Apprenticed Investor: More Reading Ideas

Supplemental

There were lots of worthwhile books that didn't make the cut for one reason or another. Some of them -- like Bull's Eye Investing by John Mauldin were a bit too advanced for the apprentice. Others cover a single topic. If the entire book can be adequately summed up in one line, then I can save you eight hours.

Irrational Exuberance by Robert Shiller (Jeremy Siegel is wrong: markets are risky, stocks are over-priced.)

Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Markets are very random; watch out for black swan events.)

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but if you want to save time, the punch line is that complex systems are nonlinear.

The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki. The book is thought-provoking and interesting but, unfortunately, I found too many logical flaws in it; further, it seems to be too tied to the efficient market hypothesis. (Bottom line: The crowd is right until they become an unthinking mob.)

Common Sense on Mutual Funds: New Imperatives for the Intelligent Investor by John C. Bogle. (Wall Street charges too much, you are a lousy investor anyway, buy index funds.)

Chaos by James Gleick. Want to understand the mathematical science -- physics, actually -- of what really drives the market's behavior? Then this book is for you. (Bottom line: Markets are not truly random, but have qualities which include persistence, sensitivity to initial conditions and nonlinear dynamics.)

The (Mis)Behavior of Markets by Benoit Mandelbrot. Chaos theory as applied to markets by fractal geometry's creator. Warning: this book may make your head explode.

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