What are some of your favourite/must read books?
I am currently in the process of reading/finishing these books:
-Talent is Overrated
-Art of War
-The 48 Laws of Power
What are some other books that you guys recommend be on everybody's book list?
My answers are very, very different depending on which you are looking for
El-Erian - "When markets collide" very interesting perspective about the future of world economics (although I'm sure that in light of recent events he's probably alter some of his viewpoints)
When Markets Collide is a great book. I also like Liars Poker for a history of mortgage trading, Comical is Damn it feels good to be a banker, DAve Kansas The end of Wall Street as we know it
.
"Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Banker" - Leveraged Sell-Out
It may not be as relevant now that bankers aren't so glamorous nowadays in the public's eyes, but it's still good for a laugh.
Some stuff I've read in the past year or two that I enjoyed (non-finance):
Against the Odds - James Dyson From Beirut to Jerusalem - Thomas Friedman Born Standing Up - Steve Martin Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain
Leisure: Tom Wolfe. Hilarious and relevant.
Business / Finance: Conspiracy of Fools When Genius failed Black Swan Intelligent Investor. Buffet stuff
ANyone read good books on the recent crises? Some the newest stuff seems rushed.
48 Laws of Power was entertaining :) Don't let it get to your head though...
Love Tom Wolfe...can't wait for his new one to come out (Back to Blood, about Miami).
The alchemist
Intelligent Investor, Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, and Hedgehogging.
The Last Lecture is great for just reassessing your perspective on life.
Margin of Safety is wonderful if you can get your hands on a copy.
The Dirt Confessions by Motley Crue
General good books:
Finance specific:
I'd suggest going on Amazon, ordering a shit ton of used books, plowing through them, and also using the related book list to find other ones that interest you. You could probably get every book on the list above for $200-$300
Fine Literature:
Thanks guys for your contribution. Really helpful!
The Alchemist
Aside from what's been mentioned, if you like IR, The Paradox of American Power was an interesting read by Joseph S. Nye. He also wrote Soft Power, which was interesting, but I didn't find it quite as good.
If you like behavioral economics, I absolutely loved The Wisdom of Crowds, thought it was well written and fascinating. Predictably Irrational was OK, writing was lacking a little but studies were interesting.
This doesn't happen often, but I am actually blown away by what some of you are reading. I am truly impressed.
For no real reason, I started reading The Shock Doctrine last night. Every single page pisses me off to no end, and most of it makes me want to punch Naomi Klein in the throat, but I can't seem to put it down. I suppose, if nothing else, it is a worthwhile glance at the convoluted way a socialist views his/her world. I am by no means recommending the book, but if you're a free market type looking to have a visceral reaction to something, check it out from the library.
As for books to have with you when stranded on a desert island (in no particular order):
Walden (and Civil Disobedience) - Henry David Thoreau Following the Equator - Mark Twain Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc - Mark Twain Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace - Gore Vidal A Moveable Feast - Ernest Hemingway For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway Islands in the Stream - Ernest Hemingway The Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee - Robert Edward Lee The Douay Rheims Bible Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad Anything by Robert Louis Stevenson, Jack London, and Rudyard Kipling
Of the more puerile, but no less enjoyable, selections in my library:
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell - Tucker Max Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? - Thomas Kohnstamm The Great Shark Hunt - Hunter S. Thompson The Helldiver's Rodeo - Humberto Fontova
Man, this is tough. There are just too many.
A different focus in my reading list, but here's a few classics:
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie Elements of Style by Strunk and White Getting Things Done by David Allen
I live and die by Strunk and White. Probably the best book ever written on English language usage.
Here is an excellent modern version that everyone should own in addition to The Elements of Style:
Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
Good to see some agreement on that! Writing is ubiquitous in our modern era of emails, pitch books, and memorandums. Does anyone know of a well-regarded guide for writing (or speaking, for that matter) in a corporate context?
But an excellent book on written communication in a non-fiction context, applicable to the corporate environment:
Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers' Guide from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University
The best Finance book, way better than Liars Poker, is a book called:
FIASCO
It's about a Bond Salesman at Morgan Stanley who comes from Credit Suisse back in the late 80's I think.
