HEDGE FUNDS are in the news and on the minds of sophisticated investors more than ever. An estimated $ 1 trillion in assets is now invested in 7,900 hedge funds, up from an estimated $ 450 billion in 3,600 funds in 1999.

As the number of investors has expanded, so have questions about how the funds are structured, where the assets are allocated, and whether hedge funds can truly act as a hedge against market risk, The answers are all here in Inuesting in Hedge Funds.

Until recently, much of what makes hedge funds tick has been closely guarded―the intellectual property of Wall Street's investment elite. In this updated and revised text, Joseph G. Nicholas, founder and chairman of the leading industry information provider Hedge Fund Research, Inc., takes you inside the new hedge fund marketplace to explain the alternative investment strategies of today's top fund managers, providing clear descriptions of how to access these funds and where they're headed in the near future. It's a complete guide that everyone investing in hedge funds should study closely and keep nearby.

JOSEPH G. NICHOLAS, J. D., is founder and chairman of HFR Asset Management, LLC, a leading fund of funds, and Hedge Fund Research, Inc., the industry's leading supplier of hedge fund data. The author of Market Neutral Inuesting (Bloomberg Press, 200 ) and Hedge Fund of Funds Inuesting ( Bloomberg Predd, 2004) Mr Nicholas is a frequent lecturer and media expert on topics relating to alternative investments .