What business books do you like? Here are some that I like:

[Guest hpmst3]

e

[Baoxiaodao]

I figured that I would throw these out there.  I specifically have not mentioned books that Buffett and Munger have mentioned, because I figured that most here have already heard of those.  I am interested in hearing what business books people here have read and liked. 

 

I like going to Amazon's section of:

 

‹ Books

‹ Business & Investing

Biography & History

Captains of Industry (3,400)

Company Profiles (8,548)

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Built from scratch : how a couple of regular guys grew the Home Depot from nothing to $30 billion / Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank with Bob Andelman.

 

The king of oil : the secret lives of Marc Rich / Daniel Ammann.

 

Riches among the ruins : adventures in the dark corners of the global economy / Robert P. Smith ; with Peter Zheutlin.

 

All the rave : the rise and fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster / Joseph Menn.

 

Amazonia / James Marcus.

 

1,000 dollars and an idea : entrepreneur to billionaire / Sam Wyly.

 

Behind the cloud : the untold story of how Salesforce.com went from idea to billion-dollar company--and revolutionized an industry / Marc R. Benioff, Carlye Adler.

 

Alibaba : the inside story behind Jack Ma and the creation of the world's biggest online marketplace / Liu Shiying and Martha Avery.

 

Chocolate fortunes : the battle for the hearts, minds, and wallets of China's consumers / Lawrence L. Allen ; foreword by Ángel Cabrera.

 

Dave's way : a new approach to old-fashioned success / R. David Thomas.

 

Pour your heart into it : how Starbucks built a company one cup at a time / Howard Schultz and Dori Jones Yang.

 

The Wal-Mart way : the inside story of the success of the world's largest company / Don Soderquist.

 

You Bet: The Betfair Story Colin Cameron

 

The PayPal wars : battles with eBay, the media, the mafia, and the rest of planet Earth / Jackson, Eric M.

 

Bets, drugs, and rock & roll : the rise and fall of the world's first offshore sports gambling empire / Budin, Steve.

 

In$ide Intuit : how the makers of Quicken beat Microsoft and revolutionized an entire industry / Taylor, Suzanne E.

 

Chasing the same signals : how black-box trading influences stock markets from Wall Street to Shanghai / Brown, Brian R.

 

Taco titan : the Glen Bell story / Baldwin, Debra Lee, 1952-

 

Godfather of the Kremlin: The Decline of Russia in the Age of Gangster Capitalism [Paperback]

Paul Klebnikov

 

Done Deals: Venture Capitalists Tell Their Stories [Hardcover]

Udayan Gupta

 

eBoys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work/ Stross, R

 

Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days (Recipes: a Problem-Solution Ap) [Paperback]

Jessica Livingston

 

The Perfect Store: Inside eBay by Adam Cohen

 

How I Became a Quant: Insights from 25 of Wall Street's Elite by Richard R. Lindsey and Barry Schachter

 

Fidelity's World: The Secret Life and Public Power of the Mutual Fund Giant/ Henriques

 

The White Sharks of Wall Street: Thomas Mellon Evans and the Original Corporate Raiders / Henriques

 

Direct from Dell: Strategies that Revolutionized... by Michael Dell

 

Metal Men: How Marc Rich Defrauded the Country, Evaded the Law, and Became the World's Most Sought-After Corporate Criminal by A. Craig Copetas

 

The First Billion Is the Hardest: Reflections on a Life of Comebacks and America's Energy Future [Paperback] T. Boone Pickens (Author)

 

Grinding It Out: The Making Of McDonald's by Ray Kroc

 

Boone by T. Boone Pickens Jr.

 

King Icahn: The Biography of a Renegade Capitalist by Mark Stevens

 

Den of Thieves by James B. Stewart

 

The Predators' Ball: The Inside Story of Drexel... by Connie Bruck

 

No Bull: My Life In and Out of Markets by Michael Steinhardt

 

Cable Cowboy: John Malone and the Rise of the… (Paperback)

by Mark Robichaux

 

The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars... by Joël Glenn Brenner

 

Inventing Money: The Story of Long-Term Capital Management and the Legends Behind It by Nicholas Dunbar

 

The Billionaire Who Wasn't: How Chuck Feeney Made and Gave Away a Fortune Without Anyone Knowing - Hardcover (Sept. 25, 2007) by Conor O'Clery

 

Soros: The Life, Ideas, and Impact of the World... by Robert Slater

 

Julian Robertson: A Tiger in the Land of Bulls and Bears by Daniel A. Strachman

 

Running Money by Kessler

 

Murdoch (Paperback)

by William Shawcross

 

Carnegie (Paperback)

by Peter Krass

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Thanks,

 

Hugh

 

One of the best posts here. Thank you !

[mranski]

The Investment Zoo, I thought was excellent.

[netnet]

Pardon the ignorance of non-Canadian, but I don't know anything about the business career of Paul Desmarais and a quick search and his Wikipedia article were not very informative. Apparently someone on the board, Hugh, was quite interested. What is a thumb nail version of his career?  Obviously he is extremely well connected, but that is no reason to read a biography of the guy.

[alpha231616967560]

I am currently reading Moneyball by Michael Lewis (author of The Big Short). I am reading it because Seth Klarman described it as being "about value investing". It is about value investing, but from the perspective of the Oakland A's finding "value assets" for their team. It is fairly hilarious, and fairly instructive as a mental model (but don't expect to read about Warren Buffett or a DCF model in it haha). I've never really been much of a baseball fan, but this book compels my attention for certain.

 

 

[DCG]

I just finished reading 'Delivering Happiness' by Tony Hsieh (CEO of Zappos). I read a lot of business and investing books, and this is honestly one of the best business books I've ever read, and I highly recommend it.

 

The book is sort of a combination of Tony's life (mostly business-realted parts of his life), the history and focus of Zappos, and his overall thoughts and recommendations for businesses. I didn't know a ton about Zappos before reading this, but now I'm pretty blown away by them (and see why Amazon wanted them)(and actually even just ordered a new pair of shoes from them). I don't want to give away too much of the book, but Tony has some great stories, is a great writer, sounds like a pretty brilliant CEO/entrepreneur.

 

Outstanding book.

 

-Dustin

[elltel]

This is a fantastic book about Li's rise from making plastic flowers (sold to the West) to multi-billionaire and owning one of the Hongs, power supplies in the West and property around the world.

 

Li Ka-Shing: Hong Kong's Elusive Billionaire

 

Elltel

[manualofideas]

Ted Turner: Call Me Ted (great audiobook version narrated by Ted Turner himself)

[Guest Bronco]

I like "Building the Next Berkshire Hathaway" because I wrote it.  Myth, I will still get you a copy, just need to get to the post office

 

Here is what I am proud of:

 

1) page 12 - wrote that where BRK is headed "expanding its railroad investments".  I think that played out.

2) wrote about Apple at $90 and why it was a super investment

3) wrote about the pain with some share buybacks in advance of Michael Milkens oped in the WSJ

 

Its a short book but not a John Grisham thriller if you get what I am saying.  People either get it or they don't (simply disagree).

 

Its interesting how this relates to another post - there really isn't another company that emulates BRK, which is surprising.  There are some that are close, but no one has taken 100% of the Buffett philosophy from a corporate standpoint (remember, Buffett is a CEO and no longer a hedge fund manager investor).

 

 

[maxprogram]

Ted Turner: Call Me Ted (great audiobook version narrated by Ted Turner himself)

 

+1