# Books recommendations



## MrBlackhill (Jun 10, 2020)

I know there's a locked thread with 8 books recommendations, but I'd like to have some feedback.

I'm looking for books that are *not* self-help books and *not* a personal biography.

I'm looking for books which are either rich in wisdom and reflections or rich in investment knowledge / history.

Also, do you know any university-grade books about finance, economy, etc? Maybe the kind of books used for the CFA and such.

I want to see a bit from every point of view : theory, practice, experience, history, wisdom, concepts, etc.

If you have enjoyed reading a book that's not listed in this pool of 25 books (the maximum), please tell me!


----------



## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Fooled By Randomness is a must-read for quantitatively oriented people like yourself. If nothing else, to knock us down from our scientific and statistical ideals.

IMO, it should be required reading for all scientists including doctors


----------



## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

The simple solution to making money in Canada. By William Radvanyi. He wrote the simple solution to canadian real estate investing, an excellent beginners book.
I was a proofreader for it, it’s a good intro book on stocks, running a business and a little more on real estate.
I imagine it should be out soon if it isn’t already.


----------



## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

Not self help and not biography, but entertaining if dated, anything by Adam Smith from the seventies. The Money Game, Supermoney, Powers of Mind, Paper Money and The Roaring Eighties. He has some valuable insights that ring true today.
I've read a hundred books on investing, economics etc and none of them was much use in making money. I had to get involved paper trading and trading real money before I started to learn and then it took years to figure out how to make money. This seems to be the case with everyone except for a few lucky individuals who had unusual talent and great mentors.


----------



## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

There is the classic text Security Analysis by Ben Graham a must for any value investor. He also wrote The Intelligent Investor which Warren Buffet recommends but I could never get any sense out of it until I read Security Analysis. Everything is based on that but he does not explain in The Intelligent Investor.
I don't go for the fundamental approach, I'm more of a technical trader. Technical Analysis of Stock Trends by Robert Edwards and John Magee is the classic text in that line. Steve Nison introduced candlestick charts to the western world and his stuff is worth reading.


----------



## Jimmy (May 19, 2017)

Of all those books and others I liked "One up on Wall st ' most. There was a lot of focus and writing only on value investing before. Even Warren Buffet now concedes he likes to find great companies at good prices. I like how Peter Lynch looks at a portfolio needing to have stocks from at least a few groups he identifies. It dates back to the 80s but the groups are still similar today. Slow growers ( utilities) , stalwarts ( blue chips) , fast growers (like tech today) , cyclicals, turnarounds and asset plays(company has assets market hasn't reflected) .

Parents actually had a copy of 'The Money Game' on their bookshelf I thought might be too dated but from above I'll have to read now too lol.


----------



## Pluto (Sep 12, 2013)

Rusty O'Toole said:


> Not self help and not biography, but entertaining if dated, anything by Adam Smith from the seventies. The Money Game, Supermoney, Powers of Mind, Paper Money and The Roaring Eighties. He has some valuable insights that ring true today.
> I've read a hundred books on investing, economics etc and none of them was much use in making money. I had to get involved paper trading and trading real money before I started to learn and then it took years to figure out how to make money. This seems to be the case with everyone except for a few lucky individuals who had unusual talent and great mentors.


I also enjoyed Institutional Money, which in part was hilarious and gave insight into that corner. 
Paper Money was a real eye opener. Wow. 
the Money Game reinforced my belief that to make serious money in stocks you have to concentrate: the author said he would have no more than 6 stocks.


----------



## Jimmy (May 19, 2017)

Another chapter in "One Up" that is funny is Peter Lynch's idea of a 'perfect stock'. He liked companies that were good in their fields but relatively unknown to the investing public. His favorite stock was 'Cajun cleaners' - a regional seller of upholstery cleaning products because noone had covered it. Many of these are familiar


The company sounds dull. ie ADP Payroll processing forms
It does something dull - a coupon payment co
Does something disagreeable - Safety Kleen - cleaning products to the auto parts industry
A spinoff ( usually a good B/S and in good shape as parent doesn't want it to fail)
Institutions don't own it
Bad rumors abound ie Waste management run by mafia lol
Does something depressing - funeral parlor operator
No growth industry - less competitors
has a niche
A product people have to keep buying
Users of technology - SAAS companies now on cloud architecture
Insiders are buyers
Company buying back shares


----------



## Pluto (Sep 12, 2013)

I was reviewing Phil Fisher's writings on diversification and do's and don'ts. He cautions against over diversification and give an example of of an investor with 5 stocks as being fine. And what do you do with one of the five that grows to become 40% of your portfolio? As long as the fundamentals are enact, do nothing. let it grow. 