Great book. FIASCO stood for Fixed Income Annual Sporting Clays Outing, a debauched annual get-together for derivatives traders involving copious amounts of booze, loose women, and firearms. Ahhh...the good old days.
learned of the title through his Fresh Air NPR appearance on derivative dangers
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102325715
listen up peeps
(mis)behavior on markets - mandelbrot
For finance books, I'll echo what most people have said and go with:
-The Intelligent Investor (Ben Graham) -You Can Be A Stock Market Genius Too (Joel Greenblatt) -The Money Masters (John Train) -Market Wizards (Jack Schwager) (Especially the part on the Commodities Corp. traders) -The Black Swan (Nassim Nicholas Taleb)
For non finance-related stuff:
-All Quiet on the Western Front (Erich Maria Remarque) -If This is a Man (Primo Levi) -Swann's Way (Proust) -The Fairy Gunmother (Daniel Pennac) -A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry) -plenty of other stuff I can't think of at the moment..
Entertaining book - The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort
If you end up buying it, the proceeds go to all the investors the author fucked over (court order).
I think the movie Boiler Room was modeled after Stratton Oakmont.
What a fucking derelict crew those guys were.
The selections so far have been very good.
My list of must-reads:
Atlas Shrugged - If you only read one book in your life, make it this. The Fountainhead Anthem The Alchemist The Power of One I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell Liar's Poker
Some of my favourites -
Albert Camus - The Stranger, The Outsider Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children, The Ground Beneath Her Feet Vikram Seth - An Equal Music Thomas Pynchon - Gravity's Rainbow Joseph Heller - Catch 22 Umberto Eco - Foucault's Pendulum Kurt Vonnegut - Cat's Cradle The Future Of Freedom - Fareed Zakaria Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov Most of Joseph Stiglitz's stuff
As far as recent finance books go, I quite liked Jonathan Knee's book (The Accidental Investment Banker), if only because it solely focused on corporate finance/investment banking.
Also, my all-time favourite 'finance' book is probably Bombardiers by Po Bronson. Fantastically entertaining and so tongue-in-cheek.
Wolf of Wall Street is very entertaining.
This series isn't finance related, but Vince Flynn has about 10 books focused on a counterterrorist agent. I can't stand boring books, but I can't put down books like these.
I'd also recommend anything by Nelson Demille.
given this is the i-banking bullpen, i'm gonna have to go with barbarians
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance anyone?
Not much about Zen and barely about motorcycle maintenance but a great relatively modern philosophy book my professor recommended to me going into last summer. Anyone above that mentioned books that lead to a great deal of self reflection I'd recommend picking this up.
+1
I was surprised to make it that far down the list without seeing it mentioned...
Seriously though, do you guys really like Taleb's writing (Black Swan OR Fooled by Randomness). Granted the guy is smart, but he comes off as a huge condescending prick in his writing.
That's because he's a huge condescending prick in real-life as well.
Nice Picks Edmundo
Ludwig von Mises - Socialism Ludwig von Mises - Human Action Murray Rothbard - Man Economy and State Henry Hazlitt - Economics in One Lesson Henry David Thoreau - Walden and Civil Disobedience Robert Murphay - Chaos Theory
various other Economic History books, many more on monetary history (including coinage and currency) only fiction I read has been Ayn Rand and Garet Garret.
But the first two had the biggest impact on my life.
The Alchemist is surely a great book
Fountainhead. Will start Atlas Shrugged once I'm through with Fooled my randomness. Others I have read that I enjoyed: Black Swan Barbarians at the Gate (one of the most entertaining books I've ever read) Colossal Failure of Common Sense Too Big to Fail Myth of the Rational Markets Liars Poker Moneyball Malcom Gladwell books (Outliers, Blink, Tipping Point) Freakonomics and Super Freakonomics
downloaded to my kindle and waiting to be read Greatest trade ever When genius failed Lords of Finance The last Tycoons Conspiracy of Fools Fooling Some of the people all of the time The Big Short (had to buy the book since it's not available on the kindle...)
I second Vince Flynn and Nelson Demille, both are really great reads.
I am halfway through Michael Lewis' The Big Short and it's really good so far.
Den of Thieves was good. I still need to read accidental investment banker which I have. Currently I'm reading House of Cards which is interesting however the writer is horrible.
Best book (ok poem) overall is The Divine Comedy hands down.
John Irving- A Prayer for Owen Meany John Steinbeck- Travels With Charley Michael Lewis- Moneyball
Adventure Capitalist Fooling some of the people all of the time Greatest trade ever Stock market genius
I'm surprised some of you drop $1,000+ on Margin of Safety.
There are PDFs online
Thanks for the heads up. I just downloaded a copy. yet another book that I need to find the time to get to. On a side note...anyone know if "The hankbook of the economics of finance" vol 1A is available anywhere as a PDF? I found 1B but cant seem to find 1A anywhere.
Merchants of Debt - The KKR story. Win!
