Soros has had his ups and downs with his funds. He did well beating down the British pound, but lost heavily in the Russian money crisis of 1998, and later his Quantum Fund lost one-third of its value (2000), down from $10 to $6 billion. He switched investments mostly to technology, a field that has been doing well. His Quantum Fund has grown strong and larger than ever.

His 1994 book, "The Alchemy of Finance," has classic status; one of its predictions was the the mortgage crash.
His new book, "The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What it Means," should be required reading for all bank and fund managers,
In 2008, be is investing in Indian stocks, among others.
Larger funds are Goldman-Sachs and others in the news recently.

The accusation that Soros and Paulson caused the collapse of Bear-Stearns is nonsense; they knew when to get out before the walls came tumbling down- and he told the public what would happen in his 1994 book.

A good survey of the plus and minus of hedge funds, which have been in existence for 60 years, here: Hedge

All I know about the funds is what I have read; they have little to do with the petroleum industry.

Soros books are authoritative, by a man who knows his subject from the inside.