Recommended Readings
General
More Money than God – Sebastian Mallaby Beginner
Beating the market was long thought to be impossible, but hedge funds cracked its mysteries and made fortunes in the process. Drawing on his unprecedented access to the industry, esteemed financial writer Sebastian Mallaby tells the inside story of the hedge funds, from their origins in the 1960s to their role in the financial crisis of 2007 to 2009.
Dark Pools: The Rise of the Machine Traders and the Beginner
Rigging of the U.S. Stock Market - Scott Paterson
A news-breaking account of the global stock market's subterranean battles, Dark Pools portrays the rise of the "bots"- artificially intelligent systems that execute trades in milliseconds and use the cover of darkness to out-maneuver the humans who've created them. Dark Pools is the fascinating story of how global markets have been hijacked by trading robots--many so self-directed that humans can't predict what they'll do next.
The Quants – Scott Paterson Beginner
Drawing on unprecedented access to four number-crunching titans (Ken Griffin, Cliff Asness, Peter Muller, Boaz Weinstein), The Quants tells the inside story of what they thought and felt in the days and weeks when they helplessly watched much of their net worth vaporize. Scott Patterson tells the story not just of these men, but of Jim Simons, Aaron Brown; and gadflies and dissenters such as Paul Wilmott, Nassim Taleb, and Benoit Mandelbrot.
Fooled By Randomness / The Black Swan – Nassim Taleb Beginner
Both books are in Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s landmark Incerto series, an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human error, risk, and decision-making in a world we don’t understand. This book is about luck: more precisely how we perceive luck in our personal and professional experiences.
Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk Intermediate
In this unique exploration of the role of risk in our society, Peter Bernstein argues that the notion of bringing risk under control is one of the central ideas that distinguishes modern times from the distant past. Against the Gods chronicles the remarkable intellectual adventure that liberated humanity from oracles and soothsayers by means of the powerful tools of risk management that are available to us today.
Power Programming in VBA - John Walkenbach (the Excel bible) Beginner
Excel 2016 Power Programming with VBA is fully updated to cover all the latest tools and tricks of Excel 2016. Encompassing an analysis of Excel application development and a complete introduction to Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), this comprehensive book presents all of the techniques you need to develop both large and small Excel applications.
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information Beginner
Theory and practice in the design of data graphics, 250 illustrations of the best (and a few of the worst) statistical graphics, with detailed analysis of how to display data for precise, effective, quick analysis.
The Discoverers – Daniel Boorstin Beginner
Perhaps the greatest book by one of our greatest historians, The Discoverers is a volume of sweeping range and majestic interpretation. To call it a history of science is an understatement; this is the story of how humankind has come to know the world, however incompletely ("the eternal mystery of the world," Einstein once said, "is its comprehensibility").
Thinking Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman Beginner
In the international bestseller, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, the renowned psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical.
The Power of Habit – Charles Duhigg Beginner
In The Power of Habit, Pulitzer Prize–winning business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. Distilling vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives that take us from the boardrooms of Procter & Gamble to sidelines of the NFL to the front lines of the civil rights movement, Duhigg presents a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential.
Biographies -
Losing My Virginity – Richard Branson Beginner
Losing My Virginity is the unusual, frequently outrageous autobiography of one of the great business geniuses of our time. When Richard Branson started his first business, he and his friends decided that "since we're complete virgins at business, let's call it just that: Virgin." Since then, Branson has written his own "rules" for success, creating a group of companies with a global presence, but no central headquarters, no management hierarchy, and minimal bureaucracy.
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life – Warren Buffet Beginner
Here is THE book recounting the life and times of one of the most respected men in the world, Warren Buffett. The legendary Omaha investor has never written a memoir, but now he has allowed one writer, Alice Schroeder, unprecedented access to explore directly with him and with those closest to him his work, opinions, struggles, triumphs, follies, and wisdom. The result is the personally revealing and complete biography of the man known everywhere as “The Oracle of Omaha.”
Principles – Ray Dalio Beginner
After being leaked to the press by a former employee, Ray Dalio’s Principles appeared on his company, Bridgewater Associates’, website as a presentation of his management philosophy. It is required reading for all employees at Bridgewater. By his own admission, it is a dynamic document, subject to change as the tenets within are applied, discussed, and debated by Bridgewater employees.
Liar’s Poker – Michael Lewis Beginner
Liar’s Poker is the culmination of those heady, frenzied years—a behind-the-scenes look at a unique and turbulent time in American business. From the frat-boy camaraderie of the forty-first-floor trading room to the killer instinct that made ambitious young men gamble everything on a high-stakes game of bluffing and deception, here is Michael Lewis’s knowing and hilarious insider’s account of an unprecedented era of greed, gluttony, and outrageous fortune.
The Money Game – Adam Smith Beginner
'Adam Smith' is a veteran observer and commentator on the events and people of Wall Street.... His thorough knowledge of financial affairs gives his observations a great degree of authenticity. But the joy of reading this book comes from his delightful sense of humor. He is a lively and ingeniously witty writer who never stops to acerbity. None of the solemn, sacred cows of Wall Street escapes debunking.
Macro
The Secrets of Economic Indicators – Bernard Baumohl Beginner
Oil 101 – Morgan Downey Beginner
Fixed Income – Frank Fabozzi Intermediate/Advanced
Getting Started in Commodities – George Fontanills Beginner
National Bureau of Economic Research: http://www.nber.org Beginner
Long/Short
The Essays of Warren Buffet: Lessons of Corporate America – Warren Buffett Beginner
Interpretation of Financial Statements – Benjamin Graham Beginner
Little Book that Still Beats the Market – Joel Greenblatt Beginner
Beating the Street / One up on Wall Street – Peter Lynch Beginner
The Outsiders – William Thorndike Beginner
Dark Side of Valuation – Aswath Damodaran Intermediate
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits – Philip A. Fisher Intermediate
Margin of Safety – Seth Klarman Intermediate
Manual of Ideas – John Mihaljevic Intermediate
Distressed Debt Investing – Stephen Moyer Intermediate
Intelligent Investor – Benjamin Graham Intermediate/Advanced
Quant
Algorithmic Trading: Winning Strategies and Their Rationale - Ernest P. Chan Beginner
Option Volatility and Pricing Strategies – Sheldon Natenberg Beginner
New Trading Systems and Methods – Perry Kaufman Beginner/Intermediate
Market Microstructure Theory – Maureen O’Hara Intermediate
What Works on Wall Street – James O’Shaughnessy Intermediate
Option Traders Workbook – Jeff Augen Intermediate/Advanced
Tail Risk Hedging – Vineer Bhansali Intermediate/Advanced
Option Trader’s Hedge Fund – Dennis Chen Intermediate/Advanced
Black Scholes and Beyond – Neil Chriss Intermediate/Advanced
Options, Futures, and Other Deriviatives – John C. Hull Advanced
Stochastic Calculus for Finance I/II – Steven Shreve Advanced
Volatility Trading – Euan Sinclair Advanced
Dynamic Hedging – Nassim Talch Advanced