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Charles Mackay’s book was first published in 1941

Friday Finance: Books Worth Reading for Your Life as an Investor

Lessons in Personal Finance & Investment

Below is a starting point for every interested prospector to read about the science and art of investing. Pick one of the following books and read a chapter that sounds interesting to you, or listen to the audiobook version. I encourage you to find investment patterns captured and chronicled by these authors. Underline or write down both positive and negative insights into the market. Reflect on the lessons from passages in the book; then pick up another one, and another. Keep going. While these books are listed in no particular order, there are some juicy ones sprinkled throughout. Enjoy! And start investing in the brilliant ideas out there.

  • Mackay, Charles. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. Richard Bentley, 1841.
  • Fisher, Irving. The Money Illusion. Adelphi Company, 1928.
  • Bogle, John C. Common Sense on Mutual Funds: New Imperatives for the Intelligent Investor. Wiley, 1999.
  • Bogle, John C. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns. John Wiley & Sons, 2007.
  • Bogle, John C. Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life. John Wiley & Sons, 2008.
  • Graham, Benjamin, and David Dodd. Security Analysis. McGraw-Hill, 1934.
  • Graham, Benjamin. The Intelligent Investor. Harper & Row, 1949.
Graham’s definitive book with preface by Warren Buffett
  • Goodman (as “Adam Smith”), George. The Money Game. W. W. Norton, 1968.
  • Taleb, Nassim Nicholas. The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. Random House, 2007.
  • Taleb, Nassim Nicholas. Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Markets and in Life. Texere, 2001.
  • Lewis, Michael. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. W. W. Norton & Company, 2003.
  • Lewis, Michael. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. W. W. Norton & Company, 2010.
  • Malkiel, Burton G. A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing. W. W. Norton & Company, 1973.
Bert Malkiel’s story of investing hazards
  • Ellis, Charles D. Winning the Loser’s Game: Timeless Strategies for Successful Investing. McGraw-Hill, 1975.
  • Lynch, Peter. One Up on Wall Street: How to Use What You Already Know to Make Money in the Market. Simon & Schuster, 1989.
  • Shiller, Robert J. Irrational Exuberance. Princeton University Press, 2000.
  • Fisher, Philip A. Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits. Wiley, 1958.
  • Lowenstein, Roger. When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management. Random House, 2000.
  • McLean, Bethany, and Peter Elkind. The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron. Portfolio, 2003.
  • Siegel, Jeremy J. Stocks for the Long Run: The Definitive Guide to Financial Market Returns and Long-Term Investment Strategies. McGraw-Hill, 1994.
  • Hagin, Robert L. The Dow Jones-Irwin Guide to Modern Portfolio Theory. Dow Jones-Irwin, 1975.
  • Turner, John D., and William Quinn. Boom and Bust: A Global History of Financial Bubbles. Cambridge University Press, 2020.
  • Sorkin, Andrew Ross. Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System — and Themselves. Viking, 2009.
  • Galbraith, John Kenneth. A Short History of Financial Euphoria. Penguin Books, 1990.
  • Hill, Napoleon. Think and Grow Rich. The Ralston Society, 1937.
Hill’s remarkably simple story of wealth creation
  • Dimson, Elroy, Mike Staunton, and Paul Marsh. Triumph of the Optimists: 101 Years of Global Investment Returns. Princeton University Press, 2002.
  • Burrough, Bryan, and John Helyar. Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco. Harper & Row, 1990.
  • Minsky, Hyman P. Stabilizing an Unstable Economy. Yale University Press, 1986.
  • Graeber, David. Debt: The First 5,000 Years. Melville House, 2011.
  • Kindleberger, Charles P. Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises. Palgrave Macmillan, 1978.
  • Ree, Simon. The Tao of Trading: How to Build Abundant Wealth in Any Market Condition. Independently Published, 2023.
  • Freeman Publications. The AI Stock Investor: A Beginner’s Guide to Profiting from the AI Revolution. Freeman Publications, 2023.
  • Clason, George. The Richest Man in Babylon. Readers Library Classics, 1926.
  • Thorp, Edward. A Man for All Markets. Random House, 2017.
