WALL STREET: Put, Call & Win

Of all the deep mysteries on Wall Street, put and call options have long been among the most baffling to investors. Many market players shy away from the options, consider them as risky as a crap game. But that is just not so, says jaunty, white-haired Herbert Filer, 65, head of Filer, Schmidt & Co., the nation's largest stock option dealer. This week, in Understanding Put and Call Options (Crown; $3), the first book on the business to be published in the U.S., Filer presents a case for using options to reduce stock market risks as well as for...