Hello all, this was my first post (mod just now added to frontpage) so go easy on me. And full disclosure, none of these books is a silver bullet, just a good arrow to have in your quiver. If you're investing others' money, there's no substitute for prudence, good judgment, and wisdom, no matter what school (bottom up, top down, value, growth, momentum, etc.) you follow.
Since this thread (2014 book list) didn't get much attention, I wanted to post my thoughts and see what the other monkeys had to say. My list will be very biased towards value investing (if you don't know what this is, google it), since that's the philosophy I use when I manage client portfolios. I've read all of these at various ages and some I've read more than once, but I'd recommend each and every one of them to anyone looking to either get into the investment management business or just looking to improve his intellect. Here it goes, in order of importance:
1. Security Analysis by Ben Graham. 2nd or 6th edition only – this book is very jargon heavy so will make more sense to those already in the industry, but many of its lessons still hold true today
2. Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham, skip Jason Zweig's commentary – same as above, if I were a high school principal I would make this required reading before graduation, it’s that important.
3. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, great book on life, I can assure you this has helped my investing acumen. If you haven’t read this, you should.
4. The Most Important Thing by Howard Marks – newer book, but an instant classic. Compiled memos from Oaktree’s Howard Marks, one of the smartest men to manage money that I’ve read
5. Contrarian Investing Strategies by David Dreman – Dreman is an odd character, but he has a very objective approach to prove why cheap valuation strategies tend to outperform over time. Not a particularly enlightening book, but a great series nonetheless.
6. Margin of Safety by Seth Klarman – I know, I know, it costs several grand on Amazon. If you do some sleuthing, you might be able to find a pdf.
Others worth mention:
The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
Fortune’s Formula by William Poundstone
Any of the wiley “little books,” but especially the ones by Chris Browne, Joel Greenblatt, and John Mauldin
Anything written about Warren Buffett (start w/The interpretation of financial statements)
Common Stocks & Uncommon Profits by Phil Fisher
Financial Independence Through Common Stocks by Robert Merritt
What do you all read? I think it’s important to get away from WSJ and Bloomberg every once in a while and bury yourself in a book. It makes you more interesting and well-rounded, and I’d argue it makes you more intelligent.
As I've always said, Security Analysis is the most boring book I have ever read, but it is also one of the best.
There's a great deal to be learned from investing books and so forth, but outside of actually learning through trial and error the best way to learn is to reverse engineer the theses of successful investments by those in the industry you respect.
For instance, as great as Buffett's shareholder letters are, reading hundreds of pages of quotes like, "Buy good businesses at good prices" isn't all that useful. If you really look up to the guys at Lone Pine and want to invest like them then pick one of their successful investments and go back to the filings from the time they initiated the position and try to look for what they saw during DD/idea generation that made the business an attractive investment.