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TMFDeej (99.47)

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September 03, 2010 – Comments (19)

 

If anyone asked me what the single most important thing and investor can to to get better is, I probably would say to read, and read a lot.  

I personally love to read...websites, books, magazines, you name it.  I only wish that I had more time to do so.

Since I have done a ton of work this week and it's late on Friday afternoon, I have decided to procrastinate by posting the list of books that I have in my queue to read.  I'd love to hear others thoughts on these books and other books suggestions.

The leather case / book light for my new next generation Kindle came in the mail the other day. Hopefully that means that the Kindle itself will arrive some time this month.  Here is the list of books that I plan on purchasing for it either right away or in the future:

One Good Trade: Inside the Highly Competitive World of Proprietary Trading - Mike Bellafiore

The Art of Short Selling

Free Cash Flow and Shareholder Yield: New Priorities for the Global Investor - William W. Priest

One Good Trade: Inside the Highly Competitive World of Proprietary Trading - Mike Bellafiore

Diary of a Hedge Fund Manager: From the Top, to the Bottom, and Back Again - Keith McCullough

Value Investing: Tools and Techniques for Intelligent Investment - James Montier

Value Investing: A Balanced Approach - Martin J. Whitman

The Panic of 1907: Lessons Learned from the Market's Perfect Storm - Sean D. Carr

Great Crash of 1929 - John Kenneth Galbraith

Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk - Peter L. Bernstein

Value Investing: From Graham to Buffett and Beyond - Bruce C. N. Greenwald 

The Big Money: Seven Steps to Picking Great Stocks and Finding Financial Security  - Frederick R. Kobrick

The First Tycoon - T.J. Stiles

Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory - Ben Macintyre

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus - Charles C. Man

The Ghosts of Cannae: Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic - Robert L. O'Connell

So that's my Kindle "Wish List."  I have a ton of books on the shelves in my office that are waiting to be read.  At the top of the list are :

What Works on Wall Street: A Guide to the Best-Performing​ Investment Strategies of All Time -James P. O'Shaughnessy

The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It - Scott Patterson

Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street - Michael Lewis (How on Earth have I never gotten around to reading this one?)

You Can Be a Stock Market Genius: Uncover the Secret Hiding Places of Stock Market Profits - Joel Greenblatt (I've already read this one several years ago, but I want to do so again)

I'd like to read the following books but they're only available in old school paper, not Kindle format. I'll probably get around to buying them eventually:

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator - Edwin Lefevre aka Jesse Livermore

Top Hedge Fund Investors: Stories, Strategies, and Advice  - Cathleen M. Rittereiser

TradeStream Your Way to Profits - Zack Miller

The Inefficient Stock Market  - Robert A. Haugen

I am currently reading Hedgehogging by Barton Biggs.  It has been very entertaining and well-written thus far.  

Here's a list of books that I have recently completed and enjoyed:

The Billion Dollar Mistake: Learning the Art of Investing Through the Missteps of Legendary Investors - Stephen L. Weiss (not particularly well written, but very interesting and educational)

Confidence Game: How a Hedge Fund Manager Called Wall Street's Bluff - Christine Richard (a tad dry in parts, but overall a very good read)

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine - Michael Lewis (everything by Michael Lewis is good)

Fooling Some of the People All of the Time: A Long Short Story - David Einhorn 

The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History - Gregory Zuckerman

Whew...that's A LOT of books.  My eyes hurt just from reading the list ;)

Anyhow, I'd love to hear others quick thoughts on any of these or suggestions for ones that I might have missed.

I'm off because it's almost time for me to host my hundredth annual Fantasy Football draft.  I'm off to pick up a million bags of ice for the, er, um soda.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Deej 

19 Comments – Post Your Own

#1) On September 03, 2010 at 4:50 PM, TMFDeej (99.47) wrote:

Huh that's funny, I just wondered aloud...or ablog I suppose I should way, when my new Kindle would arrive and literally minutes later I received this in my inbox:

"We now have delivery date(s) for the order you placed on August 07 2010 (Order# 102-2996104-1003442): 

 

   "Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, 6" Display, Graphite - Latest Generation"

    Estimated arrival date: September 15 2010 - September 16 2010"

Deej 

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#2) On September 03, 2010 at 5:04 PM, rofgile (99.00) wrote:

Have you read "(Mis)behavior of the Markets" by Mandelbrot yet?

If not, you should toss that one in your list too!  (I also find libraries are great for these kinds of books, since I don't normally read business/non-fiction more than once for most)

 -Rof 

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#3) On September 03, 2010 at 5:08 PM, rofgile (99.00) wrote:

Sorry to comment twice.. I've been much more bloggy lately.   You should get a program called "Calibre" for you computer (Windows/Mac/PC).  Its free - and it'll organize all your ebooks on your computer for uploading to your device.

It'll also convert between formats, so you could buy books from Sony's bookstore and convert them for the Kindle, etc.

