What is your top 3 business/finance/investing books you've read?

[schin]

I'm assuming people would put down the classics from Ben Graham, Peter Lynch, Seth Klarman, and Joel Greenblatt.  But, I'm alway open to suggestions from this forum.

 

A long time ago, someone recommended Capital Accounts and Capital Returns by Edward Chancellor and those really opened up my eyes. Inside baseball, actually Nick Sleep wrote some of those MAM letters.

 

I like Howard Marks' first book - The Most Important Thing.

[UK]

The top 3 for me perhaps all would be Buffett related (like Intelligent Investor, Lowenstein's book, Letters' book etc) but I would like to recommend other, maybe less known and non WB/BRK related books: 1. Bull. A History of the Boom by Mahar 2. Keynes and the Market by Walsh 3. The Little Book of Behavioral Investing by Montier. All quite simple and easy to read. Last is the most important:)

 

[73 Reds]

5 hours ago, UK said:

The top 3 for me perhaps all would be Buffett related (like Intelligent Investor, Lowenstein's book, Letters' book etc) but I would like to recommend other, maybe less known and non WB/BRK related books: 1. Bull. A History of the Boom by Mahar 2. Keynes and the Market by Walsh 3. The Little Book of Behavioral Investing by Montier. All quite simple and easy to read. Last is the most important:)

 

Buffett's annual letters.  They are not investing books per se, but I started reading them in the early 1980s knowing little to nothing about investing and the rest is history.

[DooDiligence]

Pat Dorsey "The Little Book That Builds Wealth" and "The Five Rules for Successful Stock Investing"

[frommi]

Of course i read Snowball, Intelligent Investor etc. first but what really influenced me the most in how i invest at the moment were

"Benjamin Graham's Net-Net Stock Strategy: A practical guide to successful deep value investing in today's markets" from Evan Bleeker

and the blog/e-book Dividend Mantra from Jason Fieber.

They both have packed Buffett, Mungers and Grahams Wisdom into simple to read messages/books. I would not subscribe to their services, but i learned a lot by reading their stuff, even when it was just motivational.

 

[Malmqky]

1 minute ago, frommi said:

Of course i read Snowball, Intelligent Investor etc. first but what really influenced me the most in how i invest at the moment were

"Benjamin Graham's Net-Net Stock Strategy: A practical guide to successful deep value investing in today's markets" from Evan Bleeker

and the blog/e-book Dividend Mantra from Jason Fieber.

They both have packed Buffett, Mungers and Grahams Wisdom into simple to read messages/books. I would not subscribe to their services, but i learned a lot by reading their stuff, even when it was just motivational.

 

 

I remember stumbling across Net-Net Hunter years ago looking for a global ncav screener. Glad to see Evan is doing well, seemed like a decent dude. I'll have to grab his book.

[Viking]

I think establishing an investing framework that;

• you are good at
• works

is the most important thing when it comes to investing. 

 

In this regard, here are my 3 favourite books;

1.) Graham - The Intelligent Investor: Mr. Market and margin of safety

2.) Lynch - One Up on Wall Street: full of good stuff

3.) Malkiel - Random Walk Down Wall Street: for those who want the big picture (I don't agree with Malkiels conclusions)

 

Steal the stuff that works for you. And then keep reading and learning... the rest of your life

Edited August 2 by Viking

[Paarslaars]

13 hours ago, UK said:

3. The Little Book of Behavioral Investing by Montier.

 

 

Thanks for the recommendation, decided to pick it up, I can use something like this to re-read during times when everything is deep red.

[schin]

8 hours ago, frommi said:

Of course i read Snowball, Intelligent Investor etc. first but what really influenced me the most in how i invest at the moment were

"Benjamin Graham's Net-Net Stock Strategy: A practical guide to successful deep value investing in today's markets" from Evan Bleeker

and the blog/e-book Dividend Mantra from Jason Fieber.

They both have packed Buffett, Mungers and Grahams Wisdom into simple to read messages/books. I would not subscribe to their services, but i learned a lot by reading their stuff, even when it was just motivational.

