What do you guys read?
Just accepted my offer and will be starting next year! Quick thank you to WSO and more specifically @ValueGet who has been awesome.
Just curious as to what you guys read? Magazines, books etc.
I was thinking of subscribing to Forbes so I can think more in a "business" mindset. However, I've heard on WSO that Forbes isn't really that great anymore.
Do not read Forbes.
Personally I read the Economist (essential, if there's one periodical to read it's this one) and the Financial Times.
For fun, reading Ken Follet's 'World Without End' after just finishing 'Pillars of the Earth'. Cuz you asked.
Read "The Buy Side" By Turney Duff. Story of a guy who made a ton at a HF and blew it on whores and coke. Probably should have said "Spoiler Alert".
Read "The Buy Side" By Turney Duff. Story of a guy who made a ton at a HF and blew it on whores and coke. Probably should have said "Spoiler Alert".
*Puts book back on the shelf, walks away with head down...
What I read:
Newspapers: (1) Financial Times (I read this everyday without exception) (2) International Herald Tribune (now part of the New York Times, I don't necessarily read this everyday, but I do when I can)
Magazines: (1) The Economist (this is mandatory weekly reading), (2) Foreign Affairs (If you are in finance, I wouldn't consider this to be mandatory reading, but I feel like one should read it to be a well-informed citizen) (3) Monocle (this is the "dessert" portion of magazines that I read)
Books: Read what you are interested in, does not necessarily have to be business or finance related. History, science, literature, modern fiction, biographies, etc. If you want a suggestion for business books, why not give "Business Adventures" by John Brooks a try? The original was published in 1969, but it has been reprinted recently. My father gave me the new, re-printed version as a gift not too long ago and I've enjoyed it so far.
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. Eleven Rings by Phil Jackson. Shibumi by Trevanian. How to Argue and Win Every Time by Gerry Spence.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is pretty great..
Second Monocle. Really cool, well packaged reading experience.
As long as whenever you're reading it, every article of clothing you're wearing is more expensive than a yearly subscription, then you should be fine.
Vanity Fair and Tech Crunch. Books. I just read for pleasure, sometimes (more often than not) decompressing and relaxing is just as important.
noodie mags to have things in common with the geesers
This definitely is not a finance book by any means, but I just got done with "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand and it was phenomenal. It's a great biography that goes into the life of Louis Zamperini, who was a POW in WWII. He was also a well known long distance runner. It was an extremely motivational book. I believe their releasing the movie for the book this December.
subscribe to dealbreaker, its my favorite e-mail i get every day. but on a little more serious note, if you're going to subscribe to publications..barrons and the economist are good
research routine
mornings (in shower & on way to work): bloomberg radio, free iphone app, good for futures as well as ecn data getting released that day, then WSJ during the day: client & PM stuff, will check bloomberg.com periodically as well as alerts from my firm's desk that get to my inbox, but this is less than evenings and weekends evenings: stock reports, industry reports from BCG (free), newsletters nights: books
specifically I'd read Mauldin, Howard Marks, Grantham, and others for periodic big picture updates. if you're curious on names and how the macro stuff affects it, pick a money manager (sequioa guys are great as are tweedy browne) and read their commentary. for something more frequent, bob doll of nuveen (fmr BlackRock) does a weekly column (if not daily) and is a good way to digest this stuff. he's smart but a bit of a permabull and a little too quant for my liking. phil orlando of federated does this too.
for bonds, that's tricky. I read the research from my firm, it gets me 99% of what I end up using.
as for books, I have a thread out there somewhere, but the classics are in order. ben graham, stuff about warren, charles brandes, chris browne, joel greenblatt, david dreman (a bit nutty but still good), phil fisher, howard marks, etc. you may hate some of them (namely dreman, it's dense), but what you'll get from the ones you hate is how to intelligently critique something.
I'd also read books about running a business (jim collins has good stuff) as well as jack welch-y type stuff.
Second vanity fair, awesome magazine that teaches me something about an interesting topic I often know little about each time I pick it up.
Googled monocle and will definitely begin reading.
I'm starting to get into triathlons and recently read a book called finding ultra about a Stanford swimmer-turned obese alcoholic-turned ultraman athlete which was awesome and is a good read if you're into that kind of stuff. Also read the new (fat!) Michael Jordan biography which was illuminating. Eleven rings is on my list as is unbroken after reading the comments here. Have house of Morgan (a tome about the JP Morgan dynasty) on my shelf waiting to be read.