And, it'll aggregate news websites and turn them into ebooks you can read on your nice EInk screen out on the deck.  I'm getting NYTimes, National Post, Washington Post, etc every day (at least the front page stories) and having them as ebooks to read on my eDGe e-reader...

 -Rof 

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#4) On September 03, 2010 at 5:09 PM, XMFSmashy (99.93) wrote:

The Art of Short Selling is great, and probably under-read because long investors don't think it applies to them. That and it's not available in paperback..

T

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#5) On September 06, 2010 at 3:36 AM, walt373 (99.85) wrote:

Nice list. I wish my library had more of these... some of them are kind of expensive.

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#6) On September 06, 2010 at 8:43 AM, TMFDeej (99.47) wrote:

Thanks Walt.  I haven't bought all of them yet, though I wish I had. I can only read one at a time anyhow :).  You're right, some of them are sort of expensive.

That's one of the great things about the Kindle.  I had to drop $150 to buy it, but now I can buy books...even brand new hardcover ones for less than ten bucks a piece in many instances.

Another place I often go is the library.  My wife is a library maniac.  She reads books so quickly it would be a waste for her to buy all of them.

It take me a little longer to get through books than it takes her.  It's partially because she's a fast reader and partially because I work millions of hours per week and read a number of magazines / websites at the same time I'm working on a book.

Many, many of these titles are available at the library for free. Deals don't get any better than that.

Deej 

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#7) On September 06, 2010 at 8:45 AM, TMFDeej (99.47) wrote:

Hey Rof.  I've never heard of "(Mis)behavior of the Markets" I'll definitely check it out.

Calibre sounds cool as heck.  I wonder how long it will be before the newspapers try to shut it down :).

Deej 

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#8) On September 06, 2010 at 8:46 AM, TMFDeej (99.47) wrote:

Thanks for the input on the Art of Short Selling, Toby.  I'm definitely bumping it up on my list.

Deej 

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#9) On September 06, 2010 at 8:54 AM, rockbox64 (25.68) wrote:

Have you thought about "The Great Gatsby"?  Often regarded as the quintessential "american novel", it chronicles a summer in the life of a man who is idolized by many but, as we find, his life is ultimately built on nothing.  Anyone who has ever followed the market closely can empathize with that concept.

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#10) On September 06, 2010 at 9:34 AM, rhallbick (99.73) wrote:

The last book I read was Reminiscences of a Stock Operator.  It was good enough that I immediately read it again.

Next one will be the research paper, This Time is Different: A Panoramic View of Eight Centuries of Financial Crises, published in Apr 2008.  Then, I think I will go back and read one of Lynch's books again.  It's been so long since I read them that a fresh read with now more experienced eyes might be beneficial.

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#11) On September 06, 2010 at 9:45 PM, paperpump (< 20) wrote:

DEEJ- great post.. like you I also love to read. I just finished reading "fooling some of the people all of the time," and its a great book. The first couple chapters describe in detail einhorn's porfolio strategy and how he started out. 

 you mentioned that you are reading hedgehogging right now- that is the next book i will read.. my buddy says he talks about the similarities between being a good golfer and a good hedge fund manager. 

 

some of my other favorites which I thought you might enjoy are..

margin of safety- by seth klarman (you can google the title and find the PDF, then have it printed and bound at fedex office)

mr. market miscalculates by Jim Grant (guy who wrote the intro to the most recent edition of security analysis along with klarman)

beating the steet by peter lynch.. he's an awesome writer and goes in depth about his "scuttlebutt," as phil fisher says..

liars poker is good, but kinda like a bag of potato chips- you don't learn a ton, but michael lewis is a great writer.

snowball by alice shroeder 

oh and CARNEGIE by david nasaw- i dont know why this one just came to me but its my favorite of all time. you might think, "hey this isn't an investment book," but it is. not only does the book detail his investments but how he structured them with his business partners and how he clawed his way from being a poor scottish immigrant to the richest man in the world. A truly amazing book!

hope you get around to reading some of these as I think we have about the same tastes in books and hopefully you'll enjoy many of these. enjoy joel greenblatt, you can be a stock.... is one of my favorites.  

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#12) On September 07, 2010 at 6:21 AM, TMFDeej (99.47) wrote:

I've never read the Great Gatsby, Rockbox.  I've heard that a similar old-school tome, The Grapes of Wrath is excellent as well.  I'll definitely have to it to my list.  Thanks for the suggestion.

Deej 

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#13) On September 07, 2010 at 6:24 AM, TMFDeej (99.47) wrote:

I can't tell you how many people I've heard rave about Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, Rhallbick.  I'm going to have to order this one.  I don't believe that it's available on Kindle, but this one sounds good enough that I'm going to have to go with a paper copy.

I believe that This Time is Different is the Reinhart and Rogoff book, correct?  If I haven't bought it already I've come close.  You know that you're behind on your reading when you don't even know what books are on your shelf any more :).

Deej 

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#14) On September 07, 2010 at 6:25 AM, TMFDeej (99.47) wrote:

I can't tell you how many people I've heard rave about Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, Rhallbick.  I'm going to have to order this one.  I don't believe that it's available on Kindle, but this one sounds good enough that I'm going to have to go with a paper copy.