I like Taleb's books. However, I feel that 1/5 of his book is good material and the rest is just repeating the same points over and over again
agreed. I read the black swan 1st and now i'm reading fooled by randomness. so far, its the same book but told differently. its as if he took one of those "generators" he talks about, where you can input varous pharases and the generator spits out a intelligent sounding paragraph,...and basically inputed fooled by randomness and hte generator spat out black swan.
But i still enjoy his theories and ideas.
sweet discussion. i am going to reply just so i can come back if i ever run out of stuff to read.
48 laws is pretty good Alchemist is a must read Liars Poker was entertaining although I don't know how acurate it was BLACK SWAN BLOWS...you could sum up that book in six pages, complete waste of time Taleb just spits out every useless fact he knows (and there's a lot) to sound intellegent
For the guys that mentioned Partnoy's FIASCO, I think you will like Infectious Greed even better.
Greatest Trade Ever was ok, but not that well written. Lowenstein's The End of Wall Street was very good. Drobney's Inside the House of Money, and to a lesser extent Invisible Hands are both worth picking up, just for the Leitner interviews alone. Thinking Strategically is a nice primer on game theory, if anyone is into that. Berne's Games People Play is a classic, and will change the way you view social interactions.
A few people already mentioned The Elements of Style, which is great to read on the toilet, and for that same purpose I'd also suggest The Art of Worldly Wisdom.
I don't think I've seen anyone mention Hesse's Siddhartha, which I would have expected from the same guys who mentioned Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. As Zen and the Art was to people in the 70's, Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose was to people in the 80's. If you pick it up, make sure you grab a companion book to translate the Latin for you and clue you in on the middle age references (or you won't get as much from the book).
Next time a bitch pisses you off, start reading a copy of The Arabian Nights (hint: they haven't changed in thousands of years...).
And finally, for some pure escapist fantasy, try out R. Scott Bakker. His Prince of Nothing trilogy was worth it if you are gonna read a fantasy series. If fantasy isn't your thing but you need some well written modern fiction, give Stephenson's Cryptonomicon a go.
MUST READS::::
McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers, and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs, and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw How to Stage a Military Coup On War Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible Coup d'Etat: A Practical Handbook Confessions of an English Opium Eater On Hashish
.
bump for anyone looking for good books!
How about Jeffrey Archer's "Kane and Abel", alongwith "As the crow flies". Both are great reads about self-made business tycoons (fiction).. Malcolm Gladwell's books are great too. Those of you looking for entertainment (legal thrillers mostly), John Grisham is quite nice.. try "The Rainmaker".
I finished reading Goldman Sachs the culture of success a week or so ago. Very inspiring and shows you the culture of GS and why they're the Yankees of IB. For anything on Austrian economic theory I would visit mises.org. I've read several of their books and they are short but great reads.
Is this limited to finance books ?
I really enjoyed The Count of Monte Cristo, such a classic.
Favorite/Most Interesting Finance books (Originally Posted: 12/31/2010)
What are people's favorite books about finance?
By finance I really mean anything that can be connected to banking, investment, markets, economics, history, management etc...
I didn't do business as an undergrad and thus lack a lot of fundamental knowledge/basic knowledge on topics. I want to take in as much info as I can and build a good foundation of knowledge around finance but don't really know a lot of starting places and don't want to waste my time reading crap.
Suggestions welcome : )
Mod Edit: Utilize the force. Search Young Padawan.
USE THE F*CKING SEARCH FUNCTION
Wow, you should relax...
I've heard good things about "How a second grader beats wall street" and "Winning the Loser's Game."
Of course, the classics are "Intelligent Investor" (Warren Buffet's all time favorite book) and "A Random Walk Down Wall Street."
The Intelligent Investor Liar's Poker Den of Thieves Barbarians at the Gate House of Cards Street Fighters Colossal Failure of Common Sense And Then the Roof Caved In A Random Walk Down Wall Street The Predator's Ball Dangerous Dreamers In Fed We Trust Too Big To Fail The Zeroes More Money Than God King of Capital
To name a few while respectably intoxicated...
The Big Short The Working Poor Adventure Capitalist
Happy New Year Monkeys!
The Quants Entire Market Wizard series Inside the House of Money When Genius Failed Liar`s Poker Irrational Exuberance Monkey Business Traders, Guns and Money Freakonomics Undercover Economist
I think your best bet is to go on half.com and find 5-6 year outdated textbooks in 1. equity securities 2. fixed income securities 3. micro and macro economics 4. (Kiesco) Intermediate financial accounting
If you are more inclined towards math or had an engineering background and can handle it see if you can find some on econometrics
What I mean by cheap is under 10-15 dollars each.... so if it's more than that just pick an older one.
