Warren Buffett the CEO and Founder of Berkshire Hathaway is an avid reader. When Warren Buffett started his investing career, he would read 600, 750, or 1,000 pages a day.
Even now, he still spends about 80% of his day reading.
As a capital allocator and insurance/risk bearer it is important to be well informed about many different issues, topics, areas.
“Look, my job is essentially just corralling more and more and more facts and information, and occasionally seeing whether that leads to some action,” he once said in an interview.
“We don’t read other people’s opinions,” he said. “We want to get the facts, and then think.”
To help you get into the mind of the billionaire investor, we’ve rounded up over 15 of his book recommendations over 20 years of interviews and shareholder letters.
The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. A Book of Practical Counsel
The greatest investment advisor of the twentieth century, Benjamin Graham, taught and inspired people worldwide. Graham’s philosophy of “value investing” — which shields investors from substantial error and teaches them to develop long-term strategies — has made The Intelligent Investor the stock market bible ever since its original publication in 1949.
Buy Here: The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. A Book of Practical Counsel
Security Analysis: Sixth Edition, Foreword by Warren Buffett
First published in 1934, Security Analysis is one of the most influential financial books ever written. Selling more than one million copies through five editions, it has provided generations of investors with the timeless value investing philosophy and techniques of Benjamin Graham and David L. Dodd.
As relevant today as when they first appeared nearly 75 years ago, the teachings of Benjamin Graham, “the father of value investing,” have withstood the test of time across a wide diversity of market conditions, countries, and asset classes.
Buy Here: Security Analysis: Sixth Edition, Foreword by Warren Buffett
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings
Widely respected and admired, Philip Fisher is among the most influential investors of all time. His investment philosophies, introduced almost forty years ago, are not only studied and applied by today’s financiers and investors, but are also regarded by many as gospel. This book is invaluable reading and has been since it was first published in 1958. The updated paperback retains the investment wisdom of the original edition and includes the perspectives of the author’s son Ken Fisher, an investment guru in his own right in an expanded preface and introduction
“I sought out Phil Fisher after reading his Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits…A thorough understanding of the business, obtained by using Phil’s techniques…enables one to make intelligent investment commitments.”
—Warren Buffet
Buy Here: Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings
Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises
As president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and then as President Barack Obama’s secretary of the Treasury, Timothy F. Geithner helped the United States navigate the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, from boom to bust to rescue to recovery. In a candid, riveting, and historically illuminating memoir, he takes readers behind the scenes of the crisis, explaining the hard choices and politically unpalatable decisions he made to repair a broken financial system and prevent the collapse of the Main Street economy. This is the inside story of how a small group of policy makers—in a thick fog of uncertainty, with unimaginably high stakes—helped avoid a second depression but lost the American people doing it. Stress Test is also a valuable guide to how governments can better manage financial crises, because this one won’t be the last.
Buy Here: Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises
The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Fourth Edition
The gold standard of its genre, according to Warren Buffett, the fourth edition of The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America marked this volume’s 20th anniversary. As the book Buffett autographs most, its popularity and longevity attest to the widespread appetite for this unique compilation of Buffett’s thoughts that is at once comprehensive, non-repetitive, and digestible. New and experienced readers alike will gain an invaluable informal education by perusing this classic arrangement of Warren’s best writings.
Buy Here: The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Fourth Edition
Jack: Straight from the Gut
They called him Neutron Jack. They called him the world’s toughest boss. And then Fortune called him “The Manager of the Century.” In his twenty-year career at the helm of General Electric, Jack Welch defied conventional wisdom and turned an aging behemoth of a corporation into a lean, mean engine of growth and corporate innovation. In this remarkable autobiography-a classic business book and runaway New York Times bestseller now updated with a new afterword by the author-Jack Welch takes us on the rough-and-tumble ride that has been his remarkable life. From his working-class childhood to his early days in G.E. Plastics to his life at the top of the world’s most successful company, Welch tells his intensely personal story with his well-known fire and candor. And although it chronicles billion-dollar deals and high-stakes corporate standoffs, Jack is ultimately a story about people-from a man who based his career on demanding only the best from others and from himself.
Buy Here: Jack: Straight from the Gut
The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success
What makes a successful CEO? Most people call to mind a familiar definition: a seasoned manager with deep industry expertise. Others might point to the qualities of today’s so-called celebrity CEOs charisma, virtuoso communication skills, and a confident management style. But what really matters when you run an organization? What is the hallmark of exceptional CEO performance? Quite simply, it is the returns for the shareholders of that company over the long term.
In this refreshing, counter-intuitive book, author Will Thorndike brings to bear the analytical wisdom of a successful career in investing, closely evaluating the performance of companies and their leaders
Buy Here: The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success
The Clash of the Cultures: Investment vs. Speculation
Recommended Reading by Warren Buffet in his March 2013 Letter to Shareholders
How speculation has come to dominate investment—a hard-hitting look from the creator of the first index fund.
Over the course of his sixty-year career in the mutual fund industry, Vanguard Group founder John C. Bogle has witnessed a massive shift in the culture of the financial sector. The prudent,value-adding culture of long-term investment has been crowded out by an aggressive, value-destroying culture of short-term speculation. Mr. Bogle has not been merely an eye-witness to these changes, but one of the financial sector’s most active participants. In The Clash of the Cultures, he urges a return to the common sense principles of long-term investing.
