The Best Investing Books Of All Time

(As Voted By 20 Top Investors)

There are a lot of best investing book lists on the web today. Why read this one? Here
you'll find the investing books with the most recommendations from the greatest
investors of our day.

R.J. Weiss, CFP®

 Updated March 13, 2023

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What are the best investing books according to the world’s best investors? To find out, I
sought out the recommended books of 20 of the most successful investors and hedge
fund managers of all time. 

I curated a total of 246 book recommendations, combined them into a spreadsheet and
sorted them by count. The result is a list of the best investing books ranked by the
number of recommendations each one received.

You can view the data in its raw form here. 

Note that in cases where two books were tied, I ranked them based on my own
preferences.

Here’s a list of each of the books that scored more than three recommendations. At the
end of the post, you’ll also find a list of some of the most recommended quantitative
finance books.

Table of Contents
The Best Investing Books Of All
Time
#1. The Intelligent Investor By Benjamin
Graham
Number of recommendations: 9
Recommended by: Bill Ackman, Bruce Berkowitz, Warren Buffett, Michael Burry, Joel
Greenblatt, Seth Klarman, Mohnish Pabrai, Walter Schlossl and Guy Spier.

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 many 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: 9
Recommended by: Bill Ackman, Bruce Berkowitz, Warren Buffett, Michael Burry, Joel
Greenblatt, John Griffin, Seth Klarman, 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. You Can Be A Stock Market

Genius By Joel Greenblatt
Number of recommendations: 6
Recommended by: Bill Ackman, Michael Burry, David Einhorn, Seth Klarman, Dan
Loeb and Guy Spier.

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:

 Spin-offs
 Restructurings
 Merger securities
 Rights offerings
 Recapitalizations
 Bankruptcies
 Risk arbitrage
Researching these opportunities does require work — which may be part of the reason
why the book hasn’t caught on with mainstream individual investors. 

However, with six recommendations out of the 20 lists I reviewed, it’s fair to say
that You Can Be A Stock Market Genius has made an impact on many of the best
investors of our generation.

#4. The Essays Of Warren Buffett

Number of recommendations: 5
Recommended by: Bill Ackman, Bruce Berkowitz, Joel Greenblatt, John Griffin and
Don Yacktman.

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.

#5. The Warren Buffett Way By Robert

Hagstrom
Number of recommendations: 5
Recommended by: Bill Ackman, Joel Greenblatt, John Griffin, Howard Marks and
Mohnish Pabrai. 

There’s no question that Warren Buffett has profoundly shaped the investment
community.
Having written decades of letters containing his wisdom (see above) — and never one
to back away from an interview — Buffett’s been generous in sharing his investment
philosophy over the years. 

So it’s no wonder that his footprints are all over this list of best investing books.

What’s unique about The Warren Buffett Way is that it dives deep into the actual
strategies Buffett has used to succeed. It’s the definitive book on his strategies from an
outsider’s point of view.

Originally written in 1997, it was revised in 2013 to analyze Buffett’s more recent
investments.

#6. Reminiscences Of A Stock
Operator By Edwin Lefèvre
Number of recommendations: 4
Recommended by: Bruce Berkowitz, John Griffin, Dan Loeb and Guy Spier.

Written in 1923, Edwin Lefèvre’s classic Reminiscences of a Stock Operator is not an

investing book in the traditional sense. Rather, it’s a fictionalized biography of one of the
greatest investors of the time, Jesse Livermore, who made and lost millions multiple
times throughout his career. 

His most famous move was shorting the market in 1929 — immediately before the
crash that marked the beginning of the Great Depression.

Livermore ended his own life in 1940, after losing most of what he made (which was
reportedly over $100 million). 

His life story remains relevant today for its views on investor psychology, speculation,
and the nature of the market.

#7. Margin Of Safety By Seth Klarman

Number of recommendations: 4
Recommended by: Bill Ackman, David Einhorn, Joel Greenblatt and Guy Spier.
The “margin of safety” is the difference between the intrinsic value of a stock and its
market price.

Seth Klarman has used the concept to become one of the most successful hedge fund
managers of the day at the Baupost Group.

Often called “the next Warren Buffett” by the media, Klarman is a classic value investor.
So it’s no surprise that in this highly-regarded investment book he dives deep into the
“margin of safety” philosophy — a classic value investing framework — arguing that it’s
the most important concept for investors to understand.

Unfortunately, as the book is out of print, used copies often go for over $1,000. The
lowest price for a used copy on Amazon at the time of this writing is $899.

#8. Common Stock, Uncommon Profits

And Other Writings By Philip Fisher
Number of recommendations: 3
Recommended by: Michael Burry, Warren Buffet and John Griffin.

Originally published in 1958, Common Stock, Uncommon Profits and Other Writings by

Philip Fisher was one of the books that helped shape a young Warren Buffett’s
investment philosophy.

