Reading list · 12 books
Morgan Housel's reading list
Partner at Collaborative Fund and author of the mega-bestseller "The Psychology of Money" and "Same as Ever." A former financial journalist and one of the most widely read writers on money and behavior, he reads voraciously across history, science, and biography (once doing 100 books in a year).
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01
Frederick Lewis Allen
Housel calls this 1952 book one of his favorites of all time — "a remarkable look at how quickly the world can change," full of insights still relevant today.
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02
Edith Eva Eger
On the Collaborative Fund blog he calls it "maybe the best book I've read in years," a Holocaust survivor's account that became a study of trauma psychology.
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03
Nick Maggiulli
Housel publicly recommended it on Twitter — "Highly recommend... it's great" — praising its data storytelling.
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04
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
Alfred Lansing
Housel calls it the best example of how far people can be pushed when the stakes are high.
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05
The Body: A Guide for Occupants
Bill Bryson
He tweeted it was "probably the best book I read in the last year."
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06
Andrew Chaikin
Recommended on his blog for its first-hand account of the Apollo astronauts' experiences.
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07
Daniel Z. Lieberman & Michael E. Long
Cited by Housel for explaining dopamine's role in driving human behavior.
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08
Peter Wohlleben
Housel draws lessons about growth and risk from it on the Collaborative Fund blog.
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10
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
Phil Knight
Among the memoirs Housel recommends — Nike's founder telling the company's improbable origin story.
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11
Christopher Knowlton
Housel highlighted it on his blog under "same as it ever was," on the 1920s Florida land bubble's modern parallels.
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12
Douglas Brinkley
He tweeted that putting a man on the moon seemed so implausible the only modern equivalent would be achieving time travel.
More on Morgan Housel's picks
Housel's recommendations are unusually well documented in his own words — across his Collaborative Fund essays, his tweets, and his podcast — and lean toward narrative history and human behavior over investing how-tos. He's called "The Big Change" one of his favorite books of all time and "The Choice" "maybe the best book I've read in years," and repeatedly champions Shackleton's "Endurance" as the ultimate study of human resilience.
