In 1727, a twenty-one-year-old apprentice arranged a convention of 11 of his fellow artisans and tradesmen, the “Leather Apron Club”, to form a club of mutual improvement to meet on Friday evenings to discuss points of Morals, Politics, or Natural Philosophy (the study of nature and the physical universe)… in short, to find investment books.
This remarkable young man, Benjamin Franklin, and his friends implemented ideas that could be “serviceable to mankind” and created initiatives that would later become the “volunteer firehouse”, “public universities” and “public hospitals” across the tiny 13 Colonies, that later expanded to become the current United States of America.
The most famous initiative of this group was the borrowing of books from each other. When discussions on points of fact floundered, the group pooled resources to establish a representative library for easy referral.
The Library was largely democratic in nature, created by and for the members who aimed to establish permanent collections of books and reading materials accessible to subscribers.
Today you don’t need to be a subscriber to access free ebooks, as amazing producers and distributors like Project Gutenberg make many classics available online.
List of Investment Book Recommendations
We have compiled an online list of “classics”… investment books, detailed scholarly articles and resources we consider useful when thinking of investing and the general world of business. This provides a starting point for individuals to impartially seek, find and receive true knowledge themself.
All of the materials in this list should be considered in a spirit of open-minded tolerance.
This list is focused on stock picking in the USA.
The Basics:
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations – Adam Smith – 1776
The Art of Speculation – Philip L. Carret – 1930
The General Theory Of Employment Interest And Money – John Maynard Keynes – 1936
The Theory of Investment Value – John Burr Williams – 1938
Security Analysis – Benjamin Graham and David L. Dodd – 1940
Investment Companies and their Securities – Arthur Wiesenberger – 1943
The Intelligent Investor – Benjamin Graham – 1949
Common Stocks And Uncommon Profits – Philip A. Fisher – 1957
Investing in Companies and Markets
Essays in Persuasion – John Maynard Keynes – 1931 (2010 Edition)
Where are the Customers’ Yachts? Or, A Good Hard Look at Wall Street – Fred Schwed – 1940
The Great Crash 1929 – John Kenneth Galbraith – 1954
Paths to Wealth Through Common Stocks – Philip A. Fisher – 1960
The Money Game – Adam Smith – 1976
The Truth About Corporate Accounting – Abraham Briloff – 1981
A Piece of the Action: How the Middle Class Joined the Money Class – Joe Nocera – 1994
Investment Made Easy – Jim Slater – 1994
You can be a Stock Market Genius – Joel Greenblatt 1999
Quality Financial Reporting – Paul B.W. Miller, Paul R. Bahnson – 2002
The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor – Howard Marks – 2011
Dream Big (Sonho Grande): – Cristiane Correa – 2014
Index Investing
Winning the Loser’s Game [Timeless Strategies for Succesful Investing] – (2nd Edition) Charles D. Ellis – 1993
The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns – John C. Bogle – 2007
The Clash of the Cultures: Investment vs Speculation – John C. Bogle – 2012
Fixed Income Investing
Corporate Bond Quality and Investor Experience – W. Braddock Hickman – 1958
Pioneering Portfolio Management – David F. Swensen – 2000
Company Management
Business Adventures: Twelve classic tales from the world of Wall Street – John Brooks – 1969
Master of the Game: Steve Ross and the Creation of Time Warner – Connie Bruck – 1995
The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, 1st Edition – Lawrence A. Cunningham – 1998
The Warren Buffett Portfolio: Mastering the Power of the Focus Investment Strategy
– Robert G. Hagstrom – 1999
First A Dream – Jim Clayton and Bill Retherford – 2002
Jack: Straight from the Gut – Jack Welch, with John A. Byrne – 2003
How to Get Rich – Felix Dennis – 2006
Pleased, but Not Satisfied – David Sokol – 2007
Memos from the Chairman – Alan C. Greenberg – 2014
Limping on Water: My 40-Year Adventure with One of America’s Outstanding Communications Companies – Phil Beuth – 2016
Shoe Dog – Phil Knight – 2016
Other publications
Value Line – 1931-PRESENT
The Walter Schloss Archive – letters and articles c/o Elevation Capital – 1946-2012
Frank K Martin BLOG – 1971-PRESENT
How Inflation Swindles the Equity Investor – Warren Buffet (Fortune Magazine) – 1977
A Lesson on Elementary Worldly Wisdom – Charlie Munger – 1994
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies – Jared Diamond – 1997
Berkshire Hathaway – Letters to Shareholders – Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger with Carol Loomis – 1977-2020
Wesco – Letters to Shareholders – Charlie Munger – 1997-2009
Psychology
Influence: Science and Practice – Robert B. Cialdini (4th Edition) – 2001
Thinking, Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman – 2011
We created this list because the articles and writings still remain relevant for long-term investors today. If you’d like to suggest another worthwhile link, please send us details in the comments below.