  • Spitznagel, Mark. Safe Haven: Investing for Financial Storms. Wiley, 2021.
  • Mandelbrot, Benoit and Richard Hudson. The Misbehavior of Markets. Basic Books, 2006.
  • Munger, Charles T. Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger. Donning Company Publishers, 2005.
  • Buffett, Warren and Lawrence Cunningham, The Essays of Warren Buffett. The Cunningham Group & Carolina Academic Press, 2015.
  • Hagstrom, Robert G. The Warren Buffett Way. Wiley, 1994.
Hagstrom’s version of Buffett’s strategies
  • Napier, Russell. Anatomy of a Bear: Lessons from Wall Street’s Four Great Bottoms. Wiley, 2005.
  • Napier, Russell. The Asian Financial Crisis 1995-98: Birth of the Age of Debt. John Wiley & Sons, 1999.
  • Ahamed, Liaquat. Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World. Penguin Press, 2009.
  • Schwager, Jack D. Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders. HarperBusiness, 1989.
  • Lefèvre, Edwin. Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. George H. Doran Company, 1923.
  • Swensen, David F. Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment. Free Press, 2000.
  • Swensen, David F. Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment. Free Press, 2005.
  • Chancellor, Edward. Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999.
Chancellor’s version of dangerous market speculation
  • Reinhoff, Carmen, Kenneth Rogoff. This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly. Princeton University Press, 2009.
  • Spivey, Norm. Collect Rent, Don’t Pay It!: A Beginner’s Guide to Rental Property Investing. Norman D. Spivey, 2022.
  • Noonan, Troy. Day Trading QuickStart Guide: The Simplified Beginner’s Guide to Winning Trade Plans, Conquering the Markets & Becoming a Successful Day Trader. Clydebank Media, LLC, 2020.
  • Turner, Lan H. The Fibonacci Effect: The 5 Rules of Highly Successful Traders. Independently Published, 2023.
  • Hale, Brian. The Only Technical Analysis Book You Will Ever Need: A Must-Have Charting Manual for Traders and Investors. Independently Published, 2023.
  • Smithers, Andrew. The Economics of the Stock Market. Oxford University Press, 2022.
  • Aloi, Michael. My Secrets to Succeed in the Stock Market. Independently Published, 2023.
  • Haynes, Dominic. A Brief History of Central Banking: How the Quest for Financial Stability Led to Unconventional Monetary Practices. Independently Published, 2023.
  • Nations, Scott, Christopher Grove et al. A History of the United States in Five Crashes: Stock Market Meltdowns That Defined a Nation. William Morrow, 2017.
  • Smith, Mark. A History of the Global Stock Market: From Ancient Rome to Silicon Valley. Kogan Page, 2016.
  • Fridson, Martin S. It Was a Very Good Year: Extraordinary Moments in Stock Market History. FT Press, 2015.
  • Sobel, Robert. The Big Board: A History of the New York Stock Market. Beard Books (reprint), 2000.
  • Kiyosaki, Robert T. Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! Plata Publishing, 1997.
Kiyosaki’s story of “What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!”
  • Bernstein, Peter L. Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk. John Wiley & Sons, 1996.
  • Klarman, Seth A. Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor. HarperCollins, 1991.
  • Stanley, Thomas J., and William D. Danko. The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy. Longstreet Press, 1996.
  • Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.
  • Housel, Morgan. The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness. Harriman House, 2020.
  • Greenblatt, Joel. The Little Book That Beats the Market. John Wiley & Sons, 2005.
  • Bernstein, William J. The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio. McGraw-Hill, 2002.
  • Thaler, Richard H. Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics. W.W. Norton & Company, 2015.
  • Dalio, Ray. Principles: Life and Work. Simon & Schuster, 2017.
  • Collins, J.L. The Simple Path to Wealth: Your Road Map to Financial Independence and a Rich, Free Life. J.L. Collins, LLC, 2016.
  • Damodaran, Aswath. Investment Valuation: Tools and Techniques for Determining the Value of Any Asset. John Wiley & Sons, 1996.
  • Zweig, Jason. Your Money and Your Brain: How the New Science of Neuroeconomics Can Help Make You Rich. Simon & Schuster, 2007.
Zweig is a brilliant writer on finances for the Wall Street Journal