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27 Mar 2025

10 MIN READ

20 Best Books for Investment: A Must-Read Guide

Table of Contents:

Best Books for Investing

Best Investing Books for Beginners

Best Books for Personal Investing

Final Thoughts: Why read Books for Investing

Best Books for Investing

1. What works on Wall Street

What Works on Wall Street

Author: James O’Shaughnessy

What Works on Wall Street by James O’Shaughnessy is a fresh inquiry into investment strategies. This all-time bestseller investigates the best strategy for better returns. O’Shaughnessy breaks down the intricacies of investment strategies and provides a comprehensive understanding of investments by comparing a stock-picking strategy and its results. He concludes with a refined investing strategy. The author brings incontrovertible data on what works and what doesn’t.

Where to find this book? Here is the link

Amazon: 4.3/5

Goodreads: 3.99/5

2. The Dao of Capital: Austrian Investing in a Distorted World

The Dao of Capital: Austrian Investing in a Distorted World

Author: Mark Spitznagel

The Dao of Capital, written by Mark Spitznagel, is an indirect investment approach inspired by Austrian economics and Daoist philosophy. Spitznagel, founder and president of Universa Investments, calls his method Austrian investing. He is a hedge fund manager and expert in equity tail-hedging. His book centers around an investment method of a ‘roundabout’ path. In the book, he aims at indirect means rather than direct at the ends.

Where to find this book? Here is the link

Amazon: 4.3/5

Goodreads: 3.88/5

3. Unknown Market Wizards

Unknown Market Wizards

Author: Jack Schwager

In Unknown Market Wizards, author Jack Schwager, a world-renowned author and trading expert, shares his trading wisdom. He offers lessons from interviewing successful traders and insights into how trading wizards surpass many professional asset managers. Schwager shares details on their training, experience, tactics, and strategies.

Where to find this book? Here is the link

Amazon: 4.6/5

Goodreads: 4.29/5

4. A Man for All Markets

A Man for All Markets

Author: Edward O. Thorp

A Man for All Markets is an autobiography of Edward O. Thorp and his mathematical system. The book highlights how his system can defeat card counting and is a reliable source for those who value finance and new trading opportunities. Throp reveals how a mathematics professor became a renowned hedge-fund manager. It centers on his passions and what drives him to disregard conventional wisdom.

Where to find this book? Here is the link

Amazon: 4.5/5

Goodreads: 4.24/5

5. Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity

Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity

Author: Michael Lewis

In the book, author Lewis offers a report on modern-day financial culture. In his New York Times bestseller, he shares how the underpricing of risk leads to catastrophe. Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity is an account of financial history. He analyzes five financial crises: the 1987 stock market crash, the 1998 Russian default, the Asian currency crisis of 1999, the Internet bubble of 1995-2001, and the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis.

Where to find this book? Here is the link

Amazon: 4.4/5

Goodreads: 3.55/5

6. Markets, Mobs & Mayhem: How to Profit From the Madness of Crowds

Markets, Mobs & Mayhem: How to Profit From the Madness of Crowds

Author: Robert Menschel

Markets, Mobs & Mayhem by Robert Menschel examines the crowd psychology phenomenon and its relative effectiveness on business and culture. The author pointed out that such psychology shapes market bubbles and irrational exuberance. He presented world history from the rise of the Nazis in Germany to the fanatical love of brands to the Dutch tulip craze of the seventeenth century to America’s 1990s Internet bubble.

Where to find this book? Here is the link

Amazon: 4.5/5

Goodreads: 3.26/5

7. The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

Author: Max Gunther

The Zurich Axioms is a classic work on investments. Author Max Gunther underlines a set of cardinal rules of practical philosophy. A rule that will help to manage risk by anyone, not just the 'experts.' It was first published in 1985 and is a compilation of advice for investors on managing risks. The book is an ideal literature on the psychological challenges of encountering uncertainty.

Where to find this book? Here is the link

Amazon: 4.4/5

Goodreads: 3.96/5

8. More Than You Know: Finding Financial Wisdom in Unconventional Places

More Than You Know: Finding Financial Wisdom in Unconventional Places

Author: Michael J. Mauboussin

The book More Than You Know argues that financial subjects are an economic subdiscipline. It is divided into four parts: essays on Investment Philosophy, Psychology of Investing, Innovation and Competitive Strategy, and Science and Complexity Theory. It was written by Michael J. Mauboussin, head of global financial strategies at Credit Suisse and a professor at Columbia Business School.

Where to find this book? Here is the link

Amazon: 4.4/5

Goodreads: 4.08/5

9. The Misbehavior of Markets: A Fractal View of Financial Turbulence

The Misbehavior of Markets: A Fractal View of Financial Turbulence

Authors: Benoit Mandelbrot & Richard Hudson

The Misbehavior of Markets presents a new outlook on the financial markets. It examines their market behavior and offers critical insight into their unpredictability. The authors Mandelbrot and Hudson use fractal geometry theory to study market behavior. They claim the theory helps predict market volatility accurately, compared with failed theories that have led the financial system to disaster.

Where to find this book? Here is the link

Amazon: 4.5/5

Goodreads: 4.09/5

10. Adaptive Markets: Financial Evolution at the Speed of Thought

Adaptive Markets: Financial Evolution at the Speed of Thought

Author: Andrew Lo

The book Adaptive Markets was first published in 2017. It offers a new evolutionary simplification of markets and investors' behavioral patterns. Author Andrew Lo, an MIT Sloan School of Management professor, answers whether investors and markets are rational and efficient. The author delves into a new framework in which rationality and irrationality coexist. He termed the theory the Adaptive Markets Hypothesis.

