When Warren Buffett started his investing career, he would read 600, 750, or 1,000 pages a day.
Even now, he still spends about 80 percent of his day reading.
"Look, my job is essentially just corralling more and more and more facts and information, and occasionally seeing whether that leads to some action," he once said in an interview.
"We don't read other people's opinions," he said. "We want to get the facts, and then think."
To help you get into the mind of the billionaire investor, we've rounded up 18 of his book recommendations over 20 years of interviews and shareholder letters.
1. The Intelligent Investor, by Benjamin Graham
When Buffett was 19, he picked up a copy of legendary Wall Streeter Benjamin Graham's The Intelligent Investor.
It was one of the luckiest moments of his life, he said, because it gave him the intellectual framework for investing.
"To invest successfully over a lifetime does not require a stratospheric IQ, unusual business insights, or inside information," Buffett said. "What's needed is a sound intellectual framework for making decisions and the ability to keep emotions from corroding that framework. This book precisely and clearly prescribes the proper framework. You must provide the emotional discipline."
2.Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, by Philip Fisher
While investor Philip Fisher--who specialized in investing in innovative companies--didn't shape Buffett in quite the same way as Graham did, Buffett still holds him in the highest regard.
"I am an eager reader of whatever Phil has to say, and I recommend him to you," Buffett said.
In Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, Fisher emphasizes that fixating on financial statements isn't enough--you also need to evaluate a company's management.
3. Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises, by Tim Geithner
Buffett says that the former secretary of the U.S. Treasury's book about the financial crisis is a must-read for any manager.
Lots of books have been written about how to manage an organization through tough times. Almost none are firsthand accounts of steering a wing of government through economic catastrophe.
"This wasn't just a little problem on the fringes of the U.S. mortgage market," Geithner writes. "I had a sick feeling in my stomach. I knew what financial crises felt like, and they felt like this."
4. The Essays of Warren Buffett, by Warren Buffett
If you want to get to know the way Buffett thinks, go straight to the sage himself.
In this collection, he keeps it real--in his signature folksy-intellectual fashion.
"What could be more advantageous in an intellectual contest--whether it be chess, bridge, or stock selection--than to have opponents who have been taught that thinking is a waste of energy?" he asks.
5.Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales From the World of Wall Street, by John Brooks
In 1991, Bill Gates asked Buffett for his favorite book.
In reply, Buffett sent the Microsoft founder his personal copy of Business Adventures, a collection of New Yorker stories by John Brooks.
Gates says that the book serves as a reminder that the principles for building a winning business stay constant. He wrote:
"For one thing, there's an essential human factor in every business endeavor. It doesn't matter if you have a perfect product, production plan, and marketing pitch; you'll still need the right people to lead and implement those plans."
The book has become a media darling in recent years; Slate wrote that it's "catnip for billionaires."
Source:inc.com/business-insider
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