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If you consider your investment in an education, the cost of a good book is insignificant, but the returns can be astronomical!

These books are in no particular order but are all very good.
 

1. A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel.  Before you begin trading you should definitely read this.  Obviously it stresses the Efficient Market Hypothesis.  This is a classic must read!
2. The Complete Finance Companion: Mastering Finance by The Wharton School (Editor), the London Business School, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.  This is one of my favorites.  I actually paid for a text!  This is largely a text and it is written by some of the top people in Finance.  I HIGHLY recommend it.  I have read much of it twice!  MUCH cheaper than a true "text."
3. Devil Take the Hindmost: a History of Financial Speculation Edward Chancellor--Not a great book but a good history lesson and very interesting.  Some things are amazing. For example derivatives have been traded and also harangued for thousands of years!  Great for anecdotes for teaching!
4. The Great Game: the Emergence of Wall Street as a World Power (1653-2000) by John Steele Gordon.  Filled with anecdotes and financial trivia.  A fun read!
5. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lecter CPA.  An interesting and quite motivational read that I enjoyed.  However do not read it for facts, as there are several/many errors and inconsistencies.  However I am glad I read it.  Need not be a Finance major.  In fact it may be more beneficial if you are not!  Simplistic in parts but many good points and quite motivating.  Basic ideas are not new (invest, avoid taxes, avoid excess liabilities) but brings into the forefront the idea of "minding your business."  Realizing you will likely change jobs, keep your big picture in mind and out watch for getting yourself into unnecessary financial problems.  Problems are in details and facts.  But as a business "novel" it was fun.
6. Fiasco by Frank Partnoy.  Very good!  Entertaining and informative. Hopefully things are not as bad as he says.  The story of a derivative trader at Morgan Stanley.
7. The Bankers: the Next Generation by Martin Mayer:  I was tempted to require this for my Money and Banking Class.  Very readable, interesting, and informative.  Good examples for class or for understanding.
8. Liars Poker- A very entertaining book!  About a bond trader in the 1980s.  Funny, with good insights it is an easy, fast read.
9. Barbarians at the Gate: the Fall of RJR Nabisco by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar.   My favorite.  It reads like a novel and is written by Wall Street Journal  reporters.  A real page turner!  Also available on Cassette
10. Beating the Street  by Peter Lynch--Even though I have serious reservations on whether anyone can consistently "Beat the Street" this is a good story and is interesting.  Also has a Cassette Version
11. The Warren Buffett Way--What has not been said about Warren Buffett?  He is arguably the most famous and successful investor of our time.  He has a cult-like following.  I am not convinced this is the best book about him but it is pretty cheap! Also on Cassette
12. Creating Shareholder Value:  a Guide for Managers and Investors by Alfred Rappaport.   While not a perfect book, it sounds like my class in many areas!  Very sound financial theory throughout.
13. Managing Financial Risk: A Guide to Derivative Products, Financial Engineering and Value Maximization (Irwin Library of Investment & Finance) by Charles W. Smithson, Clifford W. Smith.  Ok so has the longest title going.  As I say on my summaries page, I will read anything by Smith.   This is no exception.  He makes the difficult, easy.  I model my teaching on his as much as possible.
14. Capital Ideas and Market Realities: Option Replication, Investor Behavior, and Stock Market Crashes  by Bruce I. Jacobs with a foreword by Markowitz!  Deals with the idea that portfolio insurance may have magnified the crash of 1987 and that these ideas (selling into a falling market) increase volatility.  Also denounces many option strategies.  READ THE FOREWORD!  Problem with model based trading.  Especially recommended for the more quantitative among us.
15. Index Mutual Funds: Profitting from an Investment Revolution is a pretty cool book on investing in Index mutual funds. It talks about how they outperform actively managed funds and even discusses the track record of some of investment's super stars such as Peter Lynch.
16. Confessions of a Venture Capitalist: Inside the High Stake World of Start-up Financing by Ruthann Quindlen.  It is a good book but does Bill Gates really call her for advice?
17.  Investment Madness: How Psychology Affects Your Investing...And What To Do About It by John R. Nofsinger. As an investor, your psychology and your emotions are you biggest obstacles. Learn to overcome them with Investment Madness.
18.  Charles Schwab's Guide to Financial Independence by Charles Schwab It has a great deal of very useful and practical advice and most of it is well grounded.
19.  The New Global Investors: How Shareowners Can Unlock Sustainable Prosperity Worldwide by Robert A. G. Monks.  As the world's most prominent and notorious shareholder activist, Robert Monks has relentlessly stalked ineffective management, waking it, shaking it and replacing it. The Global Shareowner is his most powerful call yet for a more accountable corporate world. A fascinating look at the history of Corporations. It also looks at the firm as a nexus of stakeholders.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Not a Finance book but recommended to anyone who writes in the course of the day.  I especially recommend it to my students!  ;-)
 
Elements of Style by Strunk and White.  While not a finance book but I have recommended it to so many students it deserves to be here!  if you do not believe me, read the reviews on Amazon.com.   It is a classic that needs no introduction.  Everyone should have this book!
 

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Reading is a thing that I love to do but rarely have time.  I have become a BIG backer of Books-On-Tape.  Where else can you "find" time?!  and Time is our most valuable resource.   I am constantly listening to many books.  As I write this I am in the midst of listening to three books and reading 4 or 5 other books on everything from Finance to Gardening to Cuban prisons.  But alas this is a Finance site so I will only list finance books here.  I may start another list elsewhere of other great books.
 

* I am including links to Amazon.com.  If you do buy from them please do so through the links provided above.  Supposedly they lose money on these purchases which is good since I think they are getting too spread out (deworsification anyone?) and also as they have now entered the grocery business.   Thanks!