Welcome to MakeNetCash.com - Information on How to make money on the internet

Going on the book's title as I picked up the book from the review shelf I thought this was going to be a book written by the author of the dozens of spam e-mails that I get all the time telling me that I can earn GBP800 plus per week working from home. Thankfully I was wrong.

How to Make Your Million from the Internet is written by ITV's Jonathan Maitland (ex Watchdog consumer affairs programme anchor) and it is his diary of what happens when he mortgages his house for GBP50,000 and tries to make a million pounds (GBP) from the Internet in one year.

He tries to do this by entering the shaky and volatile world of trading in stocks and shares on the 'net.

After a mistaken dabble in the novice's 'Day-Trading' method (which consists of buying shares in the morning and then selling them as soon as they go up that evening. This looks good on paper but when you take in to account the money that is spent for the privilege of buying and selling the share then there is really no money made at all and more often than not, day-traders are losing money), he invests in some long term shares. At first his choices do quite well and slowly but surely his portfolio increases from GBP50,000 to GBP83,000 but he get's too attached to his shares and they soon start to fall in price rapidly and the value of his portfolio drops to GBP43,000.

With all the highs and lows that come as Maitland's shares rise and fall there is a sub-plot involving him falling in love with his neighbour, an American woman with two kids who helps him out a lot with his project.

The book is written in diary format and has a very informal style to it, even though Maitland knows that the diary is for the purpose of making a book which will be read nationwide and maybe more he still manages to keep the tone casual and light-hearted.

At times the financial parts of the book get a little dull as Maitland is carried away in the backgrounds and workings of the companies but this doesn't happen all that often and the majority of the book is interesting and entertaining to read.

The author often has humorous reasons for investing in certain companies such as his beard theory which states that a company that has a CEO with a beard is more likely to do well because they look more dependable and trustworthy than the clean-shaven, too-fresh, media attracting CEO's of other companies. Throughout the book there is a kind of a monthly recap which shows how his shares are doing. These recaps include a table which shows just how much his various shares have appreciated or depreciated in value during that month and also a simplistic picture of his house which shows his state of affairs because he mortgaged his house to get the original GBP50,000, i.e at one stage in the book there is a 'For Sale' sign outside the house which tells us that things are going badly in a big way.

There is also a littering of little things that happen while he is trying to make his fortune and these serve well to break up all of the overly financial parts of the book.

I'm not going to tell you if he makes his million or not as that would take all of the fun out of reading the book but I can tell you that I did enjoy going along for the ride. Occasionally the book can get a little repetitive and I found myself more looking forward to what would happen with the woman that he falls for than what would happen with his shares.

CONCLUSION:A very entertaining read, following one man's quest to make a million and the things that happen along the way. It shows financial subjects from a human and personal perspective.

Title:How to Make Your Million From the Internet Author:Jonathan Maitland Published by:Hodder & Stoughton ISBN:0-340-77079-1 Price:GBP10.00 Reviewer:Justin Doherty

((Comments on this story may be sent to info@m2.com))