 

 

@frommi - I took the leap the invested $22 in Evan's book. I better change my life. LOL

[frommi]

2 hours ago, schin said:

 

@frommi - I took the leap the invested $22 in Evan's book. I better change my life. LOL

If you really want to invest into NCAV stocks the rules from the book are worth a lot more than 22$,  so gz to the bargain.

[winjitsu]

On 8/2/2024 at 10:29 AM, schin said:

I'm assuming people would put down the classics from Ben Graham, Peter Lynch, Seth Klarman, and Joel Greenblatt.  But, I'm alway open to suggestions from this forum.

 

A long time ago, someone recommended Capital Accounts and Capital Returns by Edward Chancellor and those really opened up my eyes. Inside baseball, actually Nick Sleep wrote some of those MAM letters.

 

I like Howard Marks' first book - The Most Important Thing.

Does Capital Accounts book exist anywhere to purchase? Read Capital Returns a few months ago and it was great.

Mine:
Greenblatt You Can Be a Stock Market Genius

Greenwald Competitor Demystified 

Kahneman Thinking Fast and Thinking Slow

[Irv72]

Another big Capital Returns fan. But there are so many great investment books, especially for the Buffett-Munger-type quality investing fan (great businesses at good prices). I can't choose 3, maybe like 10.

 

I'm just reading Fabric of Success by James Emanuel. Would recommend it to any investor, because it gives many examples of what quality management is about.

 

Another impressive book recently: What I learned about investing from Darwin, by Pulak Prasad.

 

A huge favorite of mine: The Joys of Compounding, by Gautam Baid. I will probably re-read that book every year. The Education of a Value Investor by Guy Spier is not a bad read either. Neither is Richer Wiser Happier by William Green, who was the ghost author for Spier. Or Terry Smith's Investing for Growth, or Taleb's Incerto book series (the understatement of the century).

 

Margin of Safety by Seth Klarman is a classic.

 

Poor Charlie's Almanack is a must, especially since it's available for free online: https://www.stripe.press/poor-charlies-almanack/pca/cover . So are The Essays Of Warren Buffett (a must, not free), by Lawrence Cunningham.

 

Anything by Mauboussin is usually worth reading. Or by Dalio, especially the Principles.

 

Anything by Pat Dorsey, formerly of Morningstar, such as The Five Rules for Successful Stock Investing.

 

Mihaljevic, Manual of Ideas.

 

100 baggers by Christopher Mayer.

 

Valuation by McKinsey and Co (if one doesn't enjoy it, one shouldn't invest in individual stocks).

 

Why Stocks Go Up and Down, Pitch The Perfect Investment, Big Money Thinks Small, The Smart Money Method, The Battle for Investment Survival are just a few other favorites in my library.

 

Even the latest Security Analysis can be a good read, because of the included essays by great value investing luminaries.

 

Many of these are available online for free on hoopla, for many American library card owners.

 

There are some absolutely great podcasts with free transcripts at  https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/ (especially the TIP and RWH series, can donate $3/month for ad-free  Apple Podcast version),  https://www.joincolossus.com/ (needs a free user account to read the transcripts), and  https://www.acquired.fm/,  to mention some of the best.

 

There are many great value investor letters, beside Nick Sleep.

 

I'll stop here. So many smart people, so little time... I bet even Charlie still had stuff to read at 99.

Edited August 3 by Irv72

[n.r98]

I've read a huge number of investing books and don't actually think they've been really helpful overall; actually been confusing somewhat but if you're not confused then are you even trying...

Also, a lot of investment folks tend to be incredible writers - it's like a cult in the investing world - to pick stonks like a champ and write prose like Dickens so it's easy to get wrapped up in all sorts of weird philosophical ideas and misapply them.

 

The materials that have strong shelf life are:

 

1. IMO Snowball + Making of American Capitalist (2 Buffett bios) - not really teaching you about investing but you get a feel on how someone lives and breathes compounding..