Sorry to hijack, but what do you guys recommend for non-finance, non-fiction reading?
If you're going for novels, I'm a huge Haruki Murakami fan. His novels can get a little weird, but definitely worth a shot. I'd start with A Wild Sheep Chase or the Wind-up Bird Chronicle, and then go from there. His short stories are great too.
I'll check out Finding Ultra - looks interesting.
Read by the pool type of book:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinny_Dip_%28novel%29
Carl Hiaasen has some great reads.
Non-finance/non-fiction - check out deadspin. It's not a magazine, but they have some pretty funny & interesting stuff out there, and it's all mostly related to sports.
I'm currently reading 21st Century Capital by thomas piketty and I don't understand why it's causing such a stir.
I read a lot
Magazines (mostly on web) 1. Economist 2. The Diplomat 3. Foreign Policy 4. The Atlantic
Blogs 1. Musings on market (Aswath Damodaran) 2. Sometime Mark Mobius's blog 3. Anything interesting that catches my eye
Books 1. Finance, Accounting, Economics (there are many sub segments) 2. Strategy 3. Time management and productivity 4. Fiction (Mostly Fantasy, historical fiction and thrillers) 5. Various other stuff like philosophy, social psychology etc etc
+1 for your usename
Insight comes at the edge of multiple disciplines. I diversified my reading into as many subjects as my attention span those subjects would allow me (don't force yourself to read things that you find to be extremely uninteresting/make you sleep), and the rewards have been tremendous.
Magazines: 1) Fortune 2) Forbes (I agree with some of the criticisms above, it has changed a lot over the years and I'm expecting more changes, either better or worse, soon as the magazine is in the hands of new owners) 3) Bloomberg Businessweek 4) The Economist
Books Categories: -Finance -Strategy -Management -Marketing -Self-Development/"Self-help" (it sounds cheesy but trust me, these books are for unsuccessful and successful people, shows you holes in your own success or potholes in the road ahead that you might not have seen if you didn't read that "self-help" book) -Philosophy -Politics/Foreign Affairs
Recommendations by category The lists are not extensive or ultimate. I made a New Year's resolution in 2012 to read a book a day, best thing I have ever done, but this also means I don't have an "ultimate" book or list of books, but I have quite a few interesting reads in each category. If you're interested in reading a book a day (I highly recommended it-most adults don't read a single book after college. I recall reading somewhere that over 90% of households with an income of over $500,000 have a home library or read more than 15 books a year. Don't do it to chase the cash, do it to become a greater person and the cash will follow. I see some really silly mistakes people at the top (I'm surprised they are "at the top", in WSO speak-earning $1 million+ a year, and are still making silly mistakes) are making that are costing them their careers or worse (damaging irreplaceable things like your immediate family, spouse, children), things they would have seen and avoided if only they read. The thing with reading is that once you pick it up and read voraciously, the amount of information you take in is incredible. What's valuable isn't the specifics of that information but how your thinking changes, and how you think influences your decisions, actions, habits, behavior, and attitude.
-Finance Alchemy of Finance King of Capital Den of Thieves Barbarians at the Gate
-Strategy Stall Points Competitive Advantage Profitable Growth is Everyone's Business Winning Decisions
-Management Management in 10 Words Reinventing Organizations The Fifth Discipline Goldman Sachs: The Culture of Success
-Marketing All Marketers Are Liars Permission Marketing Purple Cow (as you can tell Im a massive Seth Godin fan) Marketing by Brian Tracy
-Self Development/"Self-Help" How Will You Measure Your Life? THE RICHEST MAN THAT EVER LIVED (even if you are not religious, you can learn a thing or two from King Solomon) Thou Shall Prosper Earn What You're Really Worth Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long Term Fulfillment Seasons of Life Man's Search for Meaning The Seven Decisions: Understanding The Keys to Personal Success As A Man Thinketh Managing Yourself Peter Drucker
-Philosophy Meditations by Marcus Aurelius The Diamond Cutter Beyond Good and Evil
-Politics/Foreign Affairs Confessions of An Economic Hitman Asia's Cauldron China's Second Continent Hoodwinked
P.S. I wouldn't attempt reading a book a day if your reading speed is not at least ~1500 words per minute - it would be counterintuitive as you would spend most of your day reading. That's fine if you have nothing else to do but obviously not feasible if you are working. I would invest in a reputable and proven speed reading course in your local area and buy speed reading material (funny enough I dont recall the many materials I bought that taught me how to read so fast) and always work on improving your speed.
