The Little Book of Alternative Investments: Reaping Rewards by Daring to be Different by Ben Stein and Phil DeMuth is indeed a little book. It is about 250 page but those pages are little – a bit less 5 by 7 inches according to my ruler.

I have enjoyed several books in this Little Book, Big Profit series. Of course, Ben Stein is not only an economist but a humorist (among his many talents) and for those of us who enjoy his humor, this is a wonderful new addtion to the series. Not only do Stein and DeMuth explain the world of alternative investments beyond the standard stock/bond portfolio in an extemely clear way but they add a touch of humor to make the economic lessons entertaining.

They propose looking at an entire portfolio in terms of risk. And discuss adding alternatives to your portfolio to decrease risk and add a bit of return as well. They also discuss several stategies used to decrease risk and suggest cheaper alternatives. And strategies that are unlikely to work for most of us. Learn about commodities, collectibles, real estate, hedge funds, and more and how they could fit into your portfolio or NOT. Who knew there were so many hedge fund types? Read this book and you may decide to check out more in the series.