A collection of books I’ve read (or want to read) on investing, personal finance, and building wealth over the long term, from market fundamentals to behavioural psychology and everything in between. This list grows as I do, so check back for new additions.
The Intelligent Investor, Benjamin Graham
A foundational text on value investing that teaches how to analyze stocks based on their underlying business fundamentals rather than market speculation. It introduces core concepts like “Mr. Market” and the “margin of safety” that remain central to disciplined, long-term investing today
Security Analysis, Benjamin Graham and David Dodd
A rigorous, technical guide to evaluating stocks and bonds by digging into financial statements and company fundamentals rather than market trends. It’s considered the academic bible of value investing and the more detailed, professional companion to The Intelligent Investor
Annual Berkshire Hathaway Letters, Warren Buffet
A decades-long collection of candid, plainspoken letters where Buffett explains his investment philosophy, business decisions, and views on markets each year. They’re widely read as a masterclass in value investing and capital allocation
Poor Charlie’s Almanack, Peter Kaufman
A collection of speeches, talks, and wisdom from Warren Buffett’s longtime business partner, covering multidisciplinary thinking, mental models, and rational decision-making. It blends investing insight with broader life philosophy on how to think clearly and avoid common cognitive errors
Charlie Munger – The Complete Investor, Tren Griffin
A concise breakdown of Munger’s investment approach, distilling his ideas on mental models, business quality, and long-term thinking into an accessible format. It serves as a more structured, easy-to-digest companion to the denser Poor Charlie’s Almanack
Common stocks and uncommon profits, Philip Fisher
A classic on growth investing that outlines Fisher’s “scuttlebutt” method of researching companies through qualitative research, management quality, and industry position rather than just numbers. It heavily influenced Warren Buffett’s shift toward buying great businesses at fair prices, not just cheap ones
Buffet and Munger Unscripted, Alex Morris
A curated collection of candid remarks and insights from Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger drawn from decades of Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meetings, organized by theme. It offers an accessible way to absorb their unscripted, off-the-cuff wisdom on investing and business without sitting through every annual meeting
The Warren Buffet Way, Robert G Hagstrom
An accessible breakdown of Buffett’s investment strategy, tracing how he evolved from Graham’s strict value approach to buying high-quality businesses at reasonable prices. It uses real case studies of Buffett’s actual investments to illustrate his principles in action
Buffet – the making of an American capitalist, Roger Lowenstein
A comprehensive biography tracing Warren Buffett’s life from childhood entrepreneurial ventures to becoming one of the world’s most successful investors. It offers deep insight into both his personal character and the evolution of his investment philosophy over time
The most important thing, Howard Marks
A distillation of Marks’s investment memos into core principles on risk, market cycles, and second-level thinking that separates great investors from average ones. It emphasizes understanding what you don’t know and maintaining discipline through market extremes rather than chasing formulas
Mastering the market cycle, Howard Marks
A deep dive into how economic, credit, and investor psychology cycles repeat over time, and how recognizing where you stand in a cycle can inform better investment decisions. Marks argues that while you can’t predict cycles precisely, understanding their patterns helps you gauge risk and opportunity
One up on wall street, Peter Lynch
A practical, approachable guide arguing that everyday investors can outperform professionals by using their own knowledge and observations to spot promising companies before Wall Street catches on. Lynch shares his stock-picking framework, including his famous categories of stock types and the idea of investing in what you know
Beating the street, Peter Lynch
A follow-up to One Up On Wall Street where Lynch walks through his actual stock-picking process, including a detailed case study of how he selected stocks for a hypothetical portfolio. It reinforces his philosophy of thorough research and investing in understandable businesses, with real examples from his time managing the Magellan Fund
The little book that beats the market, Joel
Greenblatt
A short, simple guide introducing the “Magic Formula,” a systematic method for picking good companies at cheap prices using just two metrics: return on capital and earnings yield. It’s written to be approachable even for readers with no financial background, using plain language and analogies
The richest man in babylon, George S Clason
A collection of parables set in ancient Babylon that teach timeless personal finance principles like saving a portion of your income, investing wisely, and avoiding debt. It’s less about stock picking and more about foundational money habits and financial discipline
Shoe Dog, Phil Knight
Not an investing book, but a candid memoir by the founder of Nike detailing the chaotic, high-risk early years of building the company from a small shoe-import business into a global brand. It’s an entrepreneurial story about grit, uncertainty, and the personal toll of building something from nothing
When Genius Failed, Roger Lowenstein
A gripping account of the rise and dramatic collapse of Long-Term Capital Management, a hedge fund run by Nobel laureates that nearly broke the financial system. It’s a cautionary tale about hubris, leverage, and the limits of mathematical models in markets
Fooled by randomness, Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Not a traditional investing book, but a philosophical exploration of how humans mistake luck for skill, especially in markets and life. Taleb challenges readers to recognize randomness’s role in outcomes and be humble about what looks like success or expertise
Interpretation of financial statements, Benjamin Graham and Spencer Meredith
A short, practical primer on reading and understanding balance sheets and income statements to evaluate a company’s financial health. It’s a more beginner-friendly, condensed companion to Graham’s denser works like Security Analysis
What I learned about investing from Darwin, Pulak Prasad
Draws parallels between evolutionary principles and successful long-term investing, arguing that avoiding mistakes matters more than seeking brilliant picks. Prasad outlines a disciplined framework for identifying durable, high-quality businesses built to survive and compound over decades
Investing – The last liberal art, Robert G Hagstrom
Argues that great investing draws on multiple disciplines like physics, biology, psychology, and philosophy rather than finance alone, encouraging a broader mental toolkit. It’s built around the idea of latticework thinking, connecting ideas across fields to better understand markets and decision-making
Margin of Safety, Seth Klarman
A detailed guide to value investing and risk avoidance, emphasizing the importance of buying with a cushion against error and prioritizing capital preservation over chasing returns. The book is long out of print and famously expensive on the used market, making it something of a cult classic among investors
Capital Ideas, Peter Bernstein
Traces the history of modern financial theory, from portfolio theory to the efficient market hypothesis, showing how academic ideas transformed real-world investing practice. It profiles the economists and thinkers whose research reshaped Wall Street, for better and worse