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Margin of Safety - Seth Klarman


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[amazonsearch]Margin of Safety - Seth Klarman[/amazonsearch]

 

Klarman has written one of the most coveted books on value investing , Margin of Safety. The book is out of print, is one of the most stolen books from libraries, and sells for thousands of dollars online . At the recent CFA Institute Annual Conference , Klarman stated which books he recommends investors read.

 

Below is the list:

 

Benjamin Graham’s The Intelligent Investor: This is not surprising, as the Intelligent Investor is literally the bible of value investing

 

Joel Greenblatt’s You Can Be a Stock Market Genius: Uncover the Secret Hiding Places of Stock Market Profits: Greenblatt’s book explains how best to invest such as spin-offs, mergers, risk arbitrage, etc There are a lot of similiarities between Greenblatt’s book and Klarman’s Margin of Safety.

 

Martin Whitman’s The Aggressive Conservative Investor : Martin Whitman is one of the greatest thinkers, and Value investors of our time. In a very brief conversation I had with Walter J. Schloss, Schloss highly recommended Whitman, need I say more? Whitman is chairman of Third Avenue Funds, a value fund with a great long term track record.. The book contains a lot of value concepts, and practical applications that are vital for a value investor to be familiar with.

 

James Grant is the author of The Interest Rate Observer. You can add James Grant to the list of people who predicted the housing bubble. Grant was a huge critic of Greenspan’s low interest rate policy, which Grant believes caused the bubble. Klarman has recommended any book by James Grant. Below are a list of books authored by Grant:

 

Mr. Market Miscalculates: The Bubble Years and Beyond

 

Money of the Mind

 

Minding Mister Market:: Ten Years on Wall Street with Grant’s Interest Rate Observer

 

John Adams: Party of One

 

The Trouble With Prosperity: The Loss of Fear, the Rise of Speculation, and the Risk to American Savings

 

The Trouble With Prosperity: A Contrarian’s Tale of Boom, Bust, and Speculation

 

Bernard M. Baruch: The Adventures of a Wall Street Legend (Trailblazers, Rediscovering the Pioneers of Business)

 

Klarman has recommended any book by Roger Lowenstein. This list would include:

 

Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist: One of the best books about Warren Buffett.

 

While America Aged: A great book about the big, and increasing problems of unfunded pension funds in private companies, and the public sector.

 

When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management: This bestseller is the tale of the collapse of Long Term Capital Management (LTCM) in 1998. The Hedge fund management team consisted of some of the greatest minds of our time.

 

The End of Wall Street: Lowenstein’s tale of the financial crisis.

 

Origins of the Crash: The Great Bubble and Its Undoing: Lowenstein’s tale of the tech bubble, and the collapse of Enron, and Worldcom.

 

Klarman recommends any book by Michael Lewis, this list includes:

 

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Liar’s Poker, and The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. All these books were bestsellers when they were released, and are still quite popular many years after their release. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine is Lewis’s most recent book which discusses several, obscure individuals who shorted the housing market before its crash.

 

Too Big to Fail: This phenomenal book by Andrew Ross Sorkin about the financial crisis was the #1 best seller for many weeks in a row.

 

Also check out Jamie Dimon’s recommended reading list.

 

 

Jamie Dimon’s recommended reading list and Warren Buffett’s recommended reading list

Other Articles That May Be of Interest

 

    Whitney Tilson Webpage Update

    Warren Buffett’s Recommended Reading List

    Dan Loeb’s Recommended Reading List

    Klarman Tops Griffin as Investors Hunt for ‘Margin of Safety’

    The Clash of The Titians: Martin Whitman versus Bruce Greenwald

 

http://www.valuewalk.com/articles-about-gurus/seth-klarmans-book-recomendations/

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Margin of Safety is impossible to find in physical form unless you want to pay a few thousand bucks, but I found a PDF pretty easily online. I'm halfway through, but it's great.

 

care to share what your google search was?

 

How about the obvious one "Margin of Safety pdf", I googled it and the first two hits had links to the book in a pdf format.  Did you try searching at all?

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Margin of Safety is impossible to find in physical form unless you want to pay a few thousand bucks, but I found a PDF pretty easily online. I'm halfway through, but it's great.

 

care to share what your google search was?

 

How about the obvious one "Margin of Safety pdf", I googled it and the first two hits had links to the book in a pdf format.  Did you try searching at all?

