Ok, maybe you guys are all really young. But the question should be who HASN'T read Liar's Poker and Monkey Business and why they haven't. Of all the finance books, the above two just mentioned are the MOST read along with Barbarians at the Gate.

Just finished reading Monkey Business: Swinging Through the Wall Street Jungle. I thought it was well written and surprisingly funny. My favorite part was when Rolfe had an epiphany after he beat off at his desk at 3AM during an all nighter. I actually lol'd when I read that. He figured ibanking perhaps wasn't the best career path for him.

If you are looking for a rollicking but superficial account of the investment banking world, along the lines of Liar's Poker, this is not the book. If you are looking for a deep historical analysis of the growth of investment banking, along the lines of something written by Ron Chernow, this is not the book. But as a thoughtful insiders account with good historical perspective, this is an excellent book.

If you want to understand how Wall Street works - and sometimes doesn't work - getAbstract recommends this informative, insightful and witty book.

Can't get over how much I liked it and thought it should get some special attention. It's like a journal of the whole deal process for the Arcelor-Mittal merger. Talks about the strategies used by the takeover defense, Mittal's team etc. etc. the governments side of the story and the politics involved etc. etc. Reads like a fast paced thriller. It'll be hard to put down and won't bore you. Anyone interested in M&A should get it. Even if you aren't, I think you'll still like it.

I know nothing about - and indeed have very little interest in - the world of billionaires and global takeovers, but I found Cold Steel a mesmerising read.

In between his elitism-dripping chapters are quizzes and sections including hilarious comments from the website, just to make sure the humble reader is aware of what a terrific service is being rendered just by reading this little tome. If anyone has ever worked with someone like Logan, I’m sure this book’s humor will hit right home. You can even take home a few interesting and valid points if you have the mental detector necessary to find them. [Read More...]

Investment Banking provides a highly practical and relevant guide to the valuation analysis at the core of investment banking, private equity, and corporate finance. Mastery of these essential skills is fundamental for any role in transaction-related finance. This book will become a fixture on every finance professional's bookshelf.

This book will surely become an indispensable guide to the art of buyout and M&A valuation, for the experienced investment practitioner as well as for the non-professional seeking to learn the mysteries of valuation.

I give it a 10/10. Features all of the common valuation methods and their application and also a review of the M&A process. It also includes templates (completed and non-completed) for valuation methods.

A well written and comprehensive journey into M&A...an essential reference for any M&A practitioner...this isn’t just a book about great thoughts and process, but rather how to turn insight into deals, and deals into lasting value.

Bob Bruner’s book combines the best of academic thinking and business practice on one of the most fascinating and challenging topics in all of business. The area of mergers and acquisitions stretches executives and scholars to consider the whole realm of management practice–from strategy, to finance, to law, to negotiations, to integration planning, to human behavior.

Have you ever found a book so helpful to your professional development that you found yourself saying: 'Stop reading only at your own peril!' This book is such a book. Although I have lots to manage with my current buy and sell side engagements, I feel like I really owe it to my clients and myself to finish this book before I take another significant action on their or my own behalf.

The vast majority of M&A activity is in the Middle Market, where enterprises are highly idiosyncratic. So, any author who hopes to illuminate this topic in any meaningful way faces several challenges. Dennis Roberts overcomes them all to produce a volume that owners of enterprises will find as useful and accessible as his professional peers.

Just got the new technical guide. By far much better than vault. Very detailed (80+ pages) with charts, graphs, etc. I'll be reading this at least once this summer in prepping for fall interviews.

The new Wall Street Oasis Technical Guide provides questions and easy to understand answers for all the questions I typically ask when interviewing a candidate. The additional questions expand the guide, and the new charts are an added bonus for easily remembering the crucial concepts. If a student really knows all the questions in this guide, they are sure to nail the technical section of their interview.

All I can say is I wish I had the Wall Street Oasis Behavioral Guide before I went into my banking interviews. I was well prepared for some of the fit questions that came my way, but others challenged me. With the extensive number of questions in this guide and the sample answers, I would have felt prepared to handle almost anything.

I didn't read Wall Street Oasis Technical and Behavioral Interview guides until after my first year in my MBA program, and frankly they contained everything I had spent the last year learning to get a job on the Street. I highly recommend them to anyone preparing for an interview, finance or other. It's a heck of a lot cheaper than an MBA (not to mention faster and more to the point).