However some of my favorite non-technical easy read books are:
Rework by Jason Fried The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris They are both short and free of BS.
All good books above, I'd also add the Accidental Investment Banker.
I didn't like freakonomics. More sociology than economics, IMHO.
I'm an economics major, and I thought the book was definitely economics. Anything that studies decision making under contraints, any form of utility maximization, or people's responses to incentives is probably economics.
Against the Gods (great book imho) The Ascent of Money Animal Spirits Inside the House of Money
More books than you can ever need http://www.quantnet.com/goldman-sachs-reading-list/ http://www.quantnet.com/master-reading-list-for-quants/
Merger's & Acquisitions from A to Z is good if you want to familiarize yourself with M&A. Other than that read stuff online.
I LOVED Monkey Business. Face it, if you aren't a finance major then you don't need to get into detail (accounting, financial modeling). I couldn't put the book down...
Favorite Books...? (Originally Posted: 10/29/2007)
I'm aiming at a summer associate internship in sales and trading at a global bank. I'm looking for books to read to help me gain market knowledge/color. Extra credit for books that are actually interesting. This is a list of stuff I've read / am working on, please contribute your own.
Market color:
When Genius Failed Fooled by Randomness Barbarians at the Gates Liars Poker Confessions of a Wall St Addict, plus his other 2 (though I learned the most from Confessions) Market Wizards series...
Market Knowledge:
Random Walk Down Wall St Fixed Income Securities: Tool for Today's Markets Option Volatility and Pricing The secrets of Economic Indicators Gold Trading Boot Camp
plus a bunch of vanilla equity value investing stuff I've read over the years-graham, buffet, greenblatt, lynch
I saw a recommendation for this book in another thread, but it looks like it is out of print? Any comments on it?
Traders, Guns & Money: Knowns and unknowns in the dazzling world of derivatives
Any classics I've missed?
double post
Probably best to stay current on the news / markets rather than reading all these books. Most traders don't know how to read anyways.
I am afraid you have read more than requisite. I would recommend knowing Hull (the technical book on Options) cold! That will do you a bit of good Also some books on Excel/VBA
As violet mentioned, if you haven't read Hull, do so. After that have a look at Dynamic Hedging by Taleb.
BEST BOOK EVER.
More "fun" books than anything else, but I thought the "Accidental Investment Banker" and "Bank" were pretty quick and good reads.
Blink is a good/fun/quick read. It doesn't apply directly to trading but I enjoyed it.
Finding a Fixed Income book by Fabozzi might be good. I dug up this book called Traders: The Jobs, The Products, The Markets by David Weiss in the library once. It's like 17 years old, but if you don't know much about anything, it went over all the basics you should know, what is what type. But if you already covered Hull and Fabozzi, it might look elementary.
Also I loved Bonfire of the Vanities. Not 100% Wall St., but you'll know what Masters of the Universe is.
"Inside the House of Money" by Drobny
"Reminiscences of a Stock Operator" by Lefevre
"The Last Tycoons" by Cohan
"Fortune's Formula" by Poundstone
I'm in the same boat - junior year internship interviews are coming up and I'm scrambling to read read read...
To address your interview concerns, I'm working my way through "Heard on the Street: Quantitative Questions from Wall Street Job Interviews" by Tim Crack. It's super thorough so far and the reviews on Amazon say it all in terms of its effectiveness.
Also, this is a pretty run of the mill suggestion, but the 7th edition of Vault's guide to finance interviews is coming out this Monday (I swear I'm not counting down or anything; just noticed on Amazon today) and since I've only ever borrowed it from friends to skim over, I decided to finally order my own. I'm hoping there is some updated information that'll help me out this January - you might want to look into it as well?
Cautiously recommend:
Education of a Speculator by Victor Niederhoffer.
I say cautiously because he is unconventional in some respects, and you may not want to walk into an interview quoting him, just due to reputation - blowing up his hedge funds in the Asian crisis, and possibly about to blow up 3 more.
Still he is extremely systematic and rigorous and will make you think. Thoroughly enjoyed the book.
Also: Soros on Soros.
Favorite business book (Originally Posted: 03/28/2013)
preferable something about investing, finance, or historical events in finance
Investing: Essays of Warren Buffett, Margin of Safety, Invisible Hands, Howard Marks' Memos, Distressed Debt Investing, Third Point Letter to Investors, Little Book that Beats The Market
Finance: Ahead of the Curve, Dylan Grice's Soc Gen pieces, Breakfast with Dave
History: Ascent of Money, Bridgewater Whitepapers, Collapse, Fooled by Randomness,
Other: Anything by Mauboussian, The Signal and the Noise
Biographies: Last Man Standing, Onward, Alpha Masters
Read on!
