Book List

I used to have a bookstore at Amazon.com, but they stopped that business and it disappeared. Oh well. That was annoying. Now I forget what I had there as I don't keep most books I read. Anyway, I will start a list here. I do get credit for purchases through these links (Amazon Associates, the old bookstore account), although I recommend just getting these books at the library (to save money and avoid clutter at home!)

(If you know what the above photo is, you are a true New Yorker!)

Must Read Investment Books

Security Analysis: The Classic 1934 Edition	All of the editions of Benjamin Graham's Securities Analysis are very good, except for the 5th edition which is unpopular (totally revamped with little of Benjamin Graham left). But this original edition is an amazing read as it explains how it all came about; explaining the bubble of 1929, the crash etc. Fascinating read.
Security Analysis: Sixth Edition, Foreword by Warren Buffett (Security Analysis Prior Editions)	The other editions are really good, the 2nd (1940), 3rd (1951) and 4th (1962), but this 6th edition includes essays by some of the great investors, Seth Klarmam, Howard Marks etc. and a forward by Warren Buffett, which makes it worth the price of the book. This is basically a reissue of the 1940 edition.
The Intelligent Investor: The Classic Text on Value Investing	I prefer this edition of the Intelligent Investor to the more recent versions with annotations by Jason Zweig. That book is way to big with too much unnecessary junk. The beauty of the Intelligent Investor is that it is short and sweet with important concepts explained. If you want to read a big, fat book, you might as well read Securities Analysis. But that's just my opinion.
The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel	This is the edition I was handed when I first started in the business.
Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor	This is actually a forerunner to the Genius book (below), written in 1990 by legendary investor Seth Klarman. It is very similar to the Greenblatt book and it's no wonder Klarman has such a great investment record. Don't go and buy the book at this price, though. You can usually find a pdf floating around somewhere.
You Can Be a Stock Market Genius: Uncover the Secret Hiding Places of Stock Market	This is one of my favorite books! It's a must read for any serious investor. A bunch of equity hedge funds got their start by executing strategies out of this book.
The Little Book That Still Beats the Market	This is also a great book by Joel Greenblatt. Even though I am not invested in any of his funds or don't use the methodology, I am a believer in this approach. It makes total sense. Even if you don't use this approach to invest, it's worth reading.
The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor (Columbia Business School Publishing)	This is also relatively new, but a true investment classic. I may be old-fashioned, but I am a big believer in reading and listening to people who have succeeded with what they preach. So many investment books (and others) are written by people who have no performance track record or anything at all. That's why I like reading Buffett, Klarman, Greenblatt, Soros, Marks etc. These are folks that actually did really well with what they talk about.
Common Sense on Mutual Funds: Fully Updated 10th Anniversary Edition	I am not an indexer myself, but I have been a fan of Bogle for years. I have never really actually read any of his books. I read this recently (2016?) and now consider this a must read especially for people who don't have time to do their own investing. If you are one of those people who have some stocks here and there and a mish-mash of mutual (and other) funds, read this book and simplify your portfolio (and improve your returns!). Most investment management fees just are not worth it.

Investment Books

The Little Book of Value Investing

Great little book on value investing, written by a managing partner of Tweedy, Browne Company, a value investing shop that has been around for a long time.

Trading

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator	Back when I started out in the business, this was required reading for traders at hedge funds and broker-dealers (now, it's probably a book about machine learning with Python or some such). It's odd that a book about a guy that blew up numerous times is such a classic. Maybe not for value inestors, but probably still a must for traders.
The Alchemy of Finance: Reading the Mind of the Market by George Soros (1994-05-06)	This is another book that had a big impact on me. A lot of shorts have lost tons of money over the past decade or two because they so strongly believe in mean-reversion. Classical economics teaches the concept of equilibrium, and that's where conventional thinkers often go wrong. Soros realized that markets more often tend towards disequilibrium rather than equilibrium; he calls this reflexivity. Overvalued markets can cause even more overvalued markets (lower financing cost, higher demand etc). The fact that so many macro guys are doing so poorly these days makes me think they have forgotten about this idea.
Market Wizards, Updated: Interviews With Top Traders	This and the following New Market Wizards are true classics in the trading world. A lot of traders that got their start in the 1990's, I would guess, have read these right after reading the above book (Reminiscences). It was required reading for some of the trading oriented hedge funds. A lot has changed since then, but these deep interviews with the early legends is probably still just as educational as it was then. Interview subjects include Bruce Kovner, Paul Tudor Jones, Michael Steinhardt, Jim Rogers etc.
The New Market Wizards: Conversations with America's Top Traders	This is the follow-up to the above book. This one includes Stanley Druckenmiller, Richard Driehaus, Blair Hull etc.
A Man for All Markets: From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market	This is one of my favorite books as it deals with just about every area I have been involved in (except the LV/gambling part), from derivatives (including Japanese CB/warrants), stub trading (Palm/3Com) to statistical arbitrage. Again, it's always great to read about someone who did it themselves (instead of journalist accounts). Fascinating to read how he evolved from one idea/concept to the next.

Business

The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success	Buffett said in the 1987 letter to shareholders that one of the CEO's jobs is capital allocation, a skill that many lack. Some who lack it depend on consultants and investment bankers (not a good idea). To illustrate the importance of capital allocation, he said that if a company retained 10% of equity every year, a CEO on the job for 10 years will have been responsible for more than 60% of invested capital. This book looks at many of the successful CEO's that did the capital allocation (as well as other things) right.
Distant Force: A Memoir of the Teledyne Corporation and the Man Who Created It	This is a book written by an insider about Henry Singleton and Teledyne. Buffett has called Singleton the greatest capital allocator of all time.
What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence	My progressive, billionaire-hating friends would scold me for reading this book, but I had to read it as I have always been impressed by Schwarzman and Blackstone. People like to talk about Schwarzman's ego and out-of-touch-ness (expensive birthday parties, putting his name on the NY Public Library building etc.), but whatever. He has built an incredible business and it's a great story.
The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company

Other

The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology

I read this book a few years ago and it really changed my views about some of the tech companies. It made me realize how technology will in some cases create sort of a 'winner take all' dynamic due to the positive feedback loop and exponential growth, which we've been seeing in Google, Amazon, Facebook and others. Of course, in internet businesses, that's the network effect and nothing new. There's a bit too much to discuss about these companies in this little text block here (whether or not they are monopolies, are they good or bad for consumers etc.). This book is not really about that, it's about the exponential growth in computational capacity and AI exceeding human intelligence at some point.