Bookshelf

These are the books behind the ideas on this site. Of everything I’ve read about money and life, these fifteen changed my advice the most.

Fooled by Randomness

Nassim Nicholas Taleb · 2001

3 ideas
The Misbehavior of Markets

Benoit Mandelbrot & Richard L. Hudson · 2004

2 ideas
- A few unpredictable days and stocks drive most of your returns.
- Durability beats optimization.
Triumph of the Optimists

Elroy Dimson, Paul Marsh & Mike Staunton · 2002

3 ideas
The Four Pillars of Investing

William J. Bernstein · 2002

1 idea
- Investment risk depends on what your money is for.
The Crisis of Crowding

Ludwig B. Chincarini · 2012

2 ideas
- Who owns an investment shapes how it behaves in a crisis.
- Leverage can convert a survivable decline into a permanent loss.
A Short History of Financial Euphoria

John Kenneth Galbraith · 1990

2 ideas
- Wealth and fame are mistaken for wisdom.
- Investor amnesia makes every bubble feel new.
The Elephant in the Brain

Kevin Simler & Robin Hanson · 2018

2 ideas
- The reason people give for a decision is not always the real one.
- Part of what you buy in an investment is what it says about you.
The Hour Between Dog and Wolf

John Coates · 2012

2 ideas
- Risk tolerance is a state as much as a trait.
- Financial stress primes you for action, so staying put is hard.
Where Are the Customers’ Yachts?

Fred Schwed Jr. · 1940

2 ideas
- A flat advisory fee means you never pay more for having more.
- An investment too small to matter is too small to own.
The Attention Merchants

Tim Wu · 2016

1 idea
- Financial media is built to harvest your attention, not help you.
A Man for All Markets

Edward O. Thorp · 2017

2 ideas
- Owning the whole market beats chasing an edge.
- Uninterrupted growth is where most wealth comes from.
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Edwin Lefèvre · 1923

1 idea
- Knowing better isn’t the same as doing better.
The Master and His Emissary

Iain McGilchrist · 2009

2 ideas
- Analytic thinking is an excellent servant and a terrible master.
- What can be counted comes to seem like all that counts.
Four Thousand Weeks

Oliver Burkeman · 2021

1 idea
- Keeping a good plan beats endlessly chasing a perfect one.
The Conquest of Happiness

Bertrand Russell · 1930

1 idea
- Money as a scoreboard has no finish line.