Recommendations for literature, readings, or media
Current rising junior received an offer for next summer. At my internship and I realized how short life is and how little time I have left before corporate America. I’m looking for recommendations to sharpen my thinking, stimulate me intellectually, or even give me a new perspective on life or work. I enjoyed most self improvement books but felt they didn’t have much reread value. Anything is appreciated, cheers.
Book-
Power Failure: Good info on GE history and its rise and fall
Once in Golconda: A true drama of Wall Street 1920-1938; Great book on what used to happen inside NYSE and how well-regarded people were doing shady/illegal stuff, also gives insight into the operations of original JPM
Merchants of Debt: KKR and the Mortgaging of American Business; It goes into length about the early years of KKR and LBOs in general
Years of Lyndon Johnson; 4 books written by Robert Caro on President Johnson, great insight into how US government works but also how LBJ managed to become President
Media-
I like watching airplane crash documentaries, you realize that despite the advancements we've made, one small thing such as a fatigue screw can cause so much damage
Lmk if you need more lol
Keep em coming
More books:
Irrational Exuberance by Robert Shiller; Good insight into economic history and past bubbles and its impact
The Rise & Fall of American Growth; deep insights on why America will experience headwinds in the future
The Man Who Solved the Market; book on Rennaissance HF, RIP Jim Simons
The Price of Peace: Biography on John Keynes, besides Keynes life you'll learn how the world wars caused chaos in the finance/economic world
John Adams biography by David Mccullough; nothing much to say here lol
Einstein and Benjamin Franklin bios by Walter Isaacson;
When Genius Failed - LTCM drama
The Caesars Palace Coup - Apollo's LBO on Caesar and how it played out in the distressed world
The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith; his Wealth of Nations book is very popular but this book makes you think about philosophy
I cant remember some of the titles i read but lmk if i haven't bored you guys yet lol
The Great Gatsby is a good one
Some recommendations, in no particular order (both fiction and non-fiction):
- The Technological Society (Jacques Ellul): Profound study on the growth of technique and how humanity has strayed from its evolutionary baseline - one of the primary texts of the philosophy that inspired Ted Kaczynski (aka the Unabomber)
- Behave (Robert Sapolsky): Great overview of the biological mechanisms underpinning human nature and behavior; ties well with the above
- Revolutionary Road (Richard Yates): Especially impactful if you read it as a young professional coming to terms with the banality of your life; it's also been made into a pretty decent movie w/ Leo DiCaprio
- The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea (Yukio Mishima): Allegorical exploration of the clash of westernizing and traditionalist forces in Japan, as well as the masculine urge to chase glory and adventure vs settling down
- Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man (James Joyce): Tough read if you're not used to modernist literature, but a great "coming-of-age" philosophical journey of rejecting societal impositions (religion, social class, political ideologies and so on) and forging your own path in the process of self-discovery
Can always recommend more stuff if you'd like
Paradise Lost - John Milton
Any of Hegel’s works
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
Lord of the rings
Atlas Shrugged was nearly impossible to finish. I tried reading it in high school and gave up... Tried a few times in college and gave up... Finally rolled up my sleeves and read all 1000 pages this winter. Not worth it. Too much heavy-handed libertarian preaching, even if I agree with the essence. And too much sex. Besides, the book is written by a woman so all the sex is just painful to read.
I mean the only reason why I could finish it was because Rand weaved her philosophy into a well crafted story
as far as libertarianism goes that isn’t the books central tenet it’s more so the philosophical foundations of capitalism but on steroids + rationalism + egoism
Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami: It's a short and readable book, but is like having a bucket of freezing cold water over you. Ultimately I think it's about loss and letting go. Years after I still keep thinking about this book. It has some extremely difficult topics, as a warning.
Politics and the English Language - George Orwell: It's an essay, you'll finish it in no time. But really useful (in my mind) for improving your writing style (and you'll do a lot of writing in this industry - even if it's just emails).
Norwegian Wood was great, and his short story collection "Men Without Women" also deals with similar topics and was an enjoyable read. Though I do agree with some of the criticism that Murakami tends to fall into the manic pixie girl trope a bit too much when writing female characters.