Enjoy.
Read the classics (I'm talking fiction). As long as it isn't a Jane Austen novel, a girl who strikes up a conversation for you based on what you are reading could be a keeper.
Grantland - Bill Simmons' sports/culture website. They write like arrogant bastards, but its smart writing and musing to read on downtime.
Anyone have any good podcast recommendations? Been looking for a good one to listen to while my Excel burns my eyeballs.
I listen to Marketplace Morning Edition, Marketplace Tech, BBC Business Daily and The WSJ Morning Report in the morning.
I like listening to Entreprenuer on Fire by Jon Dumas, Bigger Pockets (real estate investing), Stacking Benjamins (personal finance) and Listen Money Matters (personal finance) to learn what other people are doing to create wealth.
Stuff You Should Know is pretty interesting, Car Talk is a funny one, StarTalk (Neil Degrasse Tyson) has some interesting episodes.
What are you interested in? I use Stitcher and just look for podcasts on there.
Don't need to get crazy about reading the newspapers. Read the headlines, be generally aware of whether the market has been going up or down (smile & nod when the market's going up, shake your head when it's down), pretend like you know something about the direction of interest rates. That's more than you'll need as analyst. The best time of my life was the time in between my FT offer and the first day on the floor (after training). Live it up, my friend!
I mostly read the New York Times and The Economist; I really like the op-ed sections of newspapers. I also like the Scientific American. I think it's good to read lots of stuff, perhaps not necessarily industry-specific, just to become more interesting/relatable in general. A little fiction never hurt either. But hey I'm not even working in finance yet.
So when you guys say you read a magazine such as The Economist; is it the web page or the actual subscription? I'm a little old school and hate reading on screens.
Like most traditional papers, they now have digital editions. You can get the Economist in the flesh, or on your computer/tablet/phone. I travel a lot so read it on the phone. Economist is extremely broad so you'll be informed on the biggest goings on in domestic and foreign affairs, science and technology, corporate news, finance, etc etc.
Question -- what do you read in what you read?
That is, what sections/articles do you in read in, for the sake of example, the WSJ or Economist? (can't read everything)
WSJ: US news, world news, marketplace, money & investing, wealth adviser & grand central
within those, I skim to the stuff that I think is relevant. until you get a handle on what's relevant/irrelevant, try to read everything.
A few others that haven't been mentioned yet.. project syndicate, qz.com, inc, zero hedge.
I only read porntube.com
Haha am I the only person here who reads the WSJ ??? A good book recomendation is Flash Boys by Michael Lewis. The booked is a little biased towards HFT firms but its a great read and very entertaining.
My work has a daily top story email you can subscribe to, which is great. It breaks stories down by category from world economy, regulation, markets, and the like. Another reason it's great is that stories come from sources you'd normally have to subscribe to (WSJ, FT, etc.).
Another daily read is from friend of mine who works as a portfolio associate. He sends me the portfolio manager's daily market report (non-proprietary info) with story summaries from Bloomberg. Similar to the top stories email, it is separated into categories like equities, fixed income, currencies, commodities, and so on.
If you have access to a daily "meta" news source such as this, I recommend it. Periodical wise, WSJ and Businessweek seem to be solid.
Ohh wow! I am feeling totally lost after going through some of the replies. Lost as in I don't know now whether to mention what I was paging through as some high and mighty names are mentioned here! But then, since we all are 'monkeying around' why not mention my list! I was leafing through, not reading actually, a book on How to Train your Dragon. Happen to get my hands on it through an artist friend, and what great creations! Seems there is an entire game site, dedicated to this movie and its characters! But the book I was really going through is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Have read once before and again I have to go through it. Simply mesmerized by it and I didn't like the movie much. The book is far far better!
Best Book You've Ever Read? (Originally Posted: 04/04/2015)
What is the best business/wealth/personal development book you've ever read?
Barbarians at the Gate
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Great critique on society at large. You'll eventually live & breath finance, so it is important to broaden your horizon, bruh.
For One More Day, Mitch Albom.
Great book on perspective and what's important in life. completely unrelated to finance.