Favorite Investment Books (Originally Posted: 06/08/2013)
For me it's got to be Peter Lynch's One Up On Wall Street. Phenomenal book that really simplified investing for me. My copy is annotated and under lined like crazy. Have probably read it more than 5 times and learn something new every time I read it.
What's everyone else's?
Financial Shenanigans by Howard Schilit is good for anyone interested in short selling
You Can Be A Stock Market Genius - Joel Greenblatt
However, I'm currently reading The Most Important Thing: Illuminated - Howard Marks, and it's definitely a contender.
The Sleuth Investor - how to talk to company's customers, suppliers, and management
The Outsiders - on capital allocation
Security Analysis (Graham) - fundamental analysis
Market Genius (Greenblatt) - event driven strategies
Intelligent Investor
I like the classics
Intelligent Investor, Security Analysis (for reference) Financial Shenanigans Competitive Strategy (or for a quicker read just Porters paper in HBR Essentials: Strategy) Random Walk
Currently reading Oil 101, but after that am looking for my next read
Awakening of intelligence by Jiddu Krishnamurti
Ignore the title. This book will change your life immensely, the change might be good or bad but in the end you'll realise.... so f*cking what.
Essential Books (Originally Posted: 05/21/2007)
What are some books that might be considered essential for guys (and girls) about to enter the working world, Wall Street or otherwise? One that comes to mind is "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. Any thoughts? And are there any other recommendations?
Just read everything you can get your hands on. Read what interests you. If you like it, then great. (if you will read transcripts of Bershire's latest shareholders meeting you'll note Buffet offered this exact advice). There's a number of big finance books out there and you'll hear any number of them mentioned by your fellow Finance classmates...but just like Boiler Room or Wall Street, they may be more bullshit and amusing than actual ideas. Reading them won't make you a star.
Reading what interests you, and reading voraciously will serve you much better.
I'd recommend this book:
"Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" by R. Cialdini
Also, as a generality:
-books on public speaking/presentations -books on networking
random walk down wallstreet
Books you should own (Originally Posted: 11/15/2010)
I know there's another thread about what you're currently reading. What's your short list of books you own, that everyone should own? Liar's Poker, The Rise of Roosevelt, Dressing the Man, As a Gentleman Would Say
guide to your career... i picked one up at 15 and still read it..
Over the summer, I saw some of these books on people's shelves ... the rest I either own or want to own.
Barbarians At the Gate Fool's Gold When Genius Failed The Smartest Guys in the Room Atlas Shrugged
Security Analysis (Graham and Dodd) The Intelligent Investor Barron's Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms
Damodaran on Valuation The McKinsey Guide to Valuation Principles of Corporate Finance (Brealey Allen Myers)
Heard on the Street Options (Hull) Distressed Debt Investing (Moyer)
The Boston Consulting Group on Strategy
did you work at half price books? or a book store?
Of these, which ones will become classics? Something that will still be on your list in 10 years? I'm a fan of the historical fiction genre, but I don't think it has lasting appeal, besides for recent (current) events. Hull is definitely a classic, so is Security Analysis.
Letters to his Son, Chesterfield
wow talk about money loving bastards...how about the bible....
let's add a bit of culture:
Infinite Jest (if you're already a banker you won't have time to read this till you retire) This Side of Paradise Walden ('Life in the Woods') Pnin The Death of Ivan Ilyich Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow
Shadow of the Hegemon (to add to the Orson Scott Card books) Starship Troopers (great poli sci commentary) Siddhartha (if you're throwing in Walden anyways)
Infinite Jest is amazing. Seriously blew my mind, had me laughing one day and depressed the next. Have you read any Pynchon?
Bonfire of the Vanities
Think and Grow Rich. A book that changed my entire life. If I did an IRR on that book (76 cents outflow) it would probably have an IRR of 10000000000%
A powerful book with some incredible people who have vouched for it.
^^^nice additions
.
Walden should be required reading for bankers, if for no other utility than perspective. Understanding the benefits of the minimalist lifestyle will go a long way to reminding you how little sense a life of acquisition makes. I'm not saying don't go make a bunch of money and have a bunch of toys, just realize that those things aren't necessary to be happy.
Agreed completely. I still want everything to excess, but that book helped to provide some nice perspective.
