Book Recommendations? Holiday Gift for PM
My PM reads a ton. I was thinking of getting him The Delusions of Crowds by William Bernstein, but I have a hunch that he has read it. He enjoys history, he is in his early 50s. 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin is a thought, but I heard that it isn't that good. Open to fiction as well.
The first half of 1929 is great. It’s structured very strangely though. The second half is painfully dull.
What fiction is he into?
Not sure, we haven’t really talked about it. I don’t think he’d be into science fiction. Just fishing for books people have read recently that they enjoyed. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
SA Crosby writes some good southern gothic thrillers. King of Ashes just came out, and All the Sinners Bleed is fantastic.
Nash Falls by David Balducci is about a finance guy who gets recruited by the FBI, but I haven't read it.
Dogs by C Mallon is one of the best books I've read this year, but it's a bit pretentious and pretty dark. Boss man might have some questions for you after that one.
The City & The City by China Miéville is a trippy detective novel in a fictional eastern European city.
My Husband by Maud Ventura is unhinged and hilarious, but some guys don't like reading books with women as the protagonist. It's not a dude's book, but I like me some crazy women.
Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones is supposed to be pretty awesome. Horror based on real life Native American revenge story.
Dostoyevsky or Albert Camus
i thought this book was PAINFUL
**shameless self bump after 2 days
Benjamin roth's depression diary - interesting journal kept by an attorney during the Great Depression
Edward thorp man for all markets - if you don't know who thorp is, your PM does, he's a legend
Jose de la Vega confusion of confusions - one of the first books ever written about investing from wayyyy back in the day (16th C Amsterdam). if your PM speaks Spanish you can get him the original but the translation is pretty good
AVOID - most things written about Buffett, Jim Simons biography, and Jesse Livermore. I know Livermore's stuff is widely considered important and essential reading but I found it to be underwhelming, especially once I found out he went bust and killed himself...
Would echo #1, it's amazing
Disagree on Livermore, that is essential reading if you are a buyside investor He's the Stanley Druckenmiller of his time
maybe I need to give it another chance, been over a decade since I read it
Second a man for all markets; the writing is easy to digest, and some pretty funny anecdotes. Only risk is that he already read it.
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A Monetary History of the United States from Friedman
Atlas Shrugged
Seems like the reviews are all great, probably will buy it for myself. Was the length of it an issue for you?
Genuinely an awful book. Not even the content either, which is juvenile, but just terrible writing.
The Fountainhead is at least enjoyable.
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Truman by David McCullough, for a president with such a consequential tenure he’s one I didn’t know particularly well.
Dear Chairman: Boardroom Battles and the Rise of Shareholder Activism
Capital Returns: Investing Through the Capital Cycle: A Money Manager’s Reports 2002-15
The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich
The Hour Between Dog and Wolf
The hard book and 10 hour audiobook called “Immortal Life: A Soon To Be True Story” written and audio by the late Stanley Bing in 2017. The book is about the late 21st century life of a 130 year old multi-trillionaire who gains digital immortality. A good foreshadowing of how our playing with LLMs will soon lead to a world where we won’t recognize today.
I’m about 2/3 done with the book. I think it was ahead of its time (for 2017) and under appreciated as fiction. But now in 2025 (AI era), you sort of get where things are heading. The story includes robot assisted sex (dildo-ology), high stakes business deals for world domination, social upheaval, oligarchy, and the main character will make you think about the crusty old founder or MD of where you work.
I think this is a gem of a book that will help you imagine and prepare for the future (or your kid’s future). The audiobook with the author’s voice is very entertaining.
“The most important failure was one of imagination” - The 9/11 Commission Report (I mention this because you get described an imagined world that is only 50-70 years away - a blink of an eye).
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