Good books to read (finance or non finance related)

I’m a freshman at a target and still on winter break. Since I haven’t taken any finance classes (and really bored lol), I wanted to hear your recommendations on books I should be reading in order to learn the fundamentals. Any other books not related to finance would also be appreciated. Thanks

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I have quite an extensive reading list about finance that I'll gladly share, some of them I've read, some are still on my to-buy list

Too big to fail - Andrew Ross Sorkin (2008 crisis)

Den of thieves - James Stewart (Boesky insider trading scandal)

The man who solved the market - Gregory Zuckerman (Jim Simons and Renaissance Technologies)

More money than god - Sebastian Mallaby (profiles of famous hedge fund investors)

The big short - Michael Lewis (2008 crisis)

Liar's poker - Michael Lewis (Salomon Brothers)

A random walk down wall street - Burton Malkiel (personal investing, wealth management)

When genius failed - Roger Lowenstein (LTCM collapse)

The spider network - David Enrich (LIBOR manipulation)

Barbarians at the gate - Bryan Burrough (RJR Nabisco LBO)

The predator's ball - Connie Bruck (Drexel Burnham)

King of capital - David Carey (Blackstone)

The quants - Scott Patterson (rise of quant investing)

The firm - Duff McDonald (McKinsey)

The golden ticket - Duff McDonald (HBS MBA)

Black edge - Sheelah Kolhatkar (SAC Capital insider trading)

The buy side - Turney Duff (story of a HF trader)

Discussion materials - Bill Keenan (life as Asso at DB)

Billion dollar whale - Tom Wright (1MDB scandal)

Flash boys - Michael Lewis (High frequency trading)

The smartest guys in the room - Bethany McLean (Enron)

Straight to hell - John Lefevre (IB at GS)

The courage to act - Ben Bernanke (2008 crisis)

The alchemists - Neil Irwin (central bankers)

Irrational exuberance - Robert Shiller (behavioral finance)

Market Wizards - Jack Schwager (series of books about hedge fund investors)

Boomerang - Michael Lewis (consequences of 2008 crisis on 3rd world countries)

Monkey business - John Rolfe (life at DLJ)

The bonfire of the vanities - Tom Wolfe (satire about the life of a bond trader in NYC)

Merchants of debt - George Anders (KKR)

Fooling some of the people all the time - David Einhorn (short selling and finding fraud)

Dark Towers - David Enrich (fall of DB)

 

My suggestion is to read also non-finance related books before beginning recruiting season

In my experience HR, and also Associate/VP/MD, really like to see that you’ve other interests outside the financial world

They might test you with the two hours flight test and 100% believe me they wouldn't like to be stucked with someone that does talk about finance

 

Predator's Ball without a doubt. Also consider:

Zero to One by Peter Thiel (start-ups)

Loonshots by Safi Bahcall (daily life)

Never Split The Difference by Chris Voss (negotiation)

The New Tycoons by Jason Kelly (private equity)

The First Billion by Christopher Reich (fictional)

What It Takes by Stephen Schwarzman (daily life/pe)

 

I second that. Although towards the end of the book he deviates by stating how he and his team managed to escape from Russia (which IMO gets a little boring), the part where he talks about his initial contact with Russia and his fight with the oligarchs during the first Hermitage Fund is absolutely fantastic. 

 

If you’d like a book that reads easy, try “The Complete Guide To Capital Markets for Quantitative Professionals.”

It reads like a middle school textbook and explains Financial Markets in a way even a 5-year old would understand. Covers every possible area of Capital Markets you’d run into.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0071468293/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_api_glc_i_gtxZFb3G…

 

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path less traveled
 

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