The Holy Bible
confessions by augustine
man's search for meaning by frankl
meditations by aurelius
letters from a stoic and on the shortness of life by seneca
leisure basis of culture by pieper
7 habits by covey
nassim taleb's incerto. if you only have time for 1, pick either fooled by randomness or skin in the game
mastering market cycle & most important thing by marks
books to avoid
anything by paul krugman or thomas friedman
new world order by ray dalio or whatever it's called
nudge by thaler
anything by dan ariely
gad saad's book on happiness (I like gad but this was a pile of hot garbage, better to look for happiness directly through arthur brooks strength to strength or just read scripture and live a good life)
most anything about warren buffett except for the interpretation of financial statements, his shareholder letters, and MAYBE snowball
the classics remain classics for a reason
Not a fan of the Dalio book? I'm not sure if I agreed with everything, and it didn't seem as descriptive as I thought it would, plus his writing style isn't the best, but on the whole I found it enjoyable, although I'm not sure I would necessarily read it again. Have you read Principles for Navigating Big Credit Crises?
I have not, after the new world order one I'd be very hard pressed to read another one of his books. Plenty of other books I'd rather get to
not one for OP but you'd enjoy, dominion by Tom holland
Super curious why you suggest avoiding books about Buffett
Because having read all of them I can confidently say that you'll get better insights from his shareholder letters, Ben graham, and Howard marks
Second this except for the garbage by Augustine
What makes you say it’s garbage?
Agree to disagree, Augustine was a big part of my faith formation.
who are some of your favorite theologians?
Why not Mere Christianity?
Because I haven't read it yet! Chesterton and Lewis are next on my list
The Stranger, Fooled by Randomness, Slaughterhouse V, The Fish that swallowed the whale, Crime and Punishment, The Secret History, Determined (Sapolsky), Sapiens, Superforecasting, Death of Ivan Illych, Metamorphosis, Myth of Sisyphus, What Kind of Creatures are we, Reality is not what it seems, Free Will (Sam Harris), There are Places in the world where rules are less important than kindness, existentialism is a humanism, lolita, a treatise on human nature, the selfish gene, beyond good and evil, fear and trembling, republic, reality is not what it seems, on the geneology of morality, the rebel, notes from the underground, cats crade, for whom the bell tolls, the things they carried, the goldfinch, famine affluence and morality !!!!!!, the symposium. lmk if u need more
Lots of good stuff here. Would only recommend exercising some caution when reading Harari (Sapiens, Homo Deus). Dude paints some extremely broad generalizations and misses a lot of nuance, sometimes spewing straight-up misinformation when venturing outside his own area of expertise and dealing with topics like human biology. It's best to use his books as a springboard to more substantial works covering the same topics.
Good call - I agree when reading Sapiens 95% of the content was spot on but that 5% was also correct but with a bit more nuance than presented. I wouldnt say anything was "wrong" or untrue but perhaps that 5% as a standalone could be misleading
A few personal favorites, mix of self-improvement, perspective on life, and just generally thought provoking:
A cum praesentium accusantium voluptatem et non. Atque voluptatem nulla debitis ut. Error quae eius tempora dolore ipsa fuga. Totam est molestias omnis. Minima et ut incidunt deserunt ipsa iure. Perferendis corrupti veritatis repellendus laudantium.
Ut expedita error at ut aut in illum. Ab aut blanditiis ratione debitis unde laudantium molestiae. Nostrum quo sed ea sint eum consequatur.
Voluptatem laboriosam ipsum blanditiis libero aut. Atque deleniti earum corrupti consequatur nesciunt quas suscipit modi. Voluptatem ad voluptatem ea nulla non voluptatem. Est tempora esse corrupti voluptas aperiam nihil tenetur sed. Adipisci sit ab numquam dolor est. Et ipsum et in.
Cumque eius et iusto aut. Eligendi officiis nesciunt nulla et rem. Non amet totam cum illum. Ut cupiditate nemo sunt accusantium.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Odio quaerat a laborum necessitatibus voluptate quod sint atque. Ducimus sint architecto doloremque fugit sed animi ipsum. Quos voluptatem architecto nostrum. Voluptates quidem pariatur maiores pariatur soluta. Ea cumque illum quibusdam. Aut accusantium quod tempore quia minus ex qui.
Quo nobis tenetur quia quod. Consectetur nobis quaerat voluptatem rerum officia sunt tenetur. Molestiae quam porro sed molestias vel culpa.
Architecto ducimus explicabo unde id vel nobis quas. Rerum sit est fugiat ullam. Aliquid est et ut ut blanditiis quis. Accusantium autem neque ducimus ab qui corporis voluptatum aliquam. Eius sed eligendi soluta sapiente enim eos. Sit dolorem nostrum quisquam placeat. Quae impedit eligendi occaecati rerum. Sapiente dolores inventore ad modi doloremque.
Ratione rerum nesciunt odit repellat. Ut sint excepturi et hic sed quia cupiditate exercitationem. Sed debitis non sed amet necessitatibus dolore tenetur. Eum doloremque mollitia dolorem rem praesentium nisi. Omnis ratione est voluptates et sapiente tempora provident et.