Eddie,
So very true on Walden. I've been reading Thoreau since high school and every year, I make it a point to reread Walden. That and Emerson's Self Reliance. Both are great essays that offer perspective we so sorely lack.
Now, to the OP,
I must suggest you read Suetonius' seminal masterpiece Die Vita Ceasarum, The Twelve Ceasars, about the lives of the first twelve Roman Emperors. It's a well written piece of silver age Roman writing worthy of at least a once through.
The other suggestion is the Tao of Wu, which is the Philosophy of the Wu Tang Clan's leader RZA. Definitely eye opening if you are a fan of the group and I highly suggest reading it. It was a really fast read and I went cover to cover in about 3 days, reading it over a weekend.
Haven't read Pynchon... I'll add it to the list.
you're right on Infinite Jest though --- that shit expands your mind.
Great recommendations guys. Reading is my one one true passion in life. Dorky I know, but the only wisdom in life is attained through reading and experience. With reading, you learn from experience.
It is the only form of media that does not dilute the mind and. Diminish the sense of independent thought. I wish we had no televisions, just books an jiving amongst fellow human beings. The art of persuasive dialogue is non-existent in our society, inless it's a drunken insincere quarrel.
You'd be amazed and how many older professionals you impress by articulating the wisdom and knowledge gained through reading
For people who like Pynchon and DFW you guys should read Dhalgren. Weird but great book.
Eyelikecheese you need to read Infinte Jest. David Foster Wallace wrote a lot of essays about the impact of media (TV, especially) on our culture, and Infinite Jest incorporates a lot of his ideas about the destructive nature of passive entertainment. It's also pretty compelling sci-fi when you consider it was written about a decade ago-he very accurately predicts things like NetFlix/streaming video and iPhone FaceTime.
Foundation - Isaac Asimov. 'The Last Question' by Asimov. By far my favorite short story.
Must have:
Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook
Another one that just crossed my mind in the same vein as Asimov would be Ray Bradburry's Farenheit 451. Despite it's dystopian future, it really is a great picture of the world around us. I hightly recomend it for everyone to read.
Also, I just recently finished Lamb: The Life and Times of Jesus Christ as told by his best friend Bif. It's by Christopher Moore and I can't give enough praise to that book. It was an absolutel laugh from start to finish.
Read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Red Mars, Enders Game, Foundation, Dune, The Illustrated Man, Neuromancer, and I, Robot.
All good on the Sci fi front. And I used to like HP Lovecraft until it became mainstream and everybody thought it was cool to overuse the shit out of his stuff.
Elements of Investing. Wonderful read.
I enjoyed One Up on Wall Street.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
The Alchemy of Finance by George Soros. I'm not even a third of the way through yet but it's no wonder the guy has done so well, even in the past three years, when you read this thing.
Ulysses
The price of a soul
Metamorphosis
A discourse upon the origin and the foundation of the inequality among mankind
When a man comes to himself
Anything of Dumas besides the classics, great descriptions of backstabbings and intrigue, office politics on crack
Meditations - Aurelius (one of the best books written period) 48 Laws of Power & 33 Strategies of War - Greene (because life is unfair...might as well be the guy on the right side) Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive (no one digs being the guy people don't listen to)
...you should only own the books you can't get from the library, the internet or books that you can't sell above, at or marginally below cost.
mere christianity : )
As loathe as I am to promote a religious book, this is probably one of the best ever written.
Interesting thread. A few that I've enjoyed in the last while:
The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life (Schroeder) An Unfinished Season (Just) Ascent of Money (Ferguson) -- the documentary film was a nice reading companion as well A Colossal Failure of Common Sense (McDonald) Confessions of a Wall Street Analyst (Reingold)
WSO's FAQ has a Recommended Reading section, FYI
THis you got to it a must no a definite heck vital to your survival
THE BRAVE NEW WORLD
I would say, start with anything that gets you going...I have read a lot of OSHO books. Bible is always near to me. For my kids, I cannot think of anything better than Nancy Drew, Famous Five, Secret Seven etc..
Etsuko, have you ever read tempestuous three?
I love reading a lot! Probably I would pick a few of those suggested here and give them a go soon! This thread really has my attention for all the time now!
This is a great thread... Didn't expect WSO literature interests to be so broad!
I've just ordered Infinite Jest as I have a bit of time on my hands and need to catch up on my fiction reading.
By the way, many of the books you guys mention are in the public domain. You can find them in various formats (kindle, html, plain text, etc...) on Project Gutenberg. their search function is pretty good.
http://www.gutenberg.org
I fucking love Harry Potter. Not even kidding.
