And now for this week's book review

This is a column intended to provoke thought, discussion and not abusive emails - it is absolutely not a place to talk about one of my favourite new books, unless of course the book in question happens to be called Value Investing and is written by my favourite professional contrarian namely James Montier, formerly of French investment bank SocGen and now asset allocation egghead at huge American fund firm GMO.

I break my rule on book reviewing because I think James is one of the most interesting thinkers in modern investment – I would go so far as to suggest the long list of chapters in this book should form the basis of a modern investors intellectual armoury. Some key themes ooze through Montier’s work that should influence any fund manager or adviser, starting with his repeat of David Einhorn’s defense of short selling. Einhorn notes that: “ I am not critical because I am short, I am short because I am critical.” Montier backs up Einhorn’s observation by quoting from a study by Chicago e...