My how things have changed. These days people are advised to have hundreds of stocks via etf's. And heaven forbid any one stock getting too big a % of the portfolio. Have to trim the winners these days. 

Personally, with qualifications, I like Phil Fishers approach.


----------



## Pluto (Sep 12, 2013)

I did read A Random Walk Down Wall street a long time ago. Parts of it were interesting but I never really believed the premise. Its a flawed perspective.


----------



## scorpion_ca (Nov 3, 2014)

These are good books too...


The Investment ZooStephen A. JarislowskyThe Big Secret for the Small InvestorJoel GreenblattThe Automatic MillionaireDavid BachThink and Grow RichNapoleon HillThe Little Book of Behavioral Investing - How Not to Be Your Own Worst EnemyJames MontierWinning the Loser's Game : Timeless Strategies for Successful InvestingCharles D. Ellis Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don'tJim CollinsThe Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate AmericaWarren Buffett & Lawrence Cunningham Mastering the Market Cycle Getting the Odds on your SideHoward Marks


----------



## scorpion_ca (Nov 3, 2014)

MrBlackhill said:


> Also, do you know any university-grade books about finance, economy, etc? Maybe the kind of books used for the CFA and such.


Check out the CFA Institute Investment Foundations® Program. It's free. It's on my to do list to complete in 2021.









CFA Institute Investment Foundations® Program


The CFA Institute Investment Foundations® certificate program covers the essentials of finance, ethics, and investment roles, providing a clear understanding of the global investment industry. Learn more about the program here.




www.cfainstitute.org


----------



## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

I know it does not fit your criteria but the most useful and valuable book on the stock market I ever read was How I Made $2 Million In The Stock Market by Nicholas Darvas. It formed the basis for my own trading and is the best description I have ever seen of the process of turning a clueless beginner into a good trader.


----------



## fireseeker (Jul 24, 2017)

Pluto said:


> I did read A Random Walk Down Wall street a long time ago. Parts of it were interesting but I never really believed the premise. Its a flawed perspective.


I'm reading this now. (Well, listening to it.) It tackles the sweep of investing history, right up to the last few years in its current edition, with a delightful, dry wit.

It certainly satisfies this part of Mr. B's requirements:


> I'm looking for books which are either rich in wisdom and reflections or rich in investment knowledge / history.


I'm curious about why Pluto found it dissatisfying. The book's "premise" is simply that there are no cost-effective and enduring strategies that allow individual investors to consistently beat the market. The best option, he concludes, is low-cost index funds.

Hard to argue with, IMHO.


----------



## Jimmy (May 19, 2017)

fireseeker said:


> I'm curious about why Pluto found it dissatisfying. The book's "premise" is simply that there are no cost-effective and enduring strategies that allow individual investors to consistently beat the market. The best option, he concludes, is low-cost index funds.
> 
> Hard to argue with, IMHO.


That is bad and outdated advice though. I read all those books and used to think that way too. At least they recommend you can get a factor ETF (Value,small cap etc) and beat the lousy index returns.

You can easily beat the market though w some effort and interest on your behalf to learn about star companies or read recommendations from others. You can throw a rock over your shoulder and hit any tech company that grew 50+% last year while the TSX returned maybe 10%. How hard is it to read about ecommerce, 5G, genomics, green energy and other trends and invest accordingly?

That is why Peter Lynch's book is so good. A well chosen portfolio is the best option.


----------



## Pluto (Sep 12, 2013)

fireseeker said:


> I'm reading this now. (Well, listening to it.) It tackles the sweep of investing history, right up to the last few years in its current edition, with a delightful, dry wit.
> 
> It certainly satisfies this part of Mr. B's requirements:
> 
> ...


