A monthly post looking at what books Abnormal Returns readers purchased at Amazon in the prior month is now a regular item. So let’s look a July’s purchases. Nearly 49%, of purchases were of a single copy, so I have omitted them. Below are the books (combined print and Kindle) that our readers purchased and the percentage of sales (rounded) they represented for July 2012:

The Bestsellers

1. Dark Pools: High-Speed Traders, A.I. Bandits, and the Threat to the Global Financial System by Scott Patterson.  (11%)
2. Hedge Fund Market Wizards by Jack Schwager. (7%)
3. Abnormal Returns: Winning Strategies from the Frontlines of the Investment Blogosphere by Tadas Viskanta. (4%)
4. Broken Markets: How High Frequency Trading and Predatory Practices on Wall Street are Destroying Investor Confidence and Your Portfolio by Sal Arnuk and Joe Saluzzi.  (3%)

The Mid-List

1. The Options Traders Handbook: A Business Framework for Equity and Index Options by Dennis Chen and Mark Sebastian. (2%)
2. The Ages of the Investor: A Critical Look at Life-cycle Investing by William Bernstein. (2%)
3. The Malign Hand of the Markets: The Insidious Forces on Wall Street that are Destroying Financial Markets – and What We Can Do About It by John Staddon. (2%)
4. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain.  (2%)
5. Octopus: Sam Israel, the Secret Market, and Wall Street’s Wildest Con by Guy Lawson. (2%)
6. Wait: The Art and Science of Delay by Frank Partnoy.  (2%)

The Rest

1. Backstage Wall Street: An Insider’s Guide to Knowing Who to Trust, Who to Run From, and How to Maximize Your Investments by Joshua Brown.  (1%)
2. How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton M. Christensen. (1%)
3. The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: Risk Taking, Gut Feelings and the Biology of Boom and Bust by John Coates.  (1%)
4. What Investors Really Want : Know What Drives Investor Behavior and Make Smarter Financial Decisions by Meir Statman.  (1%)
5. Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy F. Baumeister.  (1%)
6. Red Ink: Inside the High-Stakes Politics of the Federal Budget by David Wessel.  (1%)

We would have liked it if our book came out on top, but it is great to see the frequent purchases of Dark Pools and Hedge Fund Market Wizards

. Thanks again to everyone who purchased a copy of my book or any other book (or item) during the month. Did you find something interesting to read this month? If so, leave a comment to give every one a head’s up.