Buy Here: The Clash of the Cultures: Investment vs. Speculation
Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street
Longtime New Yorker contributor John Brooks’s insightful reportage is so full of personality and critical detail that whether he is looking at the astounding market crash of 1962, the collapse of a well-known brokerage firm, or the bold attempt by American bankers to save the British pound, one gets the sense that history repeats itself.
Five additional stories on equally fascinating subjects round out this wonderful collection that will both entertain and inform readers . . . Business Adventures is truly financial journalism at its liveliest and best.
Buy Here: Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street
Essays In Persuasion
Essays In Persuasion written by legendary author John Maynard Keynes is widely considered to be one of the top 100 greatest books of all time. This great classic will surely attract a whole new generation of readers. For many, Essays In Persuasion is required reading for various courses and curriculums. And for others who simply enjoy reading timeless piees of classic literature, this gem by John Maynard Keynes is highly recommended. Published by Classic House Books and beautifully produced, Essays In Persuasion would make an ideal gift and it should be a part of everyone’s personal library.
Buy Here: Essays In Persuasion
The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns (Little Books. Big Profits)
The Little Book of Common Sense Investing is the classic guide to getting smart about the market. Legendary mutual fund pioneer John C. Bogle reveals his key to getting more out of investing: low-cost index funds. Bogle describes the simplest and most effective investment strategy for building wealth over the long term: buy and hold, at very low cost, a mutual fund that tracks a broad stock market Index such as the S&P 500.
Buy Here: The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns (Little Books. Big Profits)
Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger
Poor Charlie’s Almanack contains the wit and wisdom of Charlie Munger: his talks, lectures and public commentary. And, it has been written and compiled with both Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett’s encouragement and cooperation. So pull up your favorite reading chair and enjoy the unique humor, wit and insight that Charlie Munger brings to the world of business, investing and life itself. With Charlie himself as your guide, you are about to embark on an extraordinary journey toward better investment, decision making, and thinking about the world and life in general. Charlie’s unique worldview, what he calls a ‘multidisciplinary’ approach, is a self-developed model for clear and simple thinking while being far from simplistic itself.
Buy Here: Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger
The Most Important Thing Illuminated: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor
Howard Marks’s The Most Important Thing distilled the investing insight of his celebrated client memos into a single volume and, for the first time, made his time-tested philosophy available to general readers. In this edition, Marks’s wisdom is joined by the comments, insights, and counterpoints of four renowned investors and investment educators: Christopher C. Davis (Davis Funds), Joel Greenblatt (Gotham Capital), Paul Johnson (Nicusa Capital), and Seth A. Klarman (Baupost Group).
Buy Here: The Most Important Thing Illuminated: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor
Mastering the Market Cycle: Getting the Odds on Your Side
The legendary investor shows how to identify and master the cycles that govern the markets.
We all know markets rise and fall, but when should you pull out, and when should you stay in? The answer is never black or white, but is best reached through a keen understanding of the reasons behind the rhythm of cycles. Confidence about where we are in a cycle comes when you learn the patterns of ups and downs that influence not just economics, markets and companies, but also human psychology and the investing behaviors that result.
Buy Here: Mastering the Market Cycle: Getting the Odds on Your Side
Dream Big: How the Brazilian Trio behind 3G Capital – Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Beto Sicupira Acquired Anheuser-Busch, Burger King and Heinz
My friend – and now partner – Jorge Paulo and his team are among the best businessmen in the world. He is a fantastic person and his story should be an inspiration to everybody, as it is for me.” – Warren Buffett
In just over forty years, Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Beto Sicupira built the biggest empire in the history of Brazilian capitalism and launched themselves onto the world stage in an unprecedented way.
Over the past five years, they have acquired no fewer than three globally-recognized American brands: Budweiser, Burger King and Heinz. This has been achieved as discreetly as possible and they have shunned any personal publicity.
Buy Here: Dream Big: How the Brazilian Trio behind 3G Capital – Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Beto Sicupira Acquired Anheuser-Busch, Burger King and Heinz
Jim Clayton: First a Dream
Warren Buffett read ‘First a Dream’ then bought Clayton Homes. “It’s an interesting success story filled with terrific business lessons. Learn how he created, expanded, and sold his premier company to me. . . It’s all here. Him is a wonderful guy. . . and picks better than I sing.” — Warren Buffett
Buy Here: Jim Clayton: First a Dream
Take on the Street: How to Fight for Your Financial Future
In Take on the Street, Arthur Levitt–Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission for eight years under President Clinton–provides the best kind of insider information: the kind that can help honest, small investors protect themselves from the deliberately confusing ways of Wall Street.
At a time when investor confidence in Wall Street and corporate America is at an historic low, when many are seriously questioning whether or not they should continue to invest, Levitt offers the benefits of his own experience, both on Wall Street and as its chief regulator. His straight talk about the ways of stockbrokers (they are salesmen, plain and simple), corporate financial statements (the truth is often hidden), mutual fund managers (remember who they really work for), and other aspects of the business will help to arm everyone with the tools they need to protect—and enhance—their financial future.
