12 Best Investing Books According to 24 World-Class Investors

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What are the best investing books according to the world’s greatest investors?

To answer that question, I gathered the recommended reading lists of 24 influential investors and hedge fund managers. Using interviews, shareholder letters, and public talks, I collected every book they personally endorsed, combined all 240-plus recommendations into a single dataset, and ranked the titles by how numerous investors recommended them.

Editor’s Note: The investors in this roundup span a wide range of ages, but even the younger names, such as Michael Burry, David Einhorn, Ken Griffin, and Li Lu, built their reputations well before the recent wave of “modern” investing books. As a result, the recommendations naturally lean toward timeless classics rather than new releases.

Table of Contents

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• 1. The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
• 2. Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham
• 3. The Essays of Warren Buffett
• 4. You Can Be A Stock Market Genius by Joel Greenblatt
• 5. Margin of Safety by Seth Klarman
• 6. Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefèvre
• 7. The Warren Buffett Way by Robert Hagstrom
• 8. Common Stock, Uncommon Profits and Other Writings by Philip Fisher
• 9. The Excellent Crash 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith
• 10. One Up On Wall Street by Peter Lynch
• 11. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
• 12. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John C. Bogle
• The Reading Lists
• Final Thoughts

1. The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham

Number of recommendations: 11Recommended by: Warren Buffett, Bill Ackman, Michael Burry, Bruce Berkowitz, Joel Greenblatt, Seth Klarman, John Griffin, Li Lu, Guy Spier, Charlie Munger, Walter Schloss

Warren Buffett has called The Intelligent Investor, “by far the best book on investing ever written.”

He continues: “Chapters 8 and 20 have been the bedrock of my investing activities for more than 60 years. I suggest that all investors read those chapters and reread them every time the market has been especially strong or weak.“

First published in 1949, Benjamin Graham’s now-classic book has impacted generations of investors and is recommended by numerous of today’s well-known hedge fund managers, including, Joel Greenblatt and Michael Burry.

Known as “the father of value investing,” Graham revised the book four times, with the last revision being published in 1971. In 2003, respected Wall Street Journal financial columnist Jason Zweig updated the book with his own commentary and footnotes.

2. Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham

Number of recommendations: 10Recommended by: Bill Ackman, Bruce Berkowitz, Warren Buffett, Michael Burry, Joel Greenblatt, John Griffin, Seth Klarman, Li Lu, Walter Schloss and Don Yacktman.

Benjamin Graham’s first book, Security Analysis (co-written with David Dodd), comes in at #2 on the list of best investing books of all time.

Buffet, who also wrote the forward, is quoted on the back cover calling it, “a roadmap for investing that I have now been following for 57 years.”

While Graham’s The Intelligent Investor is by no means a light read, Security Analysis is an even more detailed overview of Graham’s stock picking methods. So if you plan on reading both, I’d start with the former.

The newest version of Security Analysis, published in 2008, includes insight from some of today’s top investors, including Seth Klarman, Howard Marks, Bruce Berkowitz, Bruce Greenwald and others.

3. The Essays of Warren Buffett

Number of recommendations: 9Recommended by: Recommended by: Bill Ackman, Bruce Berkowitz, Joel Greenblatt, John Griffin, Michael Burry, Nick Sleep, Li Lu

Coming in at #4 on the list of best investing books of all time are Warren Buffett’s essays and annual letters to shareholders, in which the famed investor shares his wisdom and methods. 

Spanning decades of correspondence, there are actually two separate books that have compiled his writing:

• The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, edited by Lawrence Cunningham: an edited version that groups similar topics from different years together.
• Berkshire Hathaway Letters to Shareholders, edited by Max Olson: a compilation of the unedited versions of Warren Buffett’s letters (only $2.99 on Kindle).

Buffett’s unedited letters are also available for free on Berkshire’s website.

4. You Can Be A Stock Market Genius by Joel Greenblatt

Number of recommendations: 8Recommended by: Bill Ackman, Michael Burry, David Einhorn, Seth Klarman, Dan Loeb, Li Lu, Guy Spier, John Griffin

While it’s too popular to be called a hidden gem, it’s fair to say that You Can Be A Stock Market Genius has flown under the radar, ranking at just #60 in Amazon’s finance section. 

(Greenblatt’s second book, The Little Book That Beats The Market, is #17.)

You Can Be A Stock Market Genius details how individual investors can use special situation investing to beat the market.

This involves investing in:Final Thoughts

The bottom line: a little research on investing books according world goes a long way. Compare your options, watch for seasonal offers, and never pay full price when a better deal is one click away.

Originally published at thewaystowealth.com.