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When starting or advancing in your investing journey, there is no shortage of perspectives on how you should invest or in what you should invest. One of the best ways to develop a thesis for your personal strategy is to read profiles of great investors, guides on the investment strategies they view as most successful, and books that explore different perspectives on how markets operate.
In this article you will find 13 of the best investing books that explore different investing strategies, including passive and active investing; different explanations of market dynamics, including efficient markets and market randomness; and different methods for evaluating securities, including quantitative and qualitative methods for valuing securities. As you develop your personal investing strategy, these books will challenge and help you find success in investing.
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13 Top Investing Books
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13. Safe Haven: Investing For Financial Storms
Safe Haven by Mark Spitznagel, founder of Universa Investments, explores advanced investing strategies that can be deployed to not only lower risk but also generate higher returns during financial storms. Spitznagel is an expert in leveraging safe haven investments to provide upside potentials to his investors during market downturns and imparts this wisdom to readers in this often theoretical but fascinating guide.
Safe Haven challenges risk mitigation orthodoxy while providing useful strategies that experienced investors will appreciate when preparing for inevitable financial turmoil.
Who should read this?
Investors who wish to learn how to navigate and take advantage of financial uncertainty.
Where can you buy this book?
You can buy this book at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
12. Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefèvre, an American diplomat, is a novel about a stock trader named Jesse Livermore. This book provides insights into speculation and trading psychology as well as an overview of the ups and downs of the market. The novel is useful in showing that the same challenges today for speculators existed in the early 20th century and that psychology plays a large role in trader behavior.
Who should read this?
Investors who wish to better understand the behavior of markets and speculation.
Where can you buy this book?
You can buy this book at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
11. A Man for All Markets
A Man for All Markets by Edward O. Thorp, a mathematician and hedge fund manager, details his application of mathematical knowledge to both blackjack gambling and investing to great success. Thorp pioneered card counting at blackjack tables and then quantitative finance on Wall Street, reaping a fortune in both worlds.
This intriguing memoir showcases how Thorp leveraged mathematical formulas to beat the market and probability and multiple strategies to beat the house at casinos. Thorp is a fascinating person and author who shares fascinating stories like how he employed the first wearable computer to great success when playing roulette.
Who should read this?
Investors who are interested in quantitative finance and applying math to beat the market.
Where can you buy this book?
You can buy this book at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
Investment guru Peter Lynch (Photo by James Schnepf/Liaison)
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10. One Up On Wall Street
One Up On Wall Street by Peter Lynch, one of the most successful and widely known mutual fund managers, is a popular and thorough guide on how everyday investors can leverage their unique, personal knowledge base to succeed at investing. Lynch recommends for individual investors to buy what they know and look for opportunities in the market, all while providing core investing advice to aid this process.
Lynch argues that individual investors have certain advantages over large firms like flexibility in choosing investments and quick action. This book is eminently practical and informative in helping investors identify and act on opportunities to invest in the best stocks for them, all while avoiding common investing pitfalls.
Who should read this?
Investors who wish to become better at stock picking using their everyday knowledge.
Where can you buy this book?
You can buy this book at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
9. The Misbehavior of Markets: A Fractal View of Financial Turbulence
The Misbehavior of Markets, by Benoit B. Mandelbrot, a French-American mathematician, promotes an alternate theory of market behavior. Rather than Burton Malkiel’s concept of the efficient market, Mandelbrot believes financial markets exhibit patterns of extreme randomness. Mandelbrot believes that volatility, even chaotic market downturns, are intrinsic to markets, and are random rather than predictable.
Mandelbrot’s theory contradicts conventional wisdom on markets and therefore is useful to understand, especially when anticipating market chaos.
Who should read this?
Investors who wish to better understand financial markets, alternate theories on how they work, and the role of randomness in their operation.
Where can you buy this book?
You can buy this book at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
8. Security Analysis
Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd provides a detailed explanation of value investing and instruction for evaluating stocks and bonds based on intrinsic value, rather than market value, of these securities. For investors seeking to learn how to perform fundamental analysis of securities, Security Analysis is a must-read.
Highly-successful investors, including Warren Buffett and Michael Burry, of The Big Short fame, have used the techniques detailed in this book to assess securities. While this is a complex read, it will be essential to your investing journey if you choose to pursue value investing as a strategy.
Who should read this?
Investors who wish to learn how to value and pick investments, according to value investing principles.
Where can you buy this book?
You can buy this book at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
American founder and CEO of the Vanguard Company John C Bogle. (Photo by Leif Skoogfors/Getty Images)
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7. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing
The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by the founder of Vanguard, John C. Bogle, puts forward a simple yet effective case for passive investing through low-cost index funds. Bogle believes this investment strategy provides the best potential for the average investor to build wealth, rather than investing through actively-managed funds or stock picking.