Where to find this book? Here is the link

Amazon: 4.4/5

Goodreads: 4.06/5

11. Safe Haven: Investing for Financial Storms

Safe Haven: Investing for Financial Storms

Author: Mark Spitznagel

Mark Spitznagel’s second book on this list, Safe Haven, challenges the notion of conventional financial theory. He argues that investors increase their returns by taking higher risks. He believes such a theory is simply wrong. He offers a theoretical framework for risk mitigation, which says wealth can be raised by lowering risk.

Where to find this book? Here is the link

Amazon: 4.1/5

Goodreads: 4.02/5

12. The Dhandho Investor: The Low-Risk Value Method to High Returns

The Dhandho Investor: The Low-Risk Value Method to High Returns

Author: Mohnish Pabrai

The Dhandho Investor by Mohnish Pabrai is insightful and comprehensive literature on investment and value investing. The author, Pabrai, is the Managing Partner of Pabrai Investment Funds, an investment group modeled after the original 1950s Buffett Partnerships. The book introduces the principles of value investing set forth by Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett, and Charlie Munger.

Where to find this book? Here is the link

Amazon: 4.7/5

Goodreads: 4.23/5

Best Investing Books for Beginners

13. Bull! A History of the Boom, 1982-1999

Bull! A History of the Boom, 1982-1999

Author: Maggie Mahar

First published in 2003, Bull! A History of the Boom provides a blueprint of the economic environment. The book maps out the key figures and their impact on the stock market. Maggie Mahar authored the book narrating the episode of the Great Bull Market of 1982–1999. The book outlines the inception of the boom and guides the readers behind the scenes of Wall Street and Washington.

Where to find this book? Here is the link

Amazon: 4.4/5

Goodreads: 4.06/5

14. Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation

Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation

Author: Edward Chancellor

The book Devil Take the Hindmost takes the readers back in time. Author Edward Chancellor helps readers understand the evolution of the speculative spirit and connects it to today’s stock market. Edward is a historian from Cambridge and Oxford Universities. He also worked for the investment bank Lazard Brothers. In the book, he mapped out the history of stock market speculation from the 17th century to the present. He discusses how the psychology of investing has changed over the last five hundred years.

Where to find this book? Here is the link

Amazon: 4.5/5

Goodreads: 3.99/5

15. The Myth of the Rational Market

The Myth of the Rational Market

Author: Justin Fox

The Myth of the Rational Market is a source for readers on the market and behavioral finance debate. It is a book authored by Time Magazine economics columnist Justin Fox. It offers an analytic text on the rise and fall of the world’s most influential investing idea and efficient markets theory. Fox attempted to conclude how successful investing yielded high results. The book writes on the historical insight of financial markets and explores the replacement theory of behavioral economics.

Where to find this book? Here is the link

Amazon: 4.3/5

Goodreads: 3.85/5

16. The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: Risk Taking, Gut Feelings, and the Biology of Boom and Bust

The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: Risk Taking, Gut Feelings, and the Biology of Boom and Bust

Author: John Coates

The Hour Between Dog and Wolf by John Coates, a Canadian Cambridge neuroscientist, answers a profound question of what happens to your body when you take risks. Also, what happens to it when you make or lose a lot of money? The book was a Financial Times finalist and shortlisted for the Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year. This book explains why risk isn't a matter of mind over body; it's a matter of mind and body working together.

Where to find this book? Here is the link

Amazon: 4.4/5

Goodreads: 3.93/5

Best Books for Personal Investing

17. Investing with the Trend: A Rules-based Approach to Money Management

Investing with the Trend: A Rules-based Approach to Money Management

Author: Gregory L. Morris

Investing with the Trend is a book written by Gregory L. Morris, an industry leader and chairman of the Investment Committee for Stadion Money Management, LLC. Morris challenges many principles of conventional financial wisdom and practice. His book shares an approach to rules-based investment behavior, a guide to taking part in the good markets and avoiding the bad ones.

Where to find this book? Here is the link

Amazon: 3.7/5

Goodreads: 4.00/5

18. Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard

Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard

Author: Mark Minervini

The book is written by one of America's most successful stock traders, a Wall Street veteran. Mark Minervini’s Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard is an encyclopedic literature on investing in growth stocks. He writes on his trademarked stock market method, SEPA, which combines risk management, self-analysis, and perseverance. It is well known to bring returns in most markets.

Where to find this book? Here is the link

Amazon: 4.7/5

Goodreads: 4.55/5

19. Inside the House of Money

Inside the House of Money

Author: Steven Drobny

In the book Inside the House of Money, author Steven Drobny emphasizes the global macro. He writes about investing methods that encompass different types of strategies. He is the founder and CEO of Drobny Global Asset Management. Drobny offers interviews with 13 successful global macro traders and shares how today's highest-paid money managers of “global macro” succeed.

Where to find this book? Here is the link

Amazon: 3.9/5

Goodreads: 4.04/5

20. The Art of Execution: How the World's Best Investors Get It Wrong and Still Make Millions

The Art of Execution: How the World's Best Investors Get It Wrong and Still Make Millions

Author: Lee Freeman-Shor

Lee Freeman-Shor wrote The Art of Execution. He is widely popular for managing over $1bn in High-Alpha and Multi-Asset strategies. In his book, he describes reviewing 1,800 investments made by fund managers under his leadership. In the review, he finds similar habits that might result in their success or failure. This experimental approach revealed that general practices of losing and winning investments improve and hurt returns.

Where to find this book? Here is the link

Amazon: 4.3/5

Goodreads: 4.06/5

Final Thoughts: Why read Books for Investing

Reading the right books on investing helps you achieve financial literacy and acts as a guide to start your journey in investment. The list is hand-picked for a refined read and helps you explore the world of financial literacy. The books in the list evaluate diverse investing perspectives and strategies to help you understand the right investment strategy.