After my last post I received numerous emails requesting the top 10 books in my wealth library. Rather than limit myself to just trading related books, I picked out my “top 10 books of all time”.
Here they are listed in no particular order…
1. The Art Of War – Sun Tzu. (Click Here)
Despite its name, this book is not just about war – many of the strategies can be applied to love, life and entrepreneurialism.
2. Poor Charlie’s Almanack – The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger. (Click Here)
Charles T. Munger is Warren Buffet’s right hand man at Berkshire Hathaway. This book is filled with gold nuggets, you really can’t go wrong studying one of the most successful investors of all time.
3. How I Made 2 Million Dollars In The Stock Market – Nicolas Darvas (Click Here – Link Removed)
Many of my subscribers already know that my trading method is based on the Darvas Box method. Darvas’ first book is an entertaining read with many valuable insights.
4. Trade Your Way To Financial Freedom – Dr. Van Tharp (Click Here)
Although quite dense at times, this book had the single biggest impact on my trading career. The key to trading success is: 1. risk management 2. risk management 3. risk management!
5. Think And Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill
Cited as one of the greatest personal devolvement books of all time. Discover the law of attraction – the original ‘secret’ – and change your life forever.
6. Getting Things Done – David Allen (Click Here)
With one million things to do, you must learn to manage your time. David Allen’s book is without doubt the best book I’ve read on time management. The second best would be “The Effective Executive” by Peter Drucker.
7. Trading In A Nutshell – Stuart McPhee (Click Here)
I know I’m a little biased since Stuart is my business partner, but I truly do believe his book should be part of your personal wealth library.
8. Losing My Virginity – Richard Brandson (Click Here)
Every self respecting entrepreneur needs to read the story of Richard Brandson. I very much admire what Richard has built over the years and found loads of lessons in this book.
9. Essays of Warren Buffet: Lessons For Corporate Amercia – Warren Buffet (Click Here)
If you’re looking to create wealth, why not learn from the richest man in the world?
10. How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie (Click Here)
To be considered ‘interesting’ to others, you must first learn to be interested in others. This is but one of the many lessons I learned in this classic personal development book.
What do you think of my top 10? Do you agree or disagree? Did I leave any books out you think should be in the top 10? Post your comments below and let everyone know what you think!
Your business/trading philosopher,
David Jenyns
Ps. A few days ago Mark McRae was in Melbourne and I caught up with him for dinner. We recorded an interview (which I’ll post shortly on www.onlinetradingmastermind.com) and I even snapped a few photos. Here’s one taken inside one of my clothing stores.
Nice Site layout for your blog. I am looking forward to reading more from you.
Tom Humes
Two books to add are
1) Alexander Elder – Come into My Trading Room
2) Gary Smith – How I Trade for a Living
Think and Grow Rich is ok, but the concept remains wishful thinking without the higher vibrations of committed master minds.
I would advise those with limited time to consider a value investing approach rather than short-term trading (day or swing). Value investing has considerable merit, in part because short-term trading in taxable accounts is not tax efficient, and frequent trading by novices has a lower probability of success.
“The Four Filters Invention of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger” is really about “decision framing.”
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0615241298
It examines each of the basic steps they perform in “framing and making” an investment decision. This book is a focused look into this amazing invention within “Behavioral Finance.” The genius of Buffett and Munger’s parsimonious four filters process was to “capture all the important stakeholders” in a “multi-variable” equation or formula. Imagine…Products, Enduring Customers, Managers, and Margin-of-Safety… all in one mixed “qual + quant” formula. Other important ideas are embedded in each chapter. The book can be used as a supplemental textbook in a Valuation or Decision Sciences course.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0615241298
Some other books to consider for the list:
“Trading in the Zone” – Mark Douglas
“Market Wizards”/”New Market Wizards” – Jack Schwager
“Way of the Turtle” – Curtis M. Faith
“The Visual Investor” – John Murphy
Dale Carnegie and Napoleon Hill are not my favorite authors. I’ve been told by people who have taken Dale Carnegie courses that the course matter has deviated considerably from the book. Its been a long time since I read either books, but they both seemed very unsatisfactory to me. This book will provide better advice than Dale Carnegie Kazdin, Alan E. “The Kazdin method for parenting the defiant child”. Read it before you criticize my suggestion.
Darvas certainly shook up our attitudes about the investment community aka the financial mafia.
Van Tharp is also very good.
Anything by/about Charlie Munger and Warren Buffet is worth at least looking at, and usually reading it carefully.
The translation of Sun Tzu “The Art of War” that I tried to read a long time ago was translated by someone who was not a native English speaker: it was too much a literal translation rather than a readable one. Translations are very difficult to do well. The translator usually has the choice of translating the words or translating the ideas. It’s difficult to do both. Take a look at Mao Tse-Tung on guerrilla warfare. It was translated by US Marine officer in 1940 and was buried in the Marine Corps files until the 1980s. It is an excellent translation. It is a tutorial on conserving your resources and using them effectively.
Thanks for your list.
Regards
Lionel
Hi David
Many feel that the greatest book ever written on the stock
market, was “Reminiscences of a Stock Operator” by
Edwin Lefevre, and is based on the life of Jesse Livermore.
It can be downloaded for free, plus three other great books
at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Jesse_Lauriston_Livermore
You might want to pass this on to your other subscribers.
Kind regards
Ken Scher
Mark – Some great suggestions! Regarding, Think and Grow Rich, on its own doesn’t work, you still need to take action too 😉 Also, some great advice for new traders suggesting they focus on longer term trading.
Bud – I’ll have to check out “the four filters…” Buffet and Munger are geniuses!
Donald – Agreed. I love “trading in a zone”, “market wizards” and “way of the turtle”. I’ll have to check out “the visual investor” on your suggestion.
Lionel – Carnegie and Hill’s book provide great insight but need to be mixed with a good dose of “action.” Your comments show you’re well read 🙂
Ken – Thanks for the link… I agree, as mentioned in another post, I need to update my list to be my top 11 of all time and include “Reminiscences.” Thanks for the feedback.
It’s interesting to know Dave that you included that Dale Carnegie book. (“,) Actually, it’s really very useful if you want to improve your interpersonal skills. It’s effective for all people working in different fields of excellence.
I have a copy of that book too. I grabbed one after going through a Dale Carnegie Seminar/Workshop for my first teaching job.