 

LOL

 

Margin of safety is easily the best value investing book inmo. This and Pabrais book.

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Margin of Safety is impossible to find in physical form unless you want to pay a few thousand bucks, but I found a PDF pretty easily online. I'm halfway through, but it's great.

 

care to share what your google search was?

 

How about the obvious one "Margin of Safety pdf", I googled it and the first two hits had links to the book in a pdf format.  Did you try searching at all?

 

Clearly, I didn't. Plus, I'm not one to open up any PDF that google turns up, which is why I was asking.... but thank you for stating the obvious.

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About a year and a half ago I bought MOS off EBAY for 500 bucks, read it, and resold it on Amazon for 750 dollars a couple months later. Looking at the current prices I should have held on to it. But if someone really wants to read the physical book, with a little effort this trading method should work and not cost you a dime in the long run.

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About a year and a half ago I bought MOS off EBAY for 500 bucks, read it, and resold it on Amazon for 750 dollars a couple months later. Looking at the current prices I should have held on to it. But if someone really wants to read the physical book, with a little effort this trading method should work and not cost you a dime in the long run.

 

Maybe someone should try cornering the MoS market to make prices spike ;)

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Thousands? Damn. I only got $1300 for mine!

 

Last I checked on Amazon it was around 2.3k

 

  I had two books and sold one about six months ago. Sold it to a Canadian fellow on ebay for about $750.00. The asking prices were higher but at the time no one was paying them.

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Thousands? Damn. I only got $1300 for mine!

 

Last I checked on Amazon it was around 2.3k

 

  I had two books and sold one about six months ago. Sold it to a Canadian fellow on ebay for about $750.00. The asking prices were higher but at the time no one was paying them.

 

It's about $800 now on amazon

 

http://www.amazon.com/Margin-Safety-Risk-Averse-Strategies-Thoughtful/dp/0887305105/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314930445&sr=8-1

 

There is a signed version for about $2,500.

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

 

Regarding Margin of Safety, it's the third book I've read after starting to learn about investing. It didn't seem to be anything special at all, the content was pretty much already included in Security Analysis.  What am I missing?

 

Regarding "you can be a stock market genius",  I have the first version, is there a big difference compared to the second version, worth enough to acquire?

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Regarding Margin of Safety, it's the third book I've read after starting to learn about investing. It didn't seem to be anything special at all, the content was pretty much already included in Security Analysis.  What am I missing?

 

Regarding "you can be a stock market genius",  I have the first version, is there a big difference compared to the second version, worth enough to acquire?

 

I havent read Security Analysis but have thumbed through it. INMO which isnt worth much considering the first sentence MOS is a much easier read. Also MOS reads extremely well after 1-2 years of investing you go back and are like wow that makes perfect sense. I think the Dhando Investor is one of the better books to read regarding starting in investing.

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Regarding Margin of Safety, it's the third book I've read after starting to learn about investing. It didn't seem to be anything special at all, the content was pretty much already included in Security Analysis.  What am I missing?

 

Regarding "you can be a stock market genius",  I have the first version, is there a big difference compared to the second version, worth enough to acquire?

 

I havent read Security Analysis but have thumbed through it. INMO which isnt worth much considering the first sentence MOS is a much easier read. Also MOS reads extremely well after 1-2 years of investing you go back and are like wow that makes perfect sense. I think the Dhando Investor is one of the better books to read regarding starting in investing.

 

Indeed, SA was very hard to read (as was the second time reading it) , its words "wet" with humor and emotion like a dry stone in a desert, yet it does seem to contain so many hidden gems it's absolutely worth the effort.

 

The two major ideas I got from it are: 1. MOS 2. Not to mistake qualitative for quantitative.

 

Will look up the Dhando Investor, thanks.

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Indeed, SA was very hard to read (as was the second time reading it) , its words "wet" with humor and emotion like a dry stone in a desert, yet it does seem to contain so many hidden gems it's absolutely worth the effort.

 

The two major ideas I got from it are: 1. MOS 2. Not to mistake qualitative for quantitative.

 

Will look up the Dhando Investor, thanks.

 

No prob, and LOL.

 

Also I have moved to qualitative. I find its more useful then endless quantitative analysis. As Buffett said you know value when you see and dont need to know the exact weight to know if someone is fat.

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