Bogle zeroes in on how essential diversification is for investing success and how fees from actively-managed funds can eat away at returns. This book, while brief, is filled with compelling arguments for a broadly available and cost-effective investing strategy. For more information on Bogle’s preferred investing instrument, read this guide on index funds.
Who should read this?
Beginner investors who prefer a simple, long-term approach to investing.
Where can you buy this book?
You can buy this book at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
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6. Market Wizards
Market Wizards by Jack D. Schwager is a collection of interviews with successful traders that explores their strategies, big wins and investing process. This book covers traders who trade a variety of instruments, including securities, derivatives and currencies, which is useful in helping new traders choose their core concentration.
Market Wizards also provides insight into the psychology of profiled traders and how they manage risk and their portfolio. Each trader experienced failure as they developed their strategy but overcame it through iteration and perseverance.
Who should read this?
Investors who would like to learn various, successful trading strategies.
Where can you buy this book?
You can buy this book at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
5. The Essays of Warren Buffett
The Essays of Warren Buffett is a collection of Warren Buffett’s letters to Berkshire Hathaway, a multinational conglomerate run by Buffett, curated by Lawrence A. Cunningham. This collection reveals Buffett’s philosophy of investing and how it changed over time, as well as providing insight into value investing, business management and corporate finance.
As with the books by Benjamin Graham and Philip A. Fisher, Buffett’s teachers, this collection provides ever-relevant and clearly-stated advice on investing and valuing securities.
Who should read this?
Investors who wish to learn about Buffett’s investing philosophy and process, over the course of his career.
Where can you buy this book?
You can buy this book at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
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4. Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits by Philip A. Fisher offers an alternative method to valuing companies: qualitative analysis. By gathering intelligence, or scuttlebutt, on a company, including supplier information, customer evaluations and competitor performance, Fisher advances that an investor can evaluate the success of a firm.
Fisher offers a 15-point checklist that offers useful criteria for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of a stock. This book was influential for Warren Buffett, in addition to the writings and teachings of Benjamin Graham.
Who should read this?
Investors who are interested in growth investing and an alternative approach to valuing companies.
Where can you buy this book?
You can buy this book at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
3. Fooled By Randomness
Fooled by Randomness, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a mathematical statistician and former trader, explores the role of chance and randomness in both markets and life. Taleb details how randomness is understated as a cause of outcomes in markets while skill is overstated. Taleb explains the limits of knowledge, the nature of uncertainty and risk management practices.
Taleb reveals how cognitive biases like hindsight bias can cause an investor to misinterpret success. This book introduces the concept of “black swan” events, or events that are rare and unpredictable and which have major consequences, an idea he explores further in his five-book series, the Incerto.
Who should read this?
Investors who would like to learn about the role of chance in the markets and life.
Where can you buy this book?
You can buy this book at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
2. The Intelligent Investor
The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham is the seminal work on value investing. Graham educates the reader on core investing strategies like finding the margin of safety, or difference between a security’s intrinsic value and market price. This book is most helpful for beginners who wish to build a solid foundation in proven investing practices and avoid pitfalls like emotional investing.
With useful allegories like Mr. Market that helps readers understand risks like groupthink and other practical advice, The Intelligent Investor is a must-read for new investors.
Who should read this?
Investors interested in the key concepts and practice of value investing and portfolio management.
Where can you buy this book?
You can buy this book at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
A photo of a Wall Street street sign in New York City, USA.
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1. A Random Walk Down Wall Street
A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton G. Malkiel, an economist and professor, argues in favor of the efficient market hypothesis, that stock market prices reflect all available information, making it difficult to outperform the market. As an alternative to stock picking, Malkiel recommends people invest passively in low-cost index funds for the long term.
In addition to advice on investing in stocks, Malkiel shares insights into bonds, and how they can be essential to diversification. For advice on direct investment in the bond market, you can consult this bond buying guide. In this widely-acclaimed book, Malkiel expertly weaves together theoretical insights with practical investing advice.
Who should read this?
Investors who are interested in how public markets operate and long-term passive investing, as opposed to stock picking or trading.
Where can you buy this book?
You can buy this book at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
Bottom Line
While this list of book recommendations presents diverse investing perspectives and strategies, they will help you build the right investing thesis given your resources, interests, time constraints and knowledge. Some of these books require more time commitment and attention than others but with dedication, you’ll conclude your research with a nuanced understanding of markets and investing strategies at your disposal.
Some of these books are foundational like The Intelligent Investor and A Random Walk Down Wall Street while others are more theoretical or niche like The Misbehavior of Markets or Safe Haven. Investors of any experience level or background can find useful and challenging insights from this list. Whether you’re seeking a simple or advanced strategy, the investing experts who wrote these books offer wisdom about the financial markets and those who choose to find profitable opportunities within them.
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