Haven't finished it yet but Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini is fantastic and should be required reading for anyone in business.
Best Books You've Read (Originally Posted: 09/03/2013)
Hey guys, I was wondering what some of the best business related books that you have read are?
Den of Thieves if you want to know more about what was going on in the 1980s. The Big Short is also really good.
Echo Den of Thieves as it's the gold-stanard for the story of Wall Street in the 80s. The same author wrote a book called 'Disney War' that is probably one of the Top 3 business books I have ever read, but it is not finance related.
I would also suggest Barbarians at the Gate for a great story on PE/IB.
Barbarians at the Gate is a good book/must read for UG finance major. However, it is pretty damn long and dry (IMO). Especially by the end, it seems to drag out on purpose for suspense, but I found it annoying.
Regardless of my opinion though, you should definitely read it.
Unbroken - best book I have ever read, look it up, will be made into a movie pretty soon.
Barbarians at the Gate was also very good.
All of the standard wall street books (liar's poker, accidental investment banker, barbarians at the gate, fooling some of the people, etc.)
"How to Succeed in Commercial Real Estate" by John L. Bowman
"Confidence Game" by Christine S. Richard
"Wolf of Wall Street" and "Catching the Wolf of Wall Street" by Jordan Belfort
"Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson
"The Richest Man In Babylon" by George Clason
"Damn, It Feels Good to be a Banker" by Leveraged Sellout
Market Wizards and Black Swan- while not strictly business books, they definitely had a profound influence on me and were both uncannily appropriate for the time I read them.
Small Giants is a good book discussing what has made entrepreneurial businesses of varying sizes special - includes companies like Anchor brewing to Cliff Bars and a bunch of different ones in between.
Oh, also, Devils On The Deep Blue Sea is a good book as well - basically follows the creation of America's Cruise Ship Empires.
Total Recall from Arnold Schwarzenegger.... extremely inspiring and motivating... it changed my life
Totally agree on this one.....Arnold has such an interesting story
The Greatest Trade Ever - follows a few characters, with a focus on John Paulson through the crash of 2008. Couldn't put it down once I started it.
Moby Dick was great. Just finished 1984. Still love The Jungle. Atkinson has written an amazing trilogy on World War II. So many great books out there.
You should check out Vidal's "Narratives of Empire". Finished Burr and currently on Lincoln. I read quite a bit and they are some of the best and most interesting books I've ever read.
The Power of Gold: The History of an Obsession [Peter L. Bernstein Money Business Freakonomics
One of the more interesting reads was The Grand Chessboard by Zbigniew Brzezinski. More than any one book it has helped me think in larger terms and looks at the current and near term (few decades) international framework. It's more of a global geopolitical study than an economic or business book, but is useful in understanding a lot of the larger events that affect business. His book looks largely at very broad geographic trends and while it's of course not perfect, it's very very very useful in projecting the general trajectory of entire regions based on their current state as well as their much longer cultural/historical tendancies.
[quote=UFOinsider]
The Cat in the Hat
The ending still gets me
Hedge Hogs
Monkey Business The new tycoons The Big Short Too Big to Fail Bank:A Novel -this is a funny book about the IB lifestyle
If you can get past the pretentious name More Money than God was a good book on the history and evolution of hedge funds.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick. It's about the business of hunting androids.
Just saw a movie preview for Ender's Game which reminded me how good the book was. Might have to re-read it before November.
I think the only "wall street" book I have read is "The Big Short" (which was admittedly pretty good).
Oh jesus, how could I forget "Damn, It Feels Good to be a Banker."
Not kidding either, that shit is hilarious
the buy side
Iliad by Homer. It isn't business related, but it is worth it.
Too Big to Fail.
Atla...oh wait you mean BEST book you've read.
Surprised no one has said Smartest Guys in the Room and When Genius Failed. Also, Intelligent Investor.
I used to read a ton of business books but really started deviating away from them. I now enjoy more memoirs when it comes to business-related stuff, such as The Snowball about Buffett or Jobs. Those two books were excellent.
Nowadays I find myself reading novels more. A Song of Ice and Fire and the Shogun series are all excellent.
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
I literally laughed out loud while reading this book. Its all about drinkings, drugs, crazy business owners and deal making in NYC during the 70's and 80's. You don't have to necessarily like cooking to enjoy this book. Anthony Boudain is one of the baddest motherfuckers out there.
