Recommended Readings: 100 books to read before you croak or turn 40
They say you can tell everything about someone by taking a look at his bedside reading list. Here is a new feature that shares my bed side reading habits as well as reviews books that helped me get to the next stage of my life. This week the list only has a couple of recommended titles, it will slowly grow over new posts and book reviews. Enjoy
Brealy & Meyers
Analysis for financial management – Higgins
Contemporary Financial Intermediation – Stuart I. Greenbaum & Anjan V. Thakor
Competition Demystified – B.C. Greenwald’s J Kahn’s
The Handbook of Fixed Income Securities – Frank J Fabozzi
Fooled by Randomness – The Hidden Role of Chance in and in the Markets – Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The Black Swan – Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Corporate Finance – Brealey and Meyers
There are good books and bad books, readable and unreadable books. In the field of Corporate Finance and Investment banking there are very few great books and the one that stands out is the Brealey and Meyers text on Corporate Finance that almost all Finance professionals have cut their teeth on at some point in time. Brealey and Meyers stands out
- Because of its sheer depth and coverage
- Despite (a) it doesn’t read like a dictionary (which is how I rate Faboozi)
If you like a refresher or a crystal clear introduction to the subject as well as a comprehensive review of a large range of topics, the Brealey and Meyers text book is the book for you
Analysis for Financial Management
Ratio analysis simplified.
Ratio Analysis is a dry subject and Higgins makes it as entertaining as a classy piece of fiction. His intuitive presentation of complex relationships across ratios is one of the best that I have ever read in the last 20 years of browsing, reading and ultimately memorizing tomes on this subject. While not as detailed as some of the competing titles on this topic, Higgins does a great job of getting the fundamentals right and making them come across in lucid layman terms
Fixed Income Securities, Second edition, Bruce Tuckman
The Tuckman textbook stands out for many reasons. First unlike most computational finance reference sources, it is actually written in English. Paul Petty at Goldman Sachs told me once that he would only read my summary recommendation on the value at risk upgrade if I kept all numbers and equations out of it. While Tuckman manages to smuggle in a few Greek symbols and lots of numbers inside, he does it with such grace that it becomes part of your conversation with him.
I was introduced to Bruce when the book became prescribed reading by the Society of Actuaries for the Advance Derivative course (the old V-480 exam). In my first few reads when I read his introduction to term structure modeling, I actually wept since Bruce lucidly explained in a few pages concepts that I had struggled to comprehend after 18 readings of John C. Hull.
Fixed Income Mathematics, Term structure modeling, Interest Rate simulators, Calibration of interest rates models, repurchase contracts and mortgage backed securities. If you need an easy to read, handy reference for all of the above topics without breaking your budget or your desk, Fixed Income Securities (University edition) by Bruce Tuckman is the book for you. When working in the field I end up using Tuckman far more than the Handbook of Fixed Income securities by Fabozzi or John C. Hull.
Founders at work, Jessica Livingston, Y-Combinator
Being a founder is difficult work. It is frustrating at time hopeless and only for a lucky few worthwhile. Sometimes in your darkest moment you need a balance between cheerleading and reality. Other founders who have walked that path and shared that door with you; Other stories with different endings to help you keep you sanity.
Jessica Livingston at Y-Combinator manages to do a bit of both. Her choice of companies, founders and objective narrative keeps the cheerleading at bay but at the same time gives you enough courage to see the end of one more day. And sometimes that is all what you need. The softcover edition is out and is priced under 15 dollars on Amazon right now. It is a much better read than my 19 dollars copies of Reboot. Go grab one.
The Stieg Larsson Trilogy, The Girl with the …. series
I first bought the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as an impulse buy while browsing through Page One in Singapore. For the next 12 months the book sat on my shelf waiting to be picked up. The cover was interesting, the title was different and when its turn came to be browsed it was everything but what I expected. For once I would not want my 12, 15 or 18 year old reading this any time soon. The book became a curious mix of offensive violence, off beat and misplaced affairs and at least a few instances of unpleasantness that would qualify for a book burning rally in my part of the world. But for all of its flaws, it was a pretty good read.
So when I found my self facing the new imprint of the Girl who played with fire at the Borders store in Dubai, one hand reached for the shelf, the other one for the wallet. And then I actually pined for the last part of the series. So pick the entire set in hard cover, prepared to be offended like you have never been offended before and if you really like offbeat fiction from a strange land from the hands of a writer who left too soon, you won’t regret it.
My heavy finance reading recommendations-books to put you to sleep and more
Computational Finance on Amazon
My light fiction and non-fiction reading recommendations-books to keep you awake at night
Jawwad’s bed time reading list
So you can’t see yourself doing any more numbers. Your mind is numb and you would like a good read far away from the world of Banking and Finance.
Two of my all time favorite escapes from Finance are Cryptonomicon and Prayers for an Assassin.
Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson
Cryptonomicon is not as far removed from the world of banking as I may have hinted initially but it is a remarkably well written combo of history, timelines and elements of embedded computer science. But I must warn you, you either love Neal Stephensen or you hate him, there is no middle ground. Crypto’s theme weaves across World War II, Manila, Brunei, Hackers and unbeatable codes with some violence thrown in for good measure.
Prayers for the Assassin – Robert Ferrigno
Robert Ferrigno’s Prayers for an Assassin is a remarkably different book. I loved it while a family friend thought that I must be sick to be reading a book like Assassins. If you like a summarized theme, think Islamic Republic of North America, alternate timelines (obviously) and a likeable Assassin by the name of Rakkim. When I found Prayers at a bookstore in Malaysia, its cover and summarized theme made me pick it up. Turn a few pages and Ferrigno’s style will get its hooks into you. And then there is no turning back. Once again, the book is exceedingly violent with two very disturbing themes that may turn your stomach. Not recommended for younger readers at all.
Prayers for the Assassin – Robert Ferrigno
Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson
Wolves Eat Dogs – Martin Cruz Smith
Three Stations -
Red Square – Martin Cruz Smith
Polar Star – Martin Cruz Smith
Stalin’s Ghost – Martin Cruz Smith
Havana Bay – Martin Cruz Smith
December 6 – Martin Cruz Smith
The Alchemist – Paul Coelho
Prayers for the Assassin – Robert Ferrigno
The Wake-up – Robert Ferrigno
Scavanger Hunt – Robert Ferrigno
Heart Breaker – Robert Ferrigno
Founders at Work:Stories of Startups’ Early Days – Jessica Livingston
Burn Rate: How I survived the Gold Rush Years on the Internet – Michael Wolf
Resurrection Day – Brendan Dubois
Timeline – Michael Crichton
State of Frear – Michael Crichton
Airframe – Michael Crichton
Prey – Michael Crichton
A case of Need – Michael Crichton
Next – Michael Crichton
Rising Sun – Michael Crichton
House of Suns – Alastair Reynolds
The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer – Neal Stephenson
Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson
Snow Crash – Neal Stephenson
The Cobweb – Neal Stephenson
Interface – Neal Stephenson
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest – Stieg Larsson
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson
Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy Bundle – Stieg Larsson
Thirteen – Richard K. Morgan
Altered Carbon – Richard K. Morgan
Woken Furies – Richard K. Morgan
Broken Angels – Richard K. Morgan
The Dark Commands – Richard K. Morgan
Our Kind of Traitor – JOhn Le Carre
Absolute Friends – JOhn Le Carre
Single & Single – JOhn Le Carre
Where Eagles Dare – Alistair Maclean
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