VICTORNIEDERHOFFER'sstoriedcareerasaspeculatorspansmorethantwenty-fiveyears.IntheintroductiontoPracticalSpeculation,VicdescribestherollercoasterhishedgefundrodefromNo.1in1996tothedebaclein1997thatforcedhimtoclosehisfund.Ratherthangivingup,hewrotethisbook"figuringthatbytryingtoteachothers,Imightlearnsomethingmyself,"apparentlywithsomesuccess.NiederhofferwasrankedNo.6fortheyear2003among200managedfutureshedgefundsintheTASSdatabase,andisNo.4intheperformancerankingsthroughmid-2004.NiederhofferistheauthorofthecriticallyacclaimedEducationofaSpeculatoraswellasnumerousgroundbreakingacademicarticlesaboutmarkets.AmagnacumlaudegraduateofHarvard,heholdsadoctorateineconomicsfromtheUniversityofChicagoGraduateSchoolofBusiness.Heisafive-timenationalchampioninsquashandclaimedtheworldtitlein1976.LAURELKENNERhaswrittenseveralhundredcolumnsonthestockmarketwithVictorNiederhofferforCNBCmoney,ActiveTradermagazine,worldlyinvestor.com,andTheStreet.com.ShepreviouslyspentfiveyearsaschiefU.S.stockseditoratBloombergNewsandfiveyearsasanaward-winningaerospacereporterforCopleyNewspapers.