MACMILLAN Capital Returns: Investing Through the Capital Cycle: A Money Manager’s Reports 2002-15

There were one or two good/ useful thoughts, mainly in Part I.1, which leaves the rest of the book - some 90% - a waste of time and, keeping in the spirit of the book, a bad return on investment for the non-beginner investor.The useful part had to do with focusing on supply dynamics rather than demand, for example, which, surprise, surprise, the author claims Marathon does. But there is a not single calculation or explanation how to go about calculating supply. Capex to depreciation and free cash flow conversion ratios are generalisations. Fine, thank you. Is that it?Most of this book is a collection of old Marathon note-to-selves, and a big marketing ploy. That's also fine - Buffett does it - but he is one man collating well-thought thoughts, not many men running mental laps of repetition, boredom and self-congratulation.You should frown on this rag. To all potential readers, make sure you've read everything else before. See if you have any wind left for this supposedly short marathon. On paper it's short, but, trust me, it was one of the most painful reads I've come across.(I don't write many reviews, but this irritated me to such lengths. No disrespect to the author or company as far as possible.)

This book predominantly focuses on afterthought on various investments and why they were sound and what made some of them a poor choice. The basic premise is to invest in companies that have built up overcapacity which has flattered returns for investors and led to a fall in share price. The book does state that for some companies this could be reversed which is why it makes sense to invest in such companies. As investors are buying companies on the cheap due to poor management but it could be reversed through shrinking the capital base. This would lead to a rise in returns for the investor and therefore the share price.I would have liked more comments on specific investments to help elucidate to the reader how to replicate their formula. The content is fantastic but not really suitable for the novice. Its taken me more than a year to really understand what the authors were talking about. This was the reason why I gave it 4 stars.

This is a well written and informative book which demonstrates the importance of capital allocation in the context of investment. It is not necessarily something which the individual investor can easily duplicate as part of the discipline involves interviewing Chief Executive Officers of scores of major companies. However the book is a good advert for Marathon and provides useful lessons for shrewd medium term investors and speculators.

Highly repetitive. Enough substance for a good essay but woefully insufficient for a book of this length and price.Style of writing is arrogant with many third rate attempts at humour.

Very few investors can explain how best and systematically to invest in cyclical industries, which covers a big chunk of the investable universe. Refreshingly different from all the usual "buy good companies with good management" books.