailed and with more generic interviews. Now, six years after, the third installment continues this unfortunate trend. The subjects of Schwager's new interviews are less than impressive, and his questions have gone soft. To make matters worse, subjects were allowed to amend their words later, resulting in many lifeless, boilerplate responses. Instead of analyzing specific trading decisions, theories or track records, subjects spend most of the interviews talking about their childhoods or disparaging ex-bosses and co-workers. Even this dirt fails to engage the reader, since Schwager has changed the names of the maligned parties. Only the author's brief, energetic commentaries on the interviews display the insight of Schwager's earlier work. Inexperienced traders may benefit from some of the platitudes in these interviews, but experienced traders already know to cut their losses. (Jan. 31) Forecast: Bolstered by an author tour (with guest appearances by some of the „wizards“) to New York City, Chicago and Boston and a syndicated radio feature, Schwager's third book may get some initial sales from fans of Market Wizards and those looking for more up-to-date trading information. Poor reviews and word-of-mouth, however, probably will hurt this book's sales, as they did the previous sequel. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information. --Publishers Weekly Schwager (Market Wizards, New Market Wizards) interviews 15 top traders, attempting to cull their secrets in order to explain their winning methodologies. It's not a terribly original approach, and many of the questions and answers sound remarkably alike. While none of the interviewees is as recognizable as Fidelity's Peter Lynch, all have produced impressive returns for their investors. Many share characteristics that helped shape their trading philosophies: becoming interested in the stock market through their fathers, experiencing numerous failures in early trading but never giving up, and developing a strong work ethic and self-confidence. Discipline, according to the author, is the one trait that all of his subjects have in common, enabling them to ride out the turbulence of the stock market each day. The book concludes with a list of 65 wizard lessons. One of the more insightful traders described himself and his colleagues as „detectives. We are trying to find out information that is not widely dispersed and then put all the pieces together to get an edge.“ Reading this book might help readers develop their own edge in investing. Appropriate for larger public libraries.--Richard Drezen, Washington Post News Research, New York City Bureau Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.--Library Journal