I believe that This Time is Different is the Reinhart and Rogoff book, correct?  If I haven't bought it already I've come close.  You know that you're behind on your reading when you don't even know what books are on your shelf any more :).

Deej 

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#15) On September 07, 2010 at 6:31 AM, TMFDeej (99.47) wrote:

Thanks paper pump.  I completely agree with you about the early part of "Fooling Some of the People..." being excellent.  That part alone is worth the read.  I always try to find books about great investors like Einhorn so that I can read about some of their wining and losing trades and the thought process that went into making them.

Thanks for the tip about the Klarman book.  I knew that it was out of print, now I know where to find it.

I've got Mr. Market Miscalculates sitting on the shelf already.  Grand's an interesting character.

I have Lynch's books as well.

I've never read Snowball.  I thought about picking it up once or twice, but I haven't yet.  While he is obviously an absolutely amazing investor, I'm not as big a Buffett guy as some people are for some reason.  I'm sure there's still some good info in there and I probably should read it.

CARNEGIE sounds like it's along the same lines of The Last Tycoon, which I had on my list as well.  Hey, this doesn't have to be limited to investment books.  I slipped a few history books in there as well.  I see your point about looking at how Carnagie built his way up from nothing and how he did it.  I'm sold.

Thanks for the great suggestions

Deej 

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#16) On September 08, 2010 at 2:48 AM, DragontoadX (96.72) wrote:

I've recently been on a reading binge myself... some  of my favorites are:

My Favorite Value Investing Books:

-The Little Book That Beats the Market (best intro to value investing book, but everyone should read it.)

-Buffettology and The New Buffettology (excellent crystallization of buffett's general technique)

Other good choices:

-Value Investing: From Graham to Buffett and Beyond (I have read through some of this... it's pretty good but a bit dry.. don't try to read it when you're tired)

-Super Stocks (Ken Fisher)

-Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits

-Margin of Safety (by Klarmin - also mentioned by paperpump)

-You Can Be a Stock Market Genius

-One Up on Wall Street 

-Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan (by Taleb) 

-The Money Masters and The New Money Masters (by John Train) (great in-depth interviews mostly focused on investors)

Trading: 

-The Market Wizards and The New Market Wizards (by Schwager) (great in-depth interviews mostly focused on traders)

-How to Make Money in Stocks 

Macro:

 -Inside The House of Money and The Invisible Hands (by Drobny) (great in-depth interviews with mostly macro investors - by favorites are the interviews with Jim Leitner but some of the others are good too)

-The Alchemy of Finance (by George Soros) (I'm only about 1/4 through this, but so far it's excellent) 

Short Selling: 

The Art of Short Selling (I have started reading this and set it down temporarily, but it is great so far)

Financial Shenanigans (ditto above) 

  

...I own Reminisces of a Stock Operator, but I still need to read it too... I'm sure it will become a favorite based on the number of people who have recommended it.  I bought the annotated edition by Markman which contains historical sidenotes and mini biographies of various characters in the story... given the popularity of the book, you may be interested in that version too.

I read  Value Investing: Tools and Techniques.. by Montier.  While it was OK, It wasn't quite as good as I hoped it might be

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#17) On September 08, 2010 at 2:56 AM, DragontoadX (96.72) wrote:

...Also, I listened to The Snowball in audiobook form while driving across country.  It was pretty good if you're into Buffett, but I'm not sure if I could have made it through if I had to sit down and work my way through that tome.  

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#18) On September 12, 2010 at 6:14 PM, rhallbick (99.73) wrote:

>Reminiscences of a Stock Operator I would think that some people would rave about Reminiscences because there is more to it than what you might think beforehand.  I won’t say anything else, so as not to ruin that experience for you.  If you ever do read it, let me know what you thought of it.

>This Time is Different is the Reinhart and Rogoff work.  It’s an academic study of 8 centuries of data from 60 countries concerning financial crises and their aftermath.  I managed to get through it, with the support of about three pots of coffee.  They purport to show that some commonly held beliefs are not historically accurate, but it really would be much better to get the Cliff Notes on this one.  I applaud them for their efforts in putting it together, but it was hard for me to stay interested.  Picture, say, four pages of carefully explaining how they define their terms, how they categorize the data, what the different data sources were, how the charts were designed and then a small paragraph on what their summary is of the data.  Then you start again on the next set of data.

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#19) On October 06, 2010 at 1:05 PM, TangoSukka (< 20) wrote:

I am currently about half way through Value Investing: Tools and Techniques for Intelligent Inv...... - James Montier. So far it has discussed a lot of the behavioral side of investing. He references a lot of scientific studies and relates them to investing. It is an interesting read because it is teaching me to be aware of how I react emotional to say a 20% loss or a big bull rally day - it is teaching me to be aware and be disciplined.  I had hoped for a more rigorous and perhaps quantative discussion of value investing but perhaps that is in the second half of the book.

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