Good day monks,
I’m approaching a wondrous anniversary with WSO: My 25th Monkey’s Review!
Two years ago around this time, I had just finished a book called “Barbarians At the Gate.” The creative writer in me demanded a response of some kind, so I crafted a review in longhand and decided that sharing it with a nascent community I had heard about called WallStreetOasis would be a good idea.
I looked for Patrick’s distinctive monkey mug on the site, hit “PM,” and said something along the lines of, “I wrote this as a way to give back to the site; please do whatever you want with it.”
The Chief Monkey wrote back saying something along the lines of, “This is pretty good. Want to write some more?”
So the reviews (as well as the traditional posts, and eventually the happy hours), kept coming, and here I am still—a proud Neanderthal among many.
Over the past 24 reviews, I’ve gotten a number of suggestions and recommendations on further reading, but now I’d like to open the floor to ask WSO: what should I read/review next?
See my full list below; as you can tell, I’ve done a pretty wide variety of books, so don’t be shy if it’s not directly finance-related. Market theory, commodities, history, entrepreneurial stories, even works of fiction—all fair game!
So if you’ve ever wondered, “Why doesn’t he review X, Y, or Z?” this is your chance to suggest it! Help me choose what book is worthy of my silver anniversary with WSO…
Monkey’s Review 1: Barbarians At the Gate
Monkey’s Review 2: The Financier
Monkey’s Review 3: Decision Points
Monkey’s Review 4: Debunkery
Monkey’s Review 5: When Genius Failed
Monkey’s Review 6: Monkey Business
Monkey’s Review 7: Death Of The Banker
Monkey’s Review 8: A Journey
Monkey’s Review 9: Damn It Feels Good To Be A Banker
Monkey’s Review 10: The Quants
Monkey’s Review 11: All About Hedge Funds
Monkey’s Review 12: The Unlikely Disciple
Monkey’s Review 13: Adventure Capitalist
Monkey’s Review 14: The Hedge Fund Book
Monkey’s Review 15: Investing In Hedge Fund of Funds
Monkey’s Review 16: Hilarity Ensues
Monkey’s Review 17: The Prince
Monkey’s Review 18: Markets Never Forget (But People Do)
Monkey’s Review 19: The Money Culture
Monkey's Review 20: An Empire of Wealth
Monkey's Review 21: The New Tycoons
Monkey's Review 22: A Bold, Fresh Piece of Humanity
Monkey's Review 23: Ahead of the Curve (2 Years At HBS)
Monkey's Review 24: How To Be A Gentleman
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin and The Clash of Civilizations and Remaking of World Order by Samuel P. Huntington
Also, completely unrelated to the types of books you review here, is Bleachers: A Novel by John Grisham. It has been a favorite of mine for nearly a decade.
Fooling some people all of the time by David Einhorn. I'm reading this now and it is a fantastic book.
I'm reading Einhorn's book now too. It really is excellent.
These are a few I've really been meaning to read:
Hedgehogging Fooling Some of the People All of the Time More Money Than God Dark Pools Intern Nation (probably hits close to home for many on this site) The Innovator's Dilemma My Life as a Quant The Last Partnerships : Inside the Great Wall Street Money Dynasties Blue Blood and Mutiny The Last Tycoons Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds Thinking, Fast and Slow
I like this list. I see you have some that are on my radar.
Some solid options (mostly classics) below:
The Smartest Guys in the Room Den of Thieves A Bonfire of Vanities The Accidental Investment Banker The Greatest Trade Ever King of Capital The House of Morgan Blue Blood and Mutiny
Have read the first 6 on this list and they're all great and worth a read, although Bonfire of the Vanities is pretty different than the rest of them, seeing as it's fiction. Smartest Guys in the Room and Accidental IB I thought were the best written and most definitely the most entertaining, Greatest Trade Ever was interesting and timely, and King of Capital was interesting as I knew almost nothing about the history of Blackstone.
I would go so far as to say that The Smartest Guys in the Room is my favorite business book of all time. Really well written and absolutely worth reading.
I concur. The current outstanding reads I have on that list are House of Morgan (historical progression fascinates me), King of Capital (I think Schwarzman is a genius), and Blue Blood and Mutiny.
Never was an MS girl, but many friends of mine were. Oh the banking days...
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