Techniques of Tape Reading Book Review

Since most novices -- and not-so-novices -- are interested primarily in buying when the blue line crosses the red line and are therefore searching for which blue line is the "best" and what settings are the "best", there isn't much out there on the basics of supply/demand, support/resistance, price/volume. Those who would like to understand what's going on rather than just be told which button to push will benefit from this book.

My review: There's been little of value written on tape reading since Neill's book in the 40s, and before that, Wyckoff's work in the 20s and 30s. Possibly the popularity of "indicators" stole some of tape reading's thunder, since indicators are purportedly "simpler" to use.
I had hoped that the book would be a bit more thorough, but after finishing it and giving it a second read, I understood that what Vad and Chris are trying to do is reduce TR to a set of basic principles, easy to explain, easy to understand. The buts and unlesses and on the other hands are left to many specific examples which illustrate just what it is they're trying to get across. In this way, one can come up with his own examples to illustrate the concepts rather than rely on some sort of "blueprint", in the event that he is trading a different market, a different bar interval, a different timeframe, or even using indicators to supplement his judgement.
Unfortunately, the book begins with what has become the obligatory "once I was a loser and then I became a winner" section. Not that it's boring or that there's anything wrong with this sort of autobiographical touch. After all, one would most likely be put off by someone who puts out a trading book beginning with only his successes and giving no hint of the often rocky road one must travel in order to achieve those successes. But those who have read more than a few trading books are likely to find that they could have skipped this and gone right to the meat of the book, i.e., the principles of tape reading, and there's plenty of meat here. No, the book is not encyclopedic, but, contrary to what you may have heard, tape-reading does not require the encyclopedic approach. Keep It Simple.
If all you have, then, are Wyckoff and Neill, this should pull everything together for you in a way that will enable you to gain some traction on this tape-reading stuff. The advice on how to create a setup and how to evaluate what you've created should be of particular benefit to beginners who continue to struggle with this and with the misleading notion that the riches lie in finding that one perfect golden setup.