The Founder Bookshelf

Books founders recommend to each other. Browse by topic or by where you are as you grow, mark what you've read, and add what's next.

20 books on Investing for timeless

  1. A History of the United States in Five Crashes cover

    Scott Nations

    Five market crashes and the lessons they left behind.

    A History of the United States in Five Crashes examines five major American stock market meltdowns: the Panic of 1907, Black Tuesday in 1929, Black Monday in 1987, the...

  2. Burton G. Malkiel

    Why low-cost index funds usually beat stock pickers.

    Malkiel popularizes the random walk hypothesis, arguing that stock prices move unpredictably and that few investors can consistently beat the market. He surveys...

  3. Beating the Street cover

    Peter Lynch with John Rothchild

    How a legendary fund manager picks winners by doing the homework.

    Peter Lynch walks through how he picked stocks at Fidelity's Magellan Fund and how individual investors can do the same. He details his research process, his approach...

  4. James B. Stewart

    The insider-trading scandals that defined 1980s Wall Street.

    Den of Thieves details the insider-trading scandals of the 1980s centered on figures like Ivan Boesky and Michael Milken. James B. Stewart reconstructs how a web of...

  5. Flash Boys cover

    Michael Lewis

    How high-frequency traders rigged the stock market, and who fought back.

    Flash Boys investigates how high-frequency trading firms exploited tiny speed advantages to front-run ordinary investors. It follows a group led by Brad Katsuyama who...

  6. Margin of Safety cover

    Seth A. Klarman

    Protect your downside first, and the upside takes care of itself.

    Seth Klarman lays out a risk-averse approach to value investing, centered on buying assets well below their intrinsic value to leave a cushion against error. He...

  7. One Up on Wall Street cover

    Peter Lynch with John Rothchild

    Ordinary observation can beat Wall Street's professionals.

    Peter Lynch argues that everyday investors have an edge over Wall Street because they spot great products and companies in daily life before the pros do. He explains...

  8. Robert T. Kiyosaki

    The rich buy assets, not the appearance of wealth.

    Kiyosaki contrasts the money lessons of his educated but cash-strapped poor dad with those of his entrepreneurial rich dad. He argues that financial education, owning...

  9. The Ascent of Money cover

    Niall Ferguson

    How money, credit, and finance shaped human history.

    The Ascent of Money traces the evolution of finance from ancient lending and the birth of banking through bonds, stock markets, insurance, and real estate. Niall...

  10. The Big Short cover

    Michael Lewis

    How a handful of outsiders saw the housing crash coming.

    The Big Short follows a small group of investors who recognized that the subprime mortgage market was a fraud waiting to collapse and bet against it. Michael Lewis...

  11. The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing cover

    Taylor Larimore, Mel Lindauer, and Michael LeBoeuf

    Plain advice on low-cost, long-term index investing.

    Drawn from the Bogleheads online community, the book offers straightforward guidance on building wealth through low-cost index funds, diversification, and sensible...

  12. The Dhandho Investor cover

    Mohnish Pabrai

    Heads I win, tails I do not lose much.

    Pabrai distills a low-risk, high-return value investing framework inspired by Indian Gujarati business owners and Warren Buffett. He emphasizes buying simple,...

  13. Warren E. Buffett, selected and arranged by Lawrence A. Cunningham

    Buffett's shareholder wisdom, organized into a coherent philosophy.

    Lawrence Cunningham curates and thematically arranges Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters into a structured book on investing and business. It...

  14. The Intelligent Investor cover

    Benjamin Graham

    The timeless bible of disciplined value investing.

    First published in 1949, The Intelligent Investor lays out Benjamin Graham's philosophy of value investing for the defensive and the enterprising investor. It teaches...

  15. The Little Book of Behavioral Investing cover

    James Montier

    Beat the biggest investing risk: your own brain.

    Montier walks through the most common psychological biases that sabotage investors, from overconfidence and loss aversion to herd behavior. Drawing on research in...

  16. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing cover

    John C. Bogle

    Own the whole market, keep costs low, and win.

    John Bogle makes the simple, powerful case for low-cost index fund investing. He shows how fees, taxes, and trading costs quietly erode returns, and argues that buying...

  17. The Little Book That Still Beats the Market cover

    Joel Greenblatt

    A simple formula for buying good companies cheap.

    Greenblatt lays out his magic formula, a simple rules-based method of buying good businesses at bargain prices using return on capital and earnings yield. Written in...

  18. The Millionaire Next Door cover

    Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko

    Most real millionaires live below their means, not large.

    Based on years of surveys, the authors show that most American millionaires are not flashy spenders but disciplined savers who live frugally, budget carefully, and...

  19. The Total Money Makeover cover

    Dave Ramsey

    Get out of debt with a clear step-by-step plan.

    Ramsey lays out a sequence of baby steps to escape debt, build an emergency fund, and build wealth, starting with the debt snowball method. He emphasizes behavior and...

  20. Joel Greenblatt

    Find profits hidden where most investors never look.

    Greenblatt shows how individual investors can find outsized returns in overlooked special situations like spin-offs, restructurings, and merger securities. He argues...

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