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Page xi
Acknowledgments
The writing of this book was short and sweetbut intense. The manuscript was completed in four months in one shot, with no drafts or rewrites. During this period, I continued my part-time psychotherapy practice around my writing. The intensity of the writing meant lost sleep, as I averaged four hours per night. My golf game also suffered, as I fell short of my normal quota of practice balls and played little.
This writing was an exercise in what the Buddhists call one-pointed attention. Most of my waking hours during these four months were spent either closely watching or reading about the stock market, trading online, writing about trading, or thinking about writing about it. I was enveloped in a delicious bubble of creative flow, relying on very few notes or references to outside sources. Since I did not lean on the word and expertise of others, any errors in describing the factual workings of the securities markets are my own.
I want to thank my editor at McGraw-Hill, Stephen Isaacs, who showed immediate interest in my proposal and allowed me creative license to alter it as I sprinted along the way. He permitted me unbridled freedom in the themes I chose to focus on. This allowed for the consideration of some cognitive processes, such as the role of images, fantasies, and moment-to-moment awareness in trading, that are just never discussed in books on investing or trading. He was also kind enough to preserve my style of writing, as was the editing supervisor, Janice Race.
Thanks also to my literary agent, Jeff Herman, for his enthusiasm and for being a mensch.
Thanks to my mother, Susan Hendlin Phillips, standing behind me, as always, in loving support and encouragement. And thanks to my brothers, Timmy and Ricky, for their lifelong companionship.
My devoted wife and colleague, Deborah, helped formulate the topic for this book, visioning how I might combine my career in

 
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