 His premise was rebutted a long time ago, and he declined to respond apparently due to having nothing to say. Its not really hard to argue with if you look for critiques, there are plenty. BRK is the blue line, while the index is that flat line near the bottom. 

There are many out performers, not just BRK.


----------



## Pluto (Sep 12, 2013)

fireseeker said:


> I'm reading this now. (Well, listening to it.) It tackles the sweep of investing history, right up to the last few years in its current edition, with a delightful, dry wit.
> 
> It certainly satisfies this part of Mr. B's requirements:
> 
> ...





Rusty O'Toole said:


> I know it does not fit your criteria but the most useful and valuable book on the stock market I ever read was How I Made $2 Million In The Stock Market by Nicholas Darvas. It formed the basis for my own trading and is the best description I have ever seen of the process of turning a clueless beginner into a good trader.


Yes, Darvas was a guy who was bent on learning and he worked on it almost daily by hand, using Baron's stock tables. These days it is much easier with PC's. Obviously, concentration on a small number, not over diversification, was one of his keys to success.


----------



## fireseeker (Jul 24, 2017)

Thanks for the responses @Pluto and @Jimmy. I will add that Malkiel points out that a strategy to beat the market must be a) identifiable in advance, b) enduring and c) cost-effective. If you've got that, good for you.

Of course, not everyone can have above-average returns.


----------



## Pluto (Sep 12, 2013)

fireseeker said:


> Thanks for the responses @Pluto and @Jimmy. I will add that Malkiel points out that a strategy to beat the market must be a) identifiable in advance, b) enduring and c) cost-effective. If you've got that, good for you.
> 
> Of course, not everyone can have above-average returns.


Yes, not all can be above average. But the small investor has a huge advantage right off the bat compared to managers of huge funds. The small investor can pick small fast growing companies that that the huge funds would not touch. Huge funds have to pick large slower growing stocks, so it is difficult for them to compete with small concentrated portfolios. 

Notwithstanding that huge advantage most individual investors don't learn how to convert it into real gains. So most should just buy an index etf....unless they are obsessed with learning how to do it.


----------



## Ponderling (Mar 1, 2013)

How Much Is Enough- McCurdy
Your Money or Your Life Dominguez & Robin.

Both help you define where you are trying to get to, and also how much risk it may be worth trying to get there in a certain time period.

Made me realize that I needed a lot less risk than my past advisor was espousing, and that was a factor in going it alone


----------



## MrBlackhill (Jun 10, 2020)

Thanks to all for the books recommendations, it's really appreciated.


----------



## RobertHuffman60 (Dec 13, 2020)

fireseeker said:


> I'm reading this now. (Well, listening to it.) It tackles the sweep of investing history, right up to the last few years in its current edition, with a delightful, dry wit.
> 
> It certainly satisfies this part of Mr. B's requirements:
> 
> ...


My Intro to Finance Professor recommended this book: A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing . I got the newest edition, which seems to have been edited, as time has proved many of his theories and I am sure he took some ideas that proved to be untrue out.
THIS BOOK WILL COST YOU MUCH LESS THAN YOUR FINANCIAL ADVISER!


----------



## tradesviz (Dec 8, 2020)

"What I learned losing a million dollars" by Jim Paul - A decent read actually.


----------



## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Jimmy said:


> That is why Peter Lynch's book is so good. A well chosen portfolio is the best option.


I'm sure it's a good book, but I believe Lynch's "brilliance" is over-stated. Sure he had a great track record from 1977-1990 but that's only 13 years, and he stopped (quit) while the results were great... which might have been the actual brilliant move.

Very little is written about this. People spend a lot of time lionizing Lynch without applying some critical thinking! So let's put on our critical thinking hat, because we're independent thinkers.

During 1977-1990, small cap stocks (which Lynch invests in) were entirely in a bull market. The whole time! Large caps were weak in the early years but the small caps were in a *continuous bull market*. Those tend to be optimal conditions for stock-picking, the easiest conditions.

What makes stock-picking or any active management much more difficult is a change in market conditions or regime, something like a bear market or other shakeup. The most impressive strategies are those which perform well across both bull and bear periods. With Lynch, I would have been far more impressed if the years were 1972-1985 because there was actually a bear market in there, as you can see here. For example, Buffett had some very poor returns in those bear market years of 1972-1975, underperforming the index in those years by 20% to 30% each year! Just horrendous.