Echoing the buy side. Must read.
Best books/resources (Originally Posted: 03/13/2012)
What do you think are good books/resources to really understand a business (like explaining their margins, potential threats, etc)? Basically, the qualitative side of banking where you really examine the business, its products, and its potential. Sorry if that sounds kind of vague.
On another note, I'm going to be an SA this summer and was wondering what do you think is best to prepare for such a role? Practice excel and powerpoint? Do you think it advantageous to read advanced m&a books or take advanced modeling courses? Are there any other things I should read or look into? I'm sorry if I sound like a over-eager tool but I just have some extra time on my hands, despite partying hard on the weekends (and a few weekdays haha).
Thanks for all the help in advance.
^just reading general books about business and finance will be helpful to provide some context for what you're doing. Try Barbarians at the Gate, Liar's Poker, The big short, etc.
Thanks for the advice. i was think maybe Porter's Competitive Strategy or Competitive Advantage for qualitative knowledge. How about McKinsey's Valuation for SA prep also?
RE: McKinsey's Valuation - get Damodaran's Investment Valuation instead.
Any other general resources you guys think are a must to read would be much appreciated. Do you think that BIWS or WSP would be necessary as well? Thanks guys.
Maybe understanding the industry space that you'll be working in.
What books are you reading? - Current line up (Originally Posted: 11/15/2010)
so i read like 5-8 books at the same time and put business cards to hold pages. I also leave them all over my house...
my current line up
The Big Short More Money Then God American Physco The Smartest Guys in The Room GMAT Prep The King of Oil The Price of Admissions
I am also still in August on Fortune, Forbes, Money,Wired so trying to catch up
what about you guys?
Monty, gotta throw The Quants in there too if you haven't read it...
And since you're a Texas guy, gotta throw in T Boone Pickens' 'The First Billion is the Hardest' pretty entertaining, easy read and he starts each chapter with a fairly humorous maxim to live by
both are on my list... i met t boone few years back... he was a speaker and chilled afterwards to shake hands
The Wealth of Nations
i read this book i sugesst you get the one with explanations on the side or else it will melt your soul
Haha! I do the same thing and I never get to finish most of them. I keep them in a stack though.
Just finished Reminiscenses of a stock operator for the third time, am I the only one who doesn't like the interviewer at all?
Still got:
Manhattan guides The invisible hands Infectious greed
it takes me a good 3 months to finish a book... i pick it up...read a little then put it down.. never knock out 1 book in a few days like i did in college
I just read Griftopia - Taibbi is good but after about a dozen pages I want to murder a puppy I'm so angry.
Told ya. LOL
Also I just want to throw in that I thought The Big Short was a pretty disappointing follow up to liars poker and American Psycho is bleh.
The Communist Manifesto-Karl Marx The Prince-Machiavelli The Art of War- Sun Szu Informal Logica-Walton 1984-Orwell Animal Farm-Orwel
A nice dose of poltical/Orwellian theory is a change from the usual finance related books.
Now that I think about it, the youth of our country should be required to read these books before high school.
If you're going to read The Art of War you have to read On War by Clausewitz as well
You should also read The Book of Five Rings.
I have the following books laying around next to my bed:
Misbehavior of Markets by mandelbrot Little book of value investing by browne
Atlas Shrugged is for tossers. There's no reason why you can't make a buttload of money without a philosophical stick up your ass.
Anyone read "The Shadow Market" by Eric Weiner? It's about how the BRIC and Middle Eastern countries are flush with cash and are using that to acquire natural resource holdings at currently depressed prices, which will cement their growth prospects and eventual eclipse of the US as the world's largest economy.
What I thought was especially interesting was a segment on how China will be able to exercise geopolitical power over the US due to their large holdings of our national debt. The conventional wisdom is that when the debt becomes too large, the creditor (China) is at the mercy of the debtor (US). However, this guy suggests that if China sells just a fraction of their US debt holdings, it will be enough to roil the bond and currency markets such that the US will practically be at their mercy.
The Quants Fooling Some People All of the Time
How do you guys make time to read (excluding weekends)?
i am lucky if I can get 10 pages a day in
Way too many books on my list. Currently reading Lords of Finance (highly recommended for macro enthusiasts). After that I want to read The Myth of the Rational Market and The Accidental Investment Banker.
just finished The Accidental Investment Banker and i enjoyed it...
