The essays of Warren Buffett

What Hacker News says

1. _uoudMay 2025
   For Buffett I recommend Essays of Warren Buffett. Regarding Munger’s Almanack, I wrote a nice summary just before his death:

   ”A real estate investment of $24 by the Dutch to buy the island of Manhattan would today be roughly equivalent to $3 trillion. Across 378 years, that’s about a seven percent annual compound rate of return…”

   https://www.lostbookofsales.com/notes/poor-charlies-almanack...

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2. madballsterJul 2020
   I know this is off-beat, but I found Warren Buffett's annual letters invaluable as a resource to learn about corporate finance. They don't substitute a good textbook, but they give a great insight into real world application.

   They're available for free on www.berkshirehathaway.com ("Annual Reports" -> "Chairman’s Letter"), for those who prefer a book Lawrence Cunningham wrote a great compendium with annotations and context called "The Essays of Warren Buffett".

   I re-read these every once in a while over the years and found endless useful insights as my real-world business and finance experience grew.

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3. atlas1428Sep 2018
   - The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

   - Godel Escher Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter

   - Language, Truth, and Logic by A. J. Ayer

   - Thinking in Systems: A Primer by Donella Meadows

   Books that serve as investment philosophy guides for those who've developed a habit of saving money but are looking for the "next step" in building more wealth. From the mind of one of the greatest investors of all time:

   - The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham (get the annotated version with an epilogue written by Warren Buffett!)

   - The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America

   A book that discusses what matters most in your life from a resource-allocation, measurable results standpoint (family, etc.):

   - How Will You Measure Your Life by Clayton Christensen

   A book I read 10 years ago that forever changed the way I manage productivity and organization both at work and in my personal life:

   - Getting Things Done by David Allen

   Books that show that our universe is just as crazy, if not crazier, than science fiction:

   - Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy

   - Quantum Chance: Nonlocality, Teleportation and Other Quantum Marvels

   - ..and so on with intersecting topics!

   Not to mention, I love trying to have as deep an understanding as I can by reading highly technical textbooks on cosmology, gravitation, and quantum physics.

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4. dritedSep 2017
   Here's some: with why I like them

   Thinking, problem solving related:

   Superforecasting by Philip Tetlock: accurate forecasting

   Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman: how to avoid bias

   Misbehaving: like thinking fast and slow but more hilarious

   The checklist manifesto by Atul Gawande: the power of simple process

   From Darwin to Munger by Peter Bevelin: lots of mental models to add to your latticework

   Business management:

   The Outsiders by William Thorndike: capital allocation

   The hard thing about hard things by Ben Horowitz: some mental models for managers facing the real-life struggles of startups

   Zero to One by Peter Thiel and Blake masters: for the chapter on what kinds of business are always going to be tough (i.e. ones in perfectly competitive industries)

   Worldview:

   The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why violence has declined

   The making of modern economics by Mark Skousen (audiobook): explains various economic ideas through telling the history of the fathers of those ideas.

   Investing:

   You can be a stock market genius by Joel Greenblatt: where to look for undervaluation

   The Essays of Warren Buffett by Lawrence Cunningham: Buffett's thoughts in Buffett's words, neatly categorised by topic

   Competition Demystified by Bruce Greenwald: how to identify a high quality business

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5. RockyMcNutsSep 2016
   FWIW this would be my list of books every investor should read, which is different from what you should read to work in finance but anyway ...

   Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street by Peter L. Bernstein. A lively introduction to the theoretical foundations of modern finance and their history, Markowitz, Sharpe, etc. https://www.amazon.com/Capital-Ideas-Improbable-Origins-Mode...

   The Essays of Warren Buffett : Lessons for Corporate America by Warren E. Buffett. In his own words...you can also find many if not all online, on Berkshire website https://www.amazon.com/The-Essays-Warren-Buffett-Corporate/d...

   Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist by Roger Lowenstein. Insightful biography...The Snowball was written more recently with Buffett's approval, but would read this one first https://www.amazon.com/Buffett-American-Capitalist-Roger-Low...

   Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings by Philip A. Fisher. It's not widely appreciated, but Warren Buffett's method is 50% Ben Graham and 50% Phil Fisher. If you can find value stocks that are also great franchises, and hold onto them for dear life, you will be rich... if you also bet big, operate companies well, don't screw up, live in a bull market era and survive long enough, maybe as rich as Buffett. https://www.amazon.com/Common-Stocks-Uncommon-Profits-Writin...

   The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel by Benjamin Graham. Classic introduction to value investing https://www.amazon.com/The-Intelligent-Investor-Practical-Co...

   Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment by David F. Swensen. Asset allocation, and the perils of mutual funds...leading endowment investor of our time (Yale) gives his advice for individuals https://www.amazon.com/Unconventional-Success-Fundamental-Ap...

   The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor by Howard Marks. Lessons in investing... at any time, any one of them can be 'the most important thing' and so they all are jointly and severally 'the most important thing'. https://www.amazon.com/The-Most-Important-Thing-Thoughtful/d...

   The Investor's Anthology: Original Ideas from the Industry's Greatest Minds (Vols 1 and 2) by Charles D. Ellis (Editor), James R. Vertin (Editor). Essays from a broad selection of writers https://www.amazon.com/The-Investors-Anthology-Industrys-Inv... https://www.amazon.com/Classics-II-Another-Investors-Antholo...

   The Money Masters; The New Money Masters; Money Masters of Our Time, by John Train. Methodologies of all-time great money managers, in their own words https://www.amazon.com/The-Money-Masters-John-Train/dp/08873... https://www.amazon.com/Money-Masters-Time-John-Train/dp/0887... https://www.amazon.com/New-Money-Masters-John-Train/dp/08873...

   Market Wizards; The New Market Wizards; Hedge Fund Market Wizards, by Jack D. Schwager. Interviews of successful traders https://www.amazon.com/Market-Wizards-Jack-D-Schwager/dp/088... https://www.amazon.com/The-New-Market-Wizards-Conversations/... https://www.amazon.com/Hedge-Fund-Market-Wizards-Winning/dp/...

   Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises by Charles P. Kindleberger. Why good markets go bad https://www.amazon.com/Manias-Panics-Crashes-Financial-Inves...

   Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre. Fictionalized biography of a famed early-20th century trader https://www.amazon.com/Reminiscences-Stock-Operator-Edwin-Le...

   A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Best and Latest Investment Advice Money Can Buy by Burton G. Malkiel. Reality check from an efficient market theorist https://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/03933...

   This is a rollicking good read on links between Shannon, Kelly, Thorpe, who wrote 'Beat the Dealer' and was maybe the first hedge fund legend https://www.amazon.com/Fortunes-Formula-Scientific-Betting-C...

   And maybe something on technical analysis, but not really sure what to recommend...a lot of people view it kind as mumbo jumbo, but I kind of think fundamentals are like playing your poker hand, technicals are like playing the opponents' tells...the chart gives you an idea of who owns it at what price, what levels might make people rethink positions. Maybe this one as an easy intro, dumb title notwithstanding https://www.amazon.com/Stan-Weinsteins-Secrets-Profiting-Mar...

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6. karlbSep 2015
   This is a great complement to a book I loved: “The Essays of Warren Buffett,” a compilation of Warren Buffett's shareholder letters, organized by subject matter.

   http://www.amazon.com/Essays-Warren-Buffett-Lessons-Corporat...

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