Compound your knowledge
44 books that shaped how I think about investing, business and decisions. To be an investor you have to be a life-long learner — it’s a mindset, not a job.
Investment philosophy
- The Most Important ThingHoward MarksMarks on second-level thinking and the difference between risk and volatility.
- The Dhandho InvestorMohnish PabraiLow risk, high uncertainty — value investing framed through Gujarati business instinct.
- Rich Dad, Poor DadRobert KiyosakiIf investments are completely new to you this is a good starting point and primer to get you going.
- Cashflow QuadrantRobert KiyosakiThe four ways income arrives — employee, self-employed, business owner, investor — and why the right side compounds.
- The Richest Man in BabylonGeorge S. ClasonPay yourself first, told as parables. The oldest advice, still the hardest to follow.
Investment approach
Startup investments
Startup approach
Decision making
- Thinking, Fast and SlowDaniel KahnemanThe two systems behind every judgement you make, and the biases baked into both.
- Thinking in BetsAnnie DukeA poker champion on separating decision quality from outcome quality — the distinction most investors get wrong.
- BlinkMalcolm GladwellWhen snap judgement outperforms deliberation, and when it fails badly.
Critical thinking
Success mindset
- PrinciplesRay Dalio100 principles by Ray Dalio derived from his own experiences to succeed in life.
- Think and Grow RichNapoleon HillA classic by Napoleon Hill, must read for success in life.
- The Compound EffectDarren HardySmall consistent choices, run long enough. The same maths as investing, applied to habits.
- Code of the Extraordinary MindVishen LakhianiOn questioning the rules you inherited without examining — what Lakhiani calls brules.
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ckMark MansonChoosing what to care about, on the grounds that caring about everything is the actual problem.
Strategy
Storytelling
Business biography
- The FirmDuff McDonaldInside story of McKinsey — errm, THE FIRM!
- The Predator's BallConnie BruckMichael Milken, junk bonds, and the 1980s takeover machine built on them.
- The FrackersGregory ZuckermanDeep dive into how the fracking industry evolved in the US through the lens of one of the early players. Thriller!
- The Man Who Solved the MarketGregory ZuckermanJim Simons and Renaissance Technologies — what happens when mathematicians take markets seriously.
- Dream BigCristiane CorreaInspiring story of 3G Capital — the Brazilian fund that is making big waves in the PE world.
- Merchants of DebtGeorge AndersKKR and the leveraged buyout, told from inside the deals.
- BiomimicryJanine BenyusDesign and industry taking their cues from three billion years of evolutionary R&D.
Biography
- Poor Charlie's AlmanackCharlie Munger, ed. Peter KaufmanMy favourite investor, the life of Charlie Munger documented. This is GOLD.
- King of OilDaniel AmmannStory of the guy who invented the spot market for oil and founded Glencore. Thriller.
- King of CapitalDavid Carey & John E. MorrisSchwarzman, Blackstone, and how private equity became an institution.
- Shoe DogPhil KnightThe Nike founder on the years when it very nearly didn't work — the most honest founder memoir there is.
- Steve JobsWalter IsaacsonA look behind the mind of the marketing and product genius.
Macroeconomics
Human evolution
Philosophy
- MeditationsMarcus AureliusA Roman emperor's private notes to himself. Where 'focus on what is in your control' comes from.
- The FountainheadAyn RandRand's architect refusing to compromise, and what that costs him.
- God's DebrisScott AdamsA short thought experiment designed to dismantle whatever you currently believe.