This Lords of finance? I've been debating whether or not to get it.
I've read Nietzsche, but I don't particularly agree with him. All the Atlas hate is unwarranted. The real issue is a 21 year old reading Atlas and acting like they know anything about the world. When you are young you should read everything and think about it. As life develops you will draw on this knowledge and it will be shaped by various events.
Hey eyelike, what are your thoughts on Animal Farm?? Eric Hugh Blair was a brilliant writer..
The Origin of Wealth, Investment Valuation (have gone into this for 2 years now, ditto for above) Buffet's Letters to Shareholders So I heard you Paint Houses Lex's Anti-Management Theories Snow's Red Star Over China
I can't believe someone else read that, it was really interesting, if not exactly cultured. And at the risk of contributing to two book threads at once:
Taleb, The Black Swan Foucault, Discipline & Punish Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment
Wow where to begin...
George Orwel is perhaps the greatest political philosophical thinker of our time. The satire/allegory is matched by very few in the 19-20th century. I believe Animal Farm is one of the top 5 literary works of the century, and can be interpreted in so many ways to so many people. It truly gives you a profound sense of social injustice and an outright disgust for a totalatarianist regime. Orwell was able to see the future of societies in a way that Marx never envisioned. I still can't believe 1984 and Animal Farm are not required reading material for someone in our US public education system.
Barbara - A Novel of First-Time Sexual Adventure
Atlas Richest Man in Town Origin of Species House of Cards
Definitely sympathize with reading several books all at once monty. I'm in the middle of The Quants, Grumby ("A silicon valley Bonfire of the Vanities"), and about to crack Rob Wolfe's "Paleo Solution".
Doing a philosophy minor so I've been reading Plato, Aristotle. Heavy shit. Also reading a book called The Death and Life of American Cities by Jane Jacobs. Been trying to get my hands on Buddhist Philosophy Essentials (I read a comment on an HBR article that said Buddhist Philosophy is something you should read when you are young so I'm trying to give it a shot) but for whatever reason all the Buddhist Philosophy books at my school's library are checked out.
Doing a philosophy minor so I've been reading Plato, Aristotle. Heavy shit. Also reading a book called The Death and Life of American Cities by Jane Jacobs. Been trying to get my hands on Buddhist Philosophy Essentials (I read a comment on an HBR article that said Buddhist Philosophy is something you should read when you are young so I'm trying to give it a shot) but for whatever reason all the Buddhist Philosophy books at my school's library are checked out.
I like philosophy of ethics myself. If you haven't read Kant's Critique of Pure Reason.
I know it's not pure Buddhist philosophy, but Siddhartha's a good read
meno is quick and decent
One Billion Customers (rereading for the umpteenth time) Investment Biker
On my coffee table (the books I read the fastest): All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan A Stained White Radiance (A Dave Robicheaux Novel)
On my Kindle: Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America
On my nightstand: Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World
In the shitter: A Demon of Our Own Design: Markets, Hedge Funds, and the Perils of Financial Innovation
I go through them pretty quickly.
I checked out Demon of Our Own Design based on your post and I'm really enjoying it. Empires of the Sea is on deck because the Amazon reviews were so stellar.
Investment Banking book by Pearl/Rosenbaum Just finished barbarians at the gate Finished accidental investment banker before that
2x2, I'm from Scranton, and my family knew Buff intimately. Great read.
Eyelike- I first read the novel in 7th grade and was fascinated. At the time I didn't know any better than to think it was a manifesto on socialism and oppression. Looking back, and after several more readings, I realized it's more about the dynamic of the social order in a sovereign controlled by socialism. Moreover, Orwell shows the basis of Marxist socialism (dialectical materialism) is limited in that success of a nation is ultimately defined by the ability to adapt to mass mobilization of thought, not by limiting it. Ultimately people will be immiserated if they cannot progress and freely express thought. In an agrerian society, the order might work, but as you educate the masses, the more potential there is for them to be immiserated by their current state. Forget owners and doers, people seek self-actualization. Orwell killed it. That 1984 is even somewhat prevalent today speaks to his vision and foresight. We need more minds like this.
Anyone read The Creature from Jekyl Island? If so, thoughts??
Not just required reading for bankers, but for every American.
GS recommended readings list!
