Book excerpt: The stock market has been framed by the financial services industry as a selection of good-quality companies that have excellent balance sheets and financial statements and great future prospects. In short, the game has been defined as stock picking. There has been little emphasis on the big picture or what history has to tell us about our investments. Finally, there has been no emphasis on the psychological stress of investing over a lifetime. This book was written to provide a kinder, gentler approach to stock market investing. Most individuals today just dont have the necessary time to become detail proficient. This book offers a simpler yet quite effective approach to understanding what drives the market, how to think about the market, and how to execute in the market. This book gets the investors head up, looking for the next tsunami rather than the next good wave. Although, no methodology can predict the future; knowing where you are can provide opportunity and psychological stability. The principles explained here represent some of the best ideas that have stood the test of time in the authors forty-six years in the markets.