The shelf
Books worth the time, and what each one is actually for.
A short, opinionated shelf rather than a long list. Each entry says what the book teaches, where it has dated badly, and the one idea worth carrying into your own research.
The Intelligent Investor
Benjamin Graham · 1949
Start here
The book everyone cites and few finish.
Graham prose is dense and his examples are seventy years old. Read chapters 8 and 20 first — Mr. Market and margin of safety — then decide whether the rest is for you. The framework has survived because it describes temperament, not technique, and temperament has not changed.
Where it dates. Graham quantitative screens assume a market with far less information and far more mispricing. Applied literally today they mostly find businesses that deserve to be cheap.
The full shelf
Nine books - curated, not comprehensive.