Books like When Genius Failed

01

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine

Michael Lewis · Economics

The Big Short is Michael Lewis's account of the 2008 financial crisis as seen through the eyes of a handful of contrarians who saw the collapse coming, bet against the American housing market, and were right.

A kindred economics read.

02

Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts

Annie Duke · Psychology

Thinking in Bets is Annie Duke's argument that most decisions in life share a fundamental feature with poker hands: you're choosing under uncertainty, with incomplete information, and luck will affect the outcome regardless of how well you reasoned.

A kindred economics read.

03

The Intelligent Investor

Benjamin Graham · Economics

The Intelligent Investor is Benjamin Graham's case that successful investing has less to do with picking the right stocks than with managing your own behavior.

Both dig into risk management.

04

A Random Walk Down Wall Street

Burton G. Malkiel · Economics

A Random Walk Down Wall Street is Burton Malkiel's argument that stock prices move in a way that is effectively unpredictable, that professional fund managers cannot consistently beat the market, and that the rational response for most investors is to buy and hold a diversified index fund.

A kindred economics read.

05

All About Asset Allocation

Richard A. Ferri · Economics

All About Asset Allocation is Richard Ferri's systematic guide to building and maintaining a diversified investment portfolio.

Both dig into risk management.

06

Margin of Safety

Seth Klarman · Economics

Margin of Safety is Seth Klarman's 1991 treatise on value investing, subtitled "Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor." The book has never been reprinted and used copies sell for hundreds to thousands of dollars, giving it a near-mythical status among serious investors.

Both dig into risk management.

07

Mastering the Market Cycle

Howard Marks · Economics

Mastering the Market Cycle is Howard Marks's systematic argument that investment returns depend less on predicting the future than on understanding where you currently stand in the various cycles that govern markets.

Both dig into risk management.

08

More Money Than God

Sebastian Mallaby · Economics

Sebastian Mallaby's history of hedge funds begins with Alfred Winslow Jones, who in 1949 invented the basic structure that still defines the industry: borrow money to buy what you think will go up, sell short what you think will go down, take a 20 percent cut of the profits.

Both dig into hedge funds.

09

The Aggressive Conservative Investor

Martin J. Whitman, Martin Shubik & Gene Isenberg · Economics

The Aggressive Conservative Investor lays out Martin Whitman's distinctive approach to securities analysis, which he developed over decades as a distressed-debt investor and fund manager before founding Third Avenue Management.

Both dig into risk management.

10

The Investor's Manifesto

William J. Bernstein · Economics

The Investor's Manifesto is William Bernstein's concise statement of what evidence-based investing actually requires.

Both dig into risk management.

11

The Most Important Thing

Howard Marks · Economics

The Most Important Thing is Howard Marks's collection of investment insights drawn from his decades of memos to Oaktree Capital clients — memos that became famous in investment circles for their clarity, depth, and willingness to address the psychological dimensions of investing that most practitioners avoid.

Both dig into risk management.

12

A Man for All Markets

Edward O. Thorp · Memoir

A Man for All Markets is Edward Thorp's memoir of a life spent finding mathematical edges — first in casinos and later in financial markets.

Both dig into hedge funds.