2. Some J Greenblatt stuffs - u can be a stock mkt genius + maybe his lecture notes -> shows you how simple analysis work can be.

3. Trading books - love these actually - market wizards etc.

 

 

Edited August 4 by n.r98

[gfp]

All of my favorites are the biographies and autobiographies.  Basically the case study method.  Usually pretty entertaining.

[schin]

On 8/4/2024 at 11:12 AM, gfp said:

All of my favorites are the biographies and autobiographies.  Basically the case study method.  Usually pretty entertaining.

@gfp Do you listen to David Senra's Founder's podcast? He talks about a lot of biographies. So, what are your favorite autobiographies/biographies?

Edited August 11 by schin

[Saluki]

Besides all the great "usual suspects" mentioned above, here are some that are off the beaten path but very good.  

 

Street Smarts by Norm Brodsky, if you are actually running a business.  

Corporate Catalyst by Tony Griffiths (FFH Board member and turnaround specialist).

The Aggressive Conservative Investor by Marty Whitman

Market Wizards series of books by Jack Schwager, which shows you there is more than one way to skin a cat. 

[schin]

I know there has been a lot of debate about Pabrai and his performance. But, I did enjoy his two books - Mosaic and The Dhando Investor.

 

I know Mosaic is a collection of his articles... What's weird is I felt he strayed from some of the stuff he mentioned in those books. He was on a Checklist Manfesto kick... and now he's all things international....  I felt if he followed his earlier thoughts and approach, he would post better numbers. Again, people evolve I guess.

[schin]

I'm actually surprised people didn't mention some of Annie Duke's books or Morgan Housel's books.

[james22]

Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities and (especially) A Man in Full.

[schin]

14 minutes ago, james22 said:

Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities and (especially) A Man in Full.

@james22 - Is it cheating if I watch the movies? I saw "A Man in Full" movie and it was okay. It had some interesting plot twists, but as always the book is better.

 

But, speaking of books that got translated to movies, I'm surprised no Michael Lewis fans - Liar's Poker, Big Short, Blind Side, etc.

[Saluki]

42 minutes ago, schin said:

@james22 - Is it cheating if I watch the movies? I saw "A Man in Full" movie and it was okay. It had some interesting plot twists, but as always the book is better.

 

But, speaking of books that got translated to movies, I'm surprised no Michael Lewis fans - Liar's Poker, Big Short, Blind Side, etc.

 

For some of the longer fiction books, audiobooks are great. Save your eyes for accounting books.  

 

The books usually have more character development and things that don't make the cut in the movie.  One of my favorite scenes from Bonfire, which isn't in the movie, is when his kid asks what he does at work.  His shrew wife condescendingly says words to the effect of "do you remember when we cut the big cake at your birthday party?  Well Daddy cuts other people's cakes for them, and they let him keep the crumbs." And he thinks to himself, "yes, and those crumbs are made of gold."  

[james22]

1 hour ago, schin said:

@james22 - Is it cheating if I watch the movies? I saw "A Man in Full" movie and it was okay. It had some interesting plot twists, but as always the book is better.

 

The Bonfire of the Vanities was pretty well translated (the shortcomings of wealth), Netflix's A Man in Full entirely missed the point (what makes a good life/what is the measure of a man). 

 

Read the book, you'll not regret it.

[CorpRaider]

Essays of Buffett is #1 for me.

[Munger_Disciple]

15 minutes ago, CorpRaider said:

Essays of Buffett is #1 for me.

 

It is way better to read Buffett's original letters than Cunningham's book IMO. I really don't understand the fuss about this book. For me, Buffett's letters are #1. 

Edited August 14 by Munger_Disciple

[CorpRaider]

Too much space and repetition for 98% of humans to get through it.  He makes it thematic so the mental latticework and retention is better, plus ain't nobody got time to read all that.

 

I really like John D' Rockefeller's letters to his son, but that's probably a lot of recency bias.  But that was a smart mfer though.

Edited August 14 by CorpRaider