Well, it's helpful if you like baseball, but that's way beside the point. No, the true story of the book is how a person can profit from anomalies -- by challenging the conventional wisdom with a methodology based on facts, by sticking to one's guns in the face of criticism from the masses.

In essence, the protagonist, Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane, is much like the typical person reading this column. He'd much rather go with something tested and objective, rather than make a trade based on "the story." He's a technician in a sea of fundies. He's truly someone who has figured it out.

Again, go get this book. It will reinforce the case for taking a variant view and searching for ways to do things not only differently, but better. I bought a copy for each of the Whitman Crew coaches because Beane's kind of thinking doesn't just apply to baseball, but to rowing, golf, trading... life.

Yeah, Lewis did a pretty good job with this one.

Today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, EntreMed (ENMD - commentary - Cramer's Take), Indevus Pharmaceuticals (IDEV - commentary - Cramer's Take), BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ - commentary - Cramer's Take), Align Technology (ALGN - commentary - Cramer's Take), Black Box (BBOX - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Merck (MRK - commentary - Cramer's Take).

Charts produced by TC2000, which is a registered trademark of Worden Brothers Inc.

And that is the final word from the RealMoney home page, where I'm still trying to figure out what Cramer is doing in the picture below and to the right. Swatting flies? Jamming A-Rod with a fastball? Doing the hokey-pokey? Hey, he's a Renaissance man, so it could be all three!