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Wall Street Reading List
The always wise Paul Kedrosky blogged a intern reading list for Bear Stearns:
- Barbarians at the Gate, by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar
- Beyond Greed and Fear: Understanding Behavioral Finance and the Psychology of Investing, by Hersh Shefrin
- Confessions of a Street Addict, by Jim Cramer
- Den of Thieves, by James B. Stuart
- Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation, by Edward Chancellor
- Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Liar’s Poker, by Michael Lewis
- Monkey Business: Swinging Through the Wall Street Jungle, by John Rolfe and Peter Troob
- Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, by Edwin Lefèvre
- The Mind of Wall Street, by Leon Levy
- The Predator’s Ball, by Connie Bruck
- Wall Street Meat: My Narrow Escape from the Stock Market Grinder, by Andy Kessler
- When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management, by Roger Lowenstein
I’ve read a random smattering of these during my undergrad days, when I briefly entertained the idea of pursuing a career on Wall Street.
What would a similar list of books for the Venture Capital and Startups look like? I’ll take suggestions and then contribute my own recommendations in a later post.
Recent posts
For inspiration, strategy, success and world impact I still have not ready anything better than “Behind the Golden Arches” by John Love. It has more impact today because of the “social” nature of how McD was built.
From Library Journal
The history of the McDonald’s system is the story of an organization that learned how to harness the power of entrepreneurs; not several, but hundreds of them. This work is not the story of Ray Kroc, McDonald’s colorful founder, but that of all of the individuals, including the McDonald brothers, suppliers, financiers, franchisees, as well as the early employees, who made McDonald’s the undisputed champion of the fast food industry.
http://www.amazon.com/McDonalds-Behind-John-F-Love/dp/0553347594
Jonathan Mendez
10 Sep 07 at 9:03 am
The Shefrin book on behavioral finance is great.
I’ve found the Heath brothers’ book “Made to Stick” can really help communicate big ideas with few words…a pretty important skill for entrepreneurs.
Also Scott Berkun’s book “The Art of Project Management” is good for helping get things done, especially if you’ve never had the freedom/responsibility of founding a startup.
But seriously, isn’t blog.pmarca.com enough?
Ethan Bauley
10 Sep 07 at 10:40 am