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Books to read to move from loathing to

loving finance

By Catherine Robson
February 1, 2018 — 2.36pm
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One of the revelations of 2017 was the popularity of Scott Pape's updated
personal finance book The Barefoot Investor. It was the highest selling book of
the year, with 438,000 copies sold. I loved its no-nonsense, common-sense
approach to creating financial independence.
The book addresses one of the key challenges in educating ourselves about
money. Often finance can be either intimidating or boring. Pape is one of those
gifted communicators who can cut through the jargon and connect with
young, old, experienced and novice investors alike.

Economist Daniel Kahneman was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former US
President Barack Obama. His story along with Amos Tversky is told in The Undoing
Project.CREDIT:NEW YORK TIMES
This is important as there is lots of evidence that engagement plays a critical
role in successful learning, enhancing both comprehension and ultimate
capability. Being interested is central to being in control of your own financial
destiny. Here are some fantastic books to turn learning about money matters
from a burdensome chore into a pleasure.
Anything by Michael Lewis
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Michael Lewis is best known as the author of the books that became the hit
movies Moneyball, staring Brad Pitt, and The Blind Side, which won Sandra
Bullock an Oscar. However, Lewis started life as a bond salesman for Salomon
Brothers in the heady days of the late 1980s. He chronicled his adventures as
a young hopeful on the dealing room floor in Liar's Poker. While the culture of
investment banks has (hopefully) moved on from the excesses that Lewis
depicts, it is a rollicking read and a very helpful insight into some of the very
human elements which drive markets.
Lewis' incredible talent for explaining complex topics in an accessible way is
on full display in his exploration of the global financial crisis in The Big Short,
subsequently made into an Academy Award-winning feature film. He expands
on the theme in Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World, tracking the
cultural causes for the financial disaster, including what Lewis describes as
the German national obsession with excrement.
While Lewis' work can be read for pure enjoyment, there is plenty for both
beginners and seasoned market professionals to learn from his extensive
research and captivating real-life stories. Flash Boys details the radical change
underway within investment markets, with tiny fractions of time becoming
the means by which high frequency traders obtain an edge over retail
investors and professional fund managers alike. The story is largely told
through the eyes of Brad Katsuyama, an institutional stock broker with Royal
Bank of Canada who was so incensed by what he felt was unfair "front
running" by high-frequency traders, he started a whole new stock exchange
from scratch, designed to even the playing field. The new US exchange, IEX has
inserted a tiny "speed bump" into the trading process, so that all investors
have access to information at the same time.
Lewis' most recent book is The Undoing Project which explores the friendship
between the remarkable Israeli social scientists Amos Tversky and Nobel
prize winner Daniel Kahneman, who together fathered the field of behavioural
economics. The protagonists are as intriguing as any great fictional characters
and their long collaboration not only produced ground-breaking academic
achievements, but moments of such poignancy that reviewers have admitted
to finishing the book in tears.
Predictably Irrational
Israeli-born Dan Ariely appears to be the natural heir to Kahneman and
Tversky, and his book Predictably Irrational presents anecdote after amusing
anecdote of how we often not only fail to act in our rational best interest, but
we do so systematically. By helping us understand how the wiring of our
brains causes these mistakes, particularly with money, Ariely seeks not only
to entertain, but to help us avoid the most egregious.
Freakonomics
Melding pop culture with economics, Freakonomics is a fabulously
entertaining collection of real-life examples of how incentives drive
behaviour. The book, its sequels, subsequent blogs, podcast and film have
encouraged millions to look at the world in a whole new way, using economics
to understand some of the less comprehensible aspects of everyday life.
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In addition to books, a proliferation of terrific blogs and podcasts are now

providing high quality, bite-size financial insights. Finding ones that resonate
with you may deliver both leisure and learning for long-term benefit.

Catherine Robson is an award-winning financial planner and host of

weekly business podcast Success Stories. Twitter:@CatherineAtAff