The Intelligent Investor
Benjamin Graham
still untouched
The classic on value investing. It's still on the shelf with the spine uncracked. One day.
Benjamin Graham first published this in 1949, and people still call it the best book on investing ever written. Warren Buffett, who studied under Graham, is one of them.
I haven't read it yet, so all I can tell you is what it's famous for. There's Mr Market, Graham's picture of the stock market as a moody business partner who offers you a different price every day. Some days he's euphoric, some days he's miserable, and you're free to ignore him. There's the margin of safety, the idea that you should only buy something when it's priced well below what it's really worth, so that being wrong doesn't ruin you. And there's his split between the defensive investor, who wants safety and little effort, and the enterprising one, who's willing to do the work.
It's long, it's dense, and most modern editions come with extra commentary that's almost as long as the original.
It's on the shelf because it's the book everyone on the business shelf eventually points to. I'd rather read it properly, when I can give it real time, than skim it now so I can say I have.