Also, Summerland, House of Sand and Fog, The Pearl, The Iliad (Buy a reader's guide with commentary if you want to really appreciate it).
And everyone should read Hamlet. Foundational text of English literature.
Watchmen (by Alan Moore) is also incredibly deep. Only graphic novel I've ever read.
I tried reading Robinson Crusoe a few months ago when I had some downtime at work - I remember it being pretty good when I read the (abridged and modernized) version when I was in middle school or so, but it was just really, really bad. Couldn't get past the first 5 or so pages, but maybe I'll give it another shot next time I'm bored and want to feel productive while actually not being so.
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon The Road - Cormac McCarthy The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Geez, I didn't realize I was so macabre until I listed my favorite books! Seriously though, those are masterpieces.
The Investor's Manifesto by William Bernstein. The basic ABC bible for all investors.
It's amazing how this enormous thread neglected a fundamental classic by reknown economist Harry Browne
How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World: A Handbook for Personal Liberty - Harry Browne
A mandatory read that lays out how to deal with important pillars of your life, facing conflict, dealing with decisions, relationships, work, and happiness. It's a great book to help you dissect things in a rational way. Lot's of original content that hasn't been rehashed from prior thinkers.
I believe a natural followup to the above book is a modern classic
Principles - Ray Dalio
If anyone can recommend more original mind-expanding books like these i'd appreciate it.
Catcher in the Rye
The Elementary Particles
Vineland
My favourite book is The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Also I like Paulo Coelho. And of course, detective novels by Agatha Christie and James Hadley Chase.
You NEED To Read This Book (Originally Posted: 02/09/2013)
mod (Andy) note: "Blast from the past - Best of Eddie" - This one is originally from February 2010. If there's an old post from Eddie you'd like to see up again shoot me a message.
It's not often that I'm surprised by a book about Wall Street. Let's face it; there are only so many ways you can tell the same story. So my expectations weren't very high when I bought The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It. I was expecting just another book about the crisis. Boy, was I in for a shock.
The book starts out just like every other Liar's Poker knockoff. The first chapter uses a big money Wall Street poker game to introduce the key players. It's narrative non-fiction; not bad, but nothing to write home about. From there the book explodes, though, and reveals the desperate quest for Alpha that has been going on since the 1960's from academic labs all the way to the major quant funds of today. I'm serious; stop whatever it is you are doing and go read this book. Here's why:
Whether or not you have faith in quantitative modeling, whether or not you believe in the very existence of Alpha, you cannot escape the fact that the financial markets are controlled in large part by quants and their Frankenstein-like creations. The emergence of high-frequency trading, stat arb, dark pools, and the various other machinations of the quants account for an ungodly percentage of the average daily volume of the markets. This book explains in plain English the various strategies and theories that guide today's markets. More importantly, it covers the history of quantitative analysis and modeling; from the early days of Ed Thorp and his strategy to beat the blackjack dealers in Vegas, through the birth of the Black-Scholes pricing model and the impact it had on the rising derivatives market, to the disaster at Long Term Capital Management and eventually the global market meltdown. But this isn't a book written for the pocket protector crowd (though they will certainly benefit from reading it). This is a book you can hand to your friends or family members who have no idea how Wall Street works and wonder what it is you do all day (this is true even if you are not a quant and aren't involved in trading in the least). The book is that easy to read and understand.
Plus, it's full of the great stories we've come to expect from Wall Street lore:
One other thing: if you're a poker player, you're going to love this book. Poker is like a religion with these guys. And I think it makes a nice analogy for the reality of quantitative modeling. Poker is certainly a game about math; it is a simple matter to calculate the probability of the various outs available to a given hand, calculating pot odds is something that can be done by anyone with enough practice, and risk management can be achieved by maintaining a steady betting strategy. But, like the market, poker contains the X-factor of human interaction. There is no way to quantify if or when the market, or a fellow player, is bluffing or on tilt. Perhaps that is what fascinates the quants -- the inability to control human emotion.
We had a post yesterday about whether or not markets are efficient. Attempting to answer that question is what this book is all about. It is without a doubt the best book I've read on the market since the crisis (and it feels like I've read all of them). I'll go even further than that. The Quants is a worthy successor to that bible of the street Liar's Poker. In the coming weeks and months, expect this to be a bestseller.
I've often joked about what I call the Balls-Brains Continuum, which is my name for the transition in the mid-90's from purely fundamental gut trading to the overnight success and takeover of Wall Street by the quants. This book bears that out.
The geeks will inherit the Earth.
this should probably be posted on the amazon review; will definitely look into it.