Then when the bull returned, Buffett performed spectacularly well starting in 1976. But remember ... Lynch had the random good luck of starting in 1977, skipping the bear market.

Maybe Lynch would have also done terribly in a bear market. We will never know. His 13 years aren't long enough to know, but this is a very serious issue with his track record. Smart investors ... independent thinkers who don't gawk at celebrities ... think about these things.

I guess you can say that Lynch's methods are probably a good fit for years when the stock market goes straight up.


----------



## MrBlackhill (Jun 10, 2020)

james4beach said:


> I would have been far more impressed if the years were 1972-1985 because there was actually a bear market in there


Jim Rogers
Georges Soros


----------



## Jimmy (May 19, 2017)

james4beach said:


> I'm sure it's a good book, but I believe Lynch's "brilliance" is over-stated. Sure he had a great track record from 1977-1990 but that's only 13 years, and he stopped (quit) while the results were great... which might have been the actual brilliant move.
> 
> During 1977-1990, small cap stocks (which Lynch invests in) were entirely in a bull market. The whole time! Large caps were weak in the early years but the small caps were in a *continuous bull market*. Those tend to be optimal conditions for stock-picking, the easiest conditions.
> 
> ...


Some biases, inaccuracies and misconceptions here . First the stock market didn't' go straight up then and not sure why you are trying to conflate and misconstrue his record. He didn't 'skip' a bear market. There was a massive recession in the years 1981-1984 in reality . Unemployment here went into the double digits.

It wasn't just his record either that was impressive but his philosophies on building a winning portfolio. He liked all categories of stocks - slow growers, stalwarts, turnarounds ,fast growers to use his descriptors not just small caps btw. He only advised 20-25% in fact in growth stocks but buy growth at a 'reasonable price' What Buffet would later adopt. But a few multibaggers will make all the difference in the world.

He quit as it is harder to keep growing his fund at 29%/yr when it is $14B then when it was $18M.

"Smart investors' would do wise to learn and follow his philosophies about proper portfolio construction and stock evaluation as he showed how easy it was to destroy the returns of the markets. The MF group's records also bear out the success of his philosophies.


----------



## P_I (Dec 2, 2011)

I highly recommend _Where Are the Customers' Yachts?: or A Good Hard Look at Wall Street_, by Fred Schwed Jr. It was originally published in 1940 and is still relevant today. It has a prominent place on my bookshelf. 

This blog post offers some insight and examples 10 Great Lines From ‘Where Are the Customers’ Yachts?’ 

Another useful recourse is Recommended reading - finiki, the Canadian financial wiki.


----------



## Juggernaut92 (Aug 9, 2020)

I have read quite a few books listed at the top and enjoyed them. One book I would definitely recommend people to check out is "Irrational exuberance". It breaks down the financial crisis of 2008 but also provides wisdom in other ways. After reading it I took a bit more of a cautious approach when it comes to investing into the stock market especially after seeing all the data from the past.


----------



## Tostig (Nov 18, 2020)

Surviving the Mutual Fund Crisis
The Great Depression on 1990
Surviving the Great Depression of 1990
The End of Work
The Ethical Imperative
Outliers
David and Goliath
The Deficit Myth
Plutocrats


----------



## GreatLaker (Mar 23, 2014)

My all-time favourite is The Four Pillars of Investing by William Bernstein. I really like the way the author describes the four pillars: investing theory, history, psychology and the investing business. The book is geared to indexing, but even if you choose another investing strategy this book provides a fundamental basis from which to start.

Bernstein's free ebook If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly is like a short version of Four Pillars. The author says more in 16 pages than most say in hundreds. https://www.etf.com/docs/IfYouCan.pdf 

Millionaire Teacher The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School by Andrew Hallam is a great story of frugal living and low-cost investing. Great for young people just starting life on their own and learning to invest. I wish I read it 40 years ago.

My booby prize for the worst investing book goes to Money: Master the Game by Anthony Robbins. The author rambles interminably and incoherently, with no well defined strategy or tactics. Worth reading after the ones above, if you have time to kill and want to see how bad an investing book can be,


----------

