Most of us do not have the opportunity to rub elbows with some of the biggest traders in world, especially in the clubby, private world of large global hedge funds. Steven Drobny essentially does it for a living. Drobny, author of Inside the House of Money (John Wiley & Sons, 2006), is partner with Andres Drobny (no relation) in Drobny Global Advisors, a research firm servicing global hedge funds. One of the firm’s enviable responsibilities is to host bi–annual conferences at which top hedge fund managers gather to share ideas and trading experiences.

This access to trading talent provided Drobny with an excellent opportunity to pick the minds of different hedge fund managers and prop traders about what they do. The book, apart from being an effective advertisement for his firm (Andres Drobny is one of the interview subjects) and some of its clients, is an engaging collection of extended discussions with 13 hedge fund managers, plus a few chapters of background material on what the author calls "global macro" — basically, an investment approach that can be broadly defined as the search for profit opportunities in any market in any corner of the world, generally driven by "big–picture" economic, political, or sociological factors. In other words, it’s about big traders looking for big moves.