The Amazon reviews cracked me up. I saw it only got 3 stars and there were a bunch of negative reviews, and I couldn't believe it. Then I scrolled down and saw that the negative reviews were all Kindle users bitching about it because they couldn't buy it for $9.99. Kindle users (and I am one of them) need to get used to the new pricing structure of ebooks, and they have Apple to thank for it.
Great book; can't recommend it enough.
Thanks Edmundo Braverman.
now i'll probably read this book instead of studying for CFA this upcoming weekend. :(
Wow, after reading your review, it makes me want to read it so much! I should head to the bookstore right away.
Sounds good,... I wonder if it's available on audio
Great review; I think your post is going to make me buy the book.
Related question: what other (industry-related) books would you recommend that are 'easy' reads (aside from Liar's Poker)?
Thanks for that helpful review. It definitely looks like a very worthwhile read!
here is bloomberg article on the book:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aH4r5gwyu_OE
this book looks pretty legit.
Thanks Braverman that was a great review, i'll definitely buy this book now and check it out.
Can anyone name a few of the other good post-crisis books?
House of Cards...I'm having to read it for a class. Although it's mainly about bear stearns and the crash itself and not so much post-crisis.
if you want to be informed, i would recommend following the economist, ft, bloomberg, wsj, cnbc, etc. you dont need to read books about the crisis, but it doesnt hurt to either.
I am hoping to read Hank Paulson's new book "On The Brink". I have read some small adaptions from the book and they are great. He made huge decisions for our country and in my opinion did a great job. Nonetheless, it's still supposed to be a great insider's view to the crisis from our Treasury secretary.
Paulson's book should be great. For all you Michael Lewis fans out there, make sure you check out "Panic" as well as his new book due in March called "The Big Short" that will be very much like House of Cards, etc. with Lewis' great style of writing.
Another interesting book I read over the summer about the recent crisis was Dear Mr. Buffett. Check it out.
I'll probably read Hank's book too, but I can't say how much of it I'll believe.
i'll look into this. thanks!
Too Big To Fail is an entertaining read. Not very in-depth as to the details of the crisis, but reads like a novel. This can definitely be made into a movie down the road.
Panic by Michael Lewis came out WAY too early, and I did not find it that impressive, largely other people writings anyway.
I am intrigued to read the Quants. Seems like much more than a crisis story, more of a "how the street really works" story.
Burnt through this book in two evening sessions... really a great read especially for the PE/Banker types... It's one to do a deal and another to understand the mathematical genius people shaping our markets...
Well...just got home from Borders. Looking forward to reading it!
And yes, Panic did come out too early, but nonetheless an interesting read.
Nice review, I feel like reading it this weekend.
Someone asked about other easy reads, and I read Gillian Tett "Fool's Gold" which I liked alot.
Edmundo and others: What are the top 3-5 must read crisis books in your opinion? or recent finance books in general?
Edmundo - thanks for the heads up. I'll pick up a copy one of these days.
House of Cards, Fooled By Randomness, and The Quants
"How Ed Thorp was asked to analyze the returns of an options trading strategy that never seemed to fail. Upon analyzing the strategy, Thorp recommended the fund pull out of the investment completely, immediately. The year was 1991. The investment was Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities."
You can see that hte book is just trying going way over the top with things like this. I think the common view is that Madoff went from running a legit fund to a ponzi around 1994. So either Thorp was lucky, or then the author is just trying desperately to relate things to current events...
Great review Edmundo, thanks for taking the time to write it. So good in fact that I'll even buy it from Amazon using your affiliate link rather than drive over to Borders, heh. You earned it.
Sounds like a very good read - extra points if it is in fact accessible enough that I can hand it to my mother (like Liar's Poker).
Nice review. Here's an interview with the author that's just popped up on YF
Don't you think that you should read the book before you interview the author?
I'm only midway through the book but the theory on Jim Simons' RenTech is pretty fascinating. The author believes RenTech uses information theory and speech recognition (basically electrical engineering topics) because their recent hires previously worked in those areas.
I wonder what happens when other HFs start piling into this strategy (or whatever strategy RenTech uses - I'm sure someone out there will hit it by chance). Since RenTech has probably anticipated this, what do you guys think is going to be the next secret sauce?
(I know this sort of speculation is useless but I thought it'd be fun to try anyway...)
can you explain RenTech a little more
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal_component_analysis
Patterson on the Daily Show:
Full Episodes
great review! I'll definitely check it out once i get the chance
not trying to revive a dead topic, but a buddy of mine who use to work as a quant emailed me this video. it was interesting.
dont think the geeks are going to take over the world anytime soon.
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