Currently I'm into:
The Confessions of Saint Augustine Nichomachean Ethics (Aristotle) The Prince (Machiavelli) American Psycho The Gay Science (Nietzche) Fooled by Randomness (Taleb)
Some schoolbooks, some leisure. They're all worthwhile reads in my opinion though.
The Alchemy of Finance (Soros)
I usually do one at a time, on the train to and back from work. Just finished Risk Arbitrage (Guy Wyser-Pratte) and I'm probably going to pick up a bunch soon:
Inside the House of Money and The Invisible Hands (Drobny) An Arbitrage Guide to Financial Markets (Dubil) Money Markets (Stigum) Eurodollars.. (Burghardt)
I am reading Traders, Guns, and Money right now, it's pretty cool how Satyajit Das can make complex derivatives make sense with simple english. Once I finish, I'll definitely recommend it to people.
The others that are lying in wait on my night stand are Den of Thieves, Too Big to Fail, When Genius Failed, and FIASCO which I actually just finished. Good stuff.
Globalisation and its Discontents
All the Devils are Here...bought it yesterday and its awesome...written by one of the dudes that wrote The Smartest Guys in the Room
Saw the daily show interview with the authors. I want to get that.
Almost done with the Lynch staple, One up on Wall Street. The Quants is next, followed by the McKinsey Way
"Damn, It Feels Good to be a Banker", lol
Anyway, Art of War is phenomenal. Highly recommended.
Trying to decide whether to get Monkey Business, Liar's Poker or this British guy's book, I think it is called Cityboy.
Any insight on which one to get, assuming I can only read one of them at the moment? :)
If you have any interest or desire to get into banking, I recommend Monkey Business....gives you some perspective.
If you are just looking for a decent read, I would recommend Liar's Poker. It's somewhat dated, but still a good read.
Monty,
What do you think about King of Oil? I was read some of it on Amazon and I think I might get it.
I would give you my copy but it was a gift. I finished it this morning and it was okay. Some cool history on the spot market in oil.
I also just finished the acct investment banker. Up for grabs if anyone wants it
Siddartha was recommended above, I couldn't agree more. One of my favorite books of all time.
agree. I wrote a paper in college about book
Just reviewed "4-Hour Work Week" by Tim Ferriss for the 5th time...it helps me think outside the box.
House of Morgan
Long book is long
Siddartha doesn't really sound like my cup of tea, but enough of you were into it that I just downloaded it. Didn't hurt that the Kindle edition is free right now.
EDIT: Just in case any of you want it, here's a link to the free Kindle version:
Siddhartha
The Big Short is definitely worth it, but if you're looking to take a break from the crash, check out The Zeroes. It's all about the history of Trader Monthly Magazine and the first decade of the 21st century on Wall Street. Really entertaining stuff.
I tore through The Big Short because I appreciate Lewis' writing. I was a little disappointed because it wasn't as simple as he tried to make it seem, and a lot was left out regarding moral hazard. He merely mentions the political/economic issues of the bailouts, whereas Sorkin in Too Big to Fail provides such color on the situation, you actually feel like you're sitting in the board room at the NY Fed. What's neat about The Big Short is you get to see the financial crisis through the lens of a few people who had a good read on what was happening. He does a solid job displaying the paradoxical thinking of the time (housing prices will always go up versus some thinking it was a massive bubble). In this respect, it's very personal, which financial reading rarely is.
Option Volatility & Pricing - Sheldon Natenberg
Damn, most everyone in here is reading some super heavy shit. Meanwhile, I just ordered "In 50 Years, We'll All be Chicks" by Adam Carolla.
Sorry to bump this but I just reread 'When Genius Failed' and couldn't put it down even though I'd already read it. Starting Lords of Strategy now.
Any other recommendations out there. Maybe some newer stuff?
Great thread. Currently rereading Catch-22 for the 4th time, by far my favorite book. I'm also trying to get into Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels because my dad absolutely loves them, but progress so far has been slow
Just about an hour ago I finished Street Freak: Money and Madness at Lehman Brothers and it was so good I'm going to do a full review and try to get the author to do a Q&A for us. It's a memoir about a trader's descent into madness (literally, he was committed at one point) during his 7-year career at Lehman.
Just finished Confidence Game about Bill Ackman's short position in MBIA. Very interesting read looking into the bond insurance business and giving a glimpse of the credit crisis from a different angle.