Buffett has said about the book: 

“I sought out Phil Fisher after reading his Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits […] A
thorough understanding of the business, obtained by using Phil’s techniques […]
enables one to make intelligent investment commitments.“

With insight into evaluating earnings and management, it’s easy to see how Fisher’s
classic book helped Buffett build upon the concepts he learned from Benjamin Graham.

Common Stock, Uncommon Profits and Other Writings was updated by Philip Fisher’s
son (popular Forbes columnist Ken Fisher) in 2003.
#9. One Up On Wall Street By Peter Lynch
Number of recommendations: 3
Recommended by: Bill Ackman, John Griffin and Mohnish Pabrai.

Charged with operating the Magellan Fund between 1977 and 1990, Peter Lynch
produced an annual average return of 29%, beating the S&P Index in 11 of his 13 years
at the helm.

In his book One Up On Wall Street, Lynch explains his philosophy and methods to help
the individual investor succeed.

First published in 2000, making it the second-youngest book on the list, One Up On

Wall Street has become very popular (boasting over 590 reviews on Amazon) for its
insights into how average investors can leverage certain advantages over large money
managers.

Its simple approach to investing (one sentence summary: invest in companies you know
and love) means there’s no question the book will continue to impact both individual
investors and tomorrow’s top hedge fund managers.

#10. Influence: The Psychology Of

Persuasion By Robert Cialdini
Number of recommendations: 3
Recommended By: Bruce Berkowitz, John Griffin and Charlie Munger.

While you won’t find this book in the investment section of any bookstore, it has clearly
had a great impact on the investment world and some of today’s greatest financial
leaders. 

In fact, when we did a similar experiment that looked at the recommended reading lists
of 100 famous CEOs and entrepreneurs, Influence came in at #1.

Written by Robert Cialdini, the book explores how our minds can be easily influenced —
and how to prevent it. It’s therefore no surprise that an investor like Charlie Munger,
who popularized the idea of mental models, loves the book. 
Munger liked the book so much, in fact, that he gifted Cialdine a share of Berkshire
Class A stock. The value of that share today is well over $330,000.

#11. The Great Crash 1929 By John

Kenneth Galbraith
Number of recommendations: 3
Recommended by: Bruce Berkowitz, Warren Buffett and Jim Chanos. 

First published in 1955, economist John Kenneth Galbraith’s The Great Crash explores

the events that produced the most damaging economic meltdown in American history,
ultimately arguing that it was driven by what he described as “rampant speculation.” 

That argument has remained prescient, regardless of the era. 

Whether during the “irrational exuberance” of the 90s dot-com bubble, the economic
crisis of 2008 (The Independent used arguments from the book to explain why the
global economy was collapsing), or today — with stocks like Tesla defying market
reality by trading at hundreds of times their future earnings — Galbraith’s warnings
serve as important reminders that markets are not perfectly efficient and that trying build
wealth by picking and choosing individual stocks is a difficult task.

#12. The Little Book Of Common Sense

Investing By John C. Bogle
Number of recommendations: 3
Recommended by: Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger and Mohnish Pabrai.

I was happy to see this book make the list, as it’s the investment book I credit for
shaping a lot of my views on investing.

I was fortunate enough to read it in my early 20s, at a time when my confidence as an

investor — but not my ability — was at an all-time high. 
Written by the late John Bogle, who founded Vanguard and invented index funds, this
book goes into detail on why an index-based approach to investing is the wiser
approach for the non-professional investor (and why it often even beats most
professional investors).

Because index investing is such a simple approach, it’s not as much about
understanding the details. More so, it’s about getting the big idea and then sticking with
the plan to be a disciplined investor through thick and thin. 

Bogle’s book, out of any other I’ve read, convinces you that index investing is indeed
the right path. 

The Best Quantitative Finance

Books
Four universities with well-known quantitative finance programs have, at times in the
past, posted their suggested reading lists online.

The books that have appeared on at least two of the reading lists from Boston
University, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia University and the University of Waterloo are:

 Advanced Modeling in Finance Using Excel and VBA  by Mary Jackson and Mike
Staunton
 Options, Futures and Other Derivatives by John C. Hull
 Stochastic Processes by Sheldon Ross
 The Complete Guide to Capital Markets for Quantitative Professionals by Alex
Kuznetsov
 When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of LTCM by Roger Lowenstein

If you’re looking for the best books on quantitative finance, these five options are a great
start. Want to dive deeper? See each reading list in its entirety below.

Note: While there are differences between the terms quantitative finance,

computational finance, mathematical finance and financial engineering, for this
article the terms were combined. 
For each recommendation below, I’ve included a link to the book’s page on Amazon. If
you click through and make a purchase, The Ways To Wealth receives a small
commission.