Readers, monkeys and friends. As we near the holiday season and you seek to love yourself, consider investing in one of the books to learn finance and strengthen your grasp of your career in technology investing, investment banking, business operations or simply for fun.
Investment Banking by Joshua Rosenbaum
A concise, well written and strong overview of the investment banking profession at the junior level. Covers salient topics from reading 10ks and 10Qs to spreading comps, to modeling financial statements and DCFs. Definitely a one of the primer books to learn finance.
Best for college sophomore/juniors/seniors and early career lateral bankers/aspiring investors. Way more content necessary to get through interview stages, but goes far more in-depth than any guides and would be a good read to prepare for your internship/analyst role after you land an offer.
Kindle Price: $80
The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
Worshipped by value investors including Warren Buffet and recently late Charlie Munger, The Intelligent Investor is one of those must reads for young guns in the industry. Among the quintessential books to learn finance.
In way, very outdated, but for beginners, the philosophy is the real value of the book. Graham teaches you how to think intelligently, how to view market pullbacks, ideas for undervalued security, and the concept of margin of safety. The core philosophy is pretty timeless.
Kindle Price $13.29
Most Important Thing – Howard Marks
Is just a really good book to learn finance discussing risk and how to think about price as a component of risk. Read his memos to his investors as appendixes to the book.
Kindle Price $13.29
Barbarians at the Gate by B. Borrough and J. Helyar
Amazing historical coverage of the histories of Nabisco and RJR as introduction to the management buyout saga of RJR/Nabisco and KKR’s involvement which stood as the single largest leveraged buyout in American corporate history for 17 years, unmatched until the private equity mega-boom of the early-mid 2000s.
A thoroughly researched piece and has updated interviews with the major players who are still around..
Kindle Price $17.49
King of Capital by David Carey and John E Morris
A great history of Private Equity, Steve Schwarzman, and Blackstone how these developed from the late 80s through the mid-2000s.
Touches on a lot of the major players who work at, worked at, or compete with Blackstone. Pretty good storytelling, and not too densely technical
Negative side: Reads a bit sycophantic and as a marketing operation from the PE lobby.
Kindle Price $11.99
The Merchant Bankers by Joseph Weschberg
Check out for a quirky old (somewhat dated) historical view on old-school finance that covers origins of some of the most storied outfits in Finance.
Amazing anecdotes about histories of the Louisiana Purchase and the role of Barings, coup d’etat financings, and other amazing historical deals.
Kindle Price $9.99
Titan: John D Rockefeller by Ron Chernow
A detailed and balanced, look into Rockefeller’s early life and development of the oil industry alongside other historical business figures such as Henry Flagler. Written with unrestricted access to Rockefeller’s personal writings and in depth press coverage from the period
Valuable to young business people for its insight into industry consolidation, which is highly applicable to PE value creation.
Kindle Price $14.99
More Money than God by Sebastian Mallaby
The book offers profiles of famous hedge fund investors and argues that hedge funds are the future of finance because banks sought to emulate them and failed miserable in the GFC. A page turner chronicling the cutting edge of the financial markets with a unique perspective on what was going on at HFs when the markets crashed.
Kindle Price $13.99
Zero to One by Peter Theil
A treatise on entrepreneurship covering the importance of technological moats, tackling “secrets”, the danger of “de novo” and copycatting, how competition is for losers, the critical nature of cash flow, the tech/globalization dichotomy, and the concept of “zero to one”. A valuable read for any tech investor.
Kindle Price $9.99
Economics in one lesson by Henry Hazlitt
For those who have formal training in economics from prestigious universities this is a strong read due to its ability to easily elucidate some glaring problem in modern economic orthodox theory.
I’ve found this book to be a strong contributor to my critical thinking skills and credit it with a change in world view that lead me to the world of private equity.
Kindle Price $13.99
Connectography by Parag Khanna
A treatise of globalization on steroids. Goes down a true rabbit hole of facts on globalization and the importance of supply chains and infrastructure (including Internet cables and fiber). Khanna touches on the evolution of commerce and talent, culturally and economically forces and the increasing obsolescence of national national boundaries. A well-traveled and well-informed view, with lots of detail.
Kindle Price $
Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein
A behavioral science/economics book with important case studies in how individuals react to incentives. Have found it incredibly valuable for my experiences in exerting influence over my portfolio companies and personal relationships.
Kindle Price $15.99
Failure to Adjust by Edward Alden
Explores some key topics about the role of global competitiveness and trade and how it may be impacting Mian Street America since the late 1980s in the post-industrial era. I believe it is a good way to understand some of the most salient political economic topics of our times. I plan on rereading in the not too distant future.
Kindle Price $16.25
Merry Christmas/Happy Hannukah and Happy New Year!
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