Glad to see some positive reviews of Lords of Finance. Might start that next.
I'm kind of considering reading the second two hunger games books after seeing the movie and really liking it. Does that make me a pussy?
I do the same thing, business cards and all (except for the ones on my iPad)
Currently: Money In The Ground Energy Trading and Investing Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader The Prize High Probability Trading Ahead of the Curve Economics In One Lesson
and I'm sure there are plenty others that are half finished. I need to work on knocking a couple of these out.
Big Deal: Merger and Acquisitions in the Digital Age...been reading this for 2 months now.
Streak Freak was an amazing read. Great insights and truly an entertaining story about how the street can drive you insane. Jared Didion is a great writer as well
For fiction: A Thousan Splendid Suns
Amazing!
Some good books? (Originally Posted: 06/03/2008)
What are some good books that teach you the skills or help prepare you for summer internships at BB's?
I don't mean books like Liar's Poker or Monkey Business, but rather books that teach you the math, vocabulary, and finance involved in investment banking.
http://www.scoopbooks.com/ourbooks_2.php
it's a good read.
What should I read on the train? (Originally Posted: 10/26/2011)
I am taking an hour train ride home today.
Any suggestions of any short pdf files or interesting articles I should read?
Please under 50 pages..I am going to be printing this at work.
Thanks.
sudoku, mental math practices, etc?
Vintage porn (I'm talking fur bikini vintage) would make your fellow passengers really uncomfortable, so, yeah.
You need a tablet and then get apps for various news sources and zinio (it's a subscription service for magazines to your tablet).
Take the bar car bro
better yet, bring a flask and your own cheap booze... IP would be proud
Page 6
Just pick up a newspaper or a magazine and read it on the train.
Any good book? (Originally Posted: 05/14/2007)
Any reader here? Any good books you guys could recommend me? Doesnt have to be finance-related.
Anything Vince Flynn.
This Book Will Save Your Life is a good read. Vaguely finance related--the main character is a day trader.
Disagree with the previous recommendation. You just get the sense that the main character is rich. Main character is a broker if I remember correctly.
Currently Reading: Stocks for the Long Run
He said "doesn't have to be finance related." I said the book is only vaguely finance related, and it's a good book anyway. I'm not sure he's a broker as he spends most of his time in his house and never mentions having clients.
For the atheist. Richard Dawkins "God Delusion".
Good Reading Material? (Originally Posted: 02/03/2013)
As a college student I have a reasonable amount of free time that I can spend reading shit (like this website). I have my WSJ subscription that I'll read for maybe 20 minutes every day but I would like some other enriching reading material. It doesn't even necessarily have to be something that teaches me about the markets, just something that will benefit me intellectually.
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/what-to-read-in-the-morning
we have a bunch of recommended readings in our FAQs as well (up top)
You could read "shit" like the economist, which gives a broader overview of the financial world.
What do you read every week? (Originally Posted: 02/14/2007)
CURRENT BANKERS - What substantive publications/blogs/newsletters do you read on a regular basis to stay apprised of goings on in the i-banking world? Is this list comprehensive? Or would getting through all of these simply be too much because of time restraints?
WSJ (possibly FT too) NY Times DealBook The Deal Mergers & Acquisitions by ACG BusinessWeek, Fortune, Forbes, Economist Playboy/Sports Illustrated/Men's Health
I would add Bloomberg to that list. For fun, I don't really read magazines, although I do enjoy reading most of the above mentioned. For leisure reading, I usually read books - military history and classics
Barron's
I skim WSJ (since there's so much filler), read: businessweek, newsweek, times, forbes, fortune, GQ, SLAM (it's a basketball magazine since I'm sure 99% of you have never heard of it) and a few other business magazines I just forget atm...
I read WSJ daily.
Haha, I used to read SLAM in middle school. Then I realized I was white reading a magazine by and for blacks, as far as I could tell. WSJ for me. Tried Barron's, but didn't appeal to me. Too many stock tips. I like NY Times DealBook too.
Add these: Barron's The Economist Institutional Investor Investment Dealer's Digest The New Yorker
Just because I'm in LFG, High Yield Daily and LPC
What's High Yield Daily? Do you get it from IFR (Int'l Fin. Review) guys?
WSJ, Economist, NYTimes, Dealbook, WashPost, CS Monitor, aldaily.com
playboy.
playgirl.
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