What books do you periodically re-read?

[netnet]

What book or books do you periodically re-read.

 

According to Farnam Street Blog, Jobs read the Autobiography of a Yogi a number of times.

 

I have re-read Carnegie's How to Win Friends, Peter Bevelin's Seeking Wisdom, and Think Twice recently.  And plan to re-read Intelligent Investor over the holidays.

 

 

[Uccmal]

Penthouse Letters & 101 Nights of Amazing Sex

 

uhh sorry: Buffett - Making of an American Capitalist - so many times I dont need to anymore

[rkbabang]

Interesting topic.  I do a lot of reading (maybe 20-30 books/year), yet there are only a few books I've read more than once.  Some of these include (for various reasons and in no particular order):

 

"How to Win Friends and Influence People", by Dale Carnegie  (A duplicate from you're multi-read list)

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values", by Robert M. Pirsig

"Civil Disobedience", "Life Without Principle", and "Waldon",  all by Henry David Thoreau

"Atlas Shrugged" and "Anthem", by Ayn Rand

"For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto", by Murray N. Rothbard

"The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to a Radical Capitalism", by David Friedman

"The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" and "Stranger in a Strange Land", both by Robert A. Heinlein

"The Illuminatus! Trilogy", by Robert Anton Wilson

"Pallas", "Tom Paine Maru", and "The Probability Broach", all by L. Neil Smith

"Cryptonomicon", "The Diamond Age", and "Anathem", all by Neal Stephenson

"The Law" by Frederic Bastiat

"No Treason, by Lysander Spooner

 

That list may not be complete, but it is all that I can think of right now.  It ended up being a longer list than I first though when starting to type this reply.

 

 

[Santayana]

I've read The Intelligent Investor annually since being introduced to it 4 years ago.

Others include --

 

Most of Malcolm Gladwell's books

Crime and Punishment

Godel, Escher, Bach

A bunch from rkbabang's list -- Zen and the Art, both Heinlein books, Walden, Cryptonomicon,..

Currently re-reading White Noise by Don DeLillo.

[Aberhound]

My Dad told me that the best thing about getting old was that when he re-read his old favourites he couldn't remember what happenned anymore but he could remember and re-experience the joy of reading them. I guess the memories of the emotion last longer. We had both enjoyed the Hornblower and P. G. Wodehouse series and I had been surprised to see him re-reading many of them.

 

Consequently I put away boxes filled with books I enjoy for the that time of life which is now more appealing to me.

 

Thanks Dad!

[ERICOPOLY]

I typically read three books a night.  Olga The Brolga, The Knight And The Dragon, Go! Dogs! Go!, a rotation of about 40 books.  I guess I read them each at least a dozen times. 

 

 

[roundball100]

I typically read three books a night.  Olga The Brolga, The Knight And The Dragon, Go! Dogs! Go!, a rotation of about 40 books.  I guess I read them each at least a dozen times.

Go Dog! Go! is for similar reasons on my list, and by chance was on my parents' list also quite a few years ago.  I have learned much (though, unrelated to investing) by frequently re-reading The Cat in the Hat.  OTOH I find there is too much repetition in Green Eggs and Ham - sadly, though, no worse than in Malcolm G's books.

[twacowfca]

The Bible.  Enjoy alternating between the rich King James version and very easy to understand Readers version.  Also Shakespear.  Somehow I missed reading The Tempest before.  It's one of his very best works.  Like to reread all the great children's  books, especially George McDonald, and his adult books.  Recently, reread The Back of the North Wind.  My wife's a bibliophile, and we often read aloud to each other for our enjoyment.  :)

 

And, of course, all the great investing books, many times, especially those on Buffett.  Recently reread Fortunes Formula, slowly,  to appreciate all the implied nuances.  :)

 

I dog ear and annotate  all the significant books I read in their margins; so when I review the less important works, it only takes a few moments to check a fact or reflect on what's important.  :)

[Kraven]

I typically read three books a night.  Olga The Brolga, The Knight And The Dragon, Go! Dogs! Go!, a rotation of about 40 books.  I guess I read them each at least a dozen times.

Go Dog! Go! is for similar reasons on my list, and by chance was on my parents' list also quite a few years ago.  I have learned much (though, unrelated to investing) by frequently re-reading The Cat in the Hat.  OTOH I find there is too much repetition in Green Eggs and Ham - sadly, though, no worse than in Malcolm G's books.

 

There is also Goodnight Moon, Horton Hears a Who and Time for Bed, Elmo.  And who can forget the wonderful I Love You Stinky Face.

[rkbabang]

LOL, I forgot those types of books.  My kids are 10 and 11 now and read their own books by themselves, but yeah, back a few years ago there are books I read to them dozens of times (if not more).  "I Love You Stinky Face" was one of them.  Along with "Knuffle Bunny" and "What Color Is Your Underwear?", The Giving Tree, Are You My Mother?,  Plus a ton of Sesame Street books, Caillou books, Grimms' Fairy Tales, and, of course, all of the Dr. Suess books.  I used to be able to recite the entire "Green eggs and ham" from memory.

 

 

[augustabound]

There is also Goodnight Moon, Horton Hears a Who and Time for Bed, Elmo.  And who can forget the wonderful I Love You Stinky Face.

 

Who can forget the classic,

as narrated by Samuel L. Jackson.  :D

 

 

 

[oddballstocks]

Ahhh, yes children's books, there are some books I probably read to my son a dozen times in the same day but somehow he still loves them.

 

I've read the Bible multiple times, gone through Security Analysis twice, re-read parts of the Intelligent Investor multiple times as well as You Can Be A Stock Market Genius. 

 

I'm not big on wholesale re-reading books, usually I'll re-read a few chapters at a time. 

[Liberty]

I read maybe 4-6 books a month, and there's still way too many that I haven't read yet to re-read much...

 

But there are many that I know I'll re-ead someday. The first that comes to mind is 'Godël, Escher, Bach' by Douglas R.  Hofstadter. I highly recommend it.

[DCG]

 

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values", by Robert M. Pirsig

 

I've put off reading this forever it seems (probably because the size of it and I always find other books that sound more interesting), but everyone who reads it seems to recommend it. Is it really a must read type of book?

[PlanMaestro]

 

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values", by Robert M. Pirsig

 

I've put off reading this forever it seems (probably because the size of it and I always find other books that sound more interesting), but everyone who reads it seems to recommend it. Is it really a must read type of book?

 

It is a bit of everything but specially a long novel (not a very good one though). But I tend to recommend it to people so that they realize the power of structured  thinking (do you think in trees?) and technology but also on its limits. I imagine it had a big impact in the 70s and I would not be surprised that is the type of book that Steve Jobs liked to read.

 

 

[rkbabang]

 

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values", by Robert M. Pirsig

 

I've put off reading this forever it seems (probably because the size of it and I always find other books that sound more interesting), but everyone who reads it seems to recommend it. Is it really a must read type of book?

 

It is a bit of everything but specially a long novel (not a very good one though). But I tend to recommend it to people so that they realize the power of structured  thinking (do you think in trees?) and technology but also on its limits. I imagine it had a big impact in the 70s and I would not be surprised that is the type of book that Steve Jobs liked to read.

 

I think it is a pretty good novel.  I was assigned it in high-school in the late 80's, I think it was the only book I was ever told I had to read that I really loved.  I think a lot like the main character in the novel (yes he was insane, but that's besides the point).  It's probably the engineer in me.  Anyone who really loves to read books by Neal Stephenson, Corey Doctorow, etc, will love that book.  And conversely, if you loved Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, try reading something by Stephenson.

 

--Eric

 

 

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