Books on Other Master Investors Part 1

It’s worth studying the methods of as many other Master Investors as you can find, especially if you discover that neither Buffett’s nor Soros’s approach fits you. Here are some suggestions:

Only one book has been written about Carl Icahn: King Icahn by Mark Stevens. It’s a fascinating journey into his mind and his methods.

Peter Lynch has written about his way of investing in several books, including One Up on Wall Street and Beating the Street.

Philip Fisher deserves a far higher profile than he has. I urge you to read his book, Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits.

Benjamin Graham, of course, needs no introduction. His Intelligent Investor should be required reading for anyone planning to buy stocks. And if you’re really serious, pick up a copy of his classic Security Analysis as well.

Bernard Baruch is another legendary investor. James Grant wrote an excellent biography, Bernard Baruch, the Adventures of a Wall Street Legend.

A more obscure book that I can highly recommend is You Can Be a Stock Market Genius by Joel Greenblatt. The title still turns me off — but the book is well worth reading. It’s a wonderful reinforcement of the importance of specializing in your own investment niche.

John Train has several books profiling the methods of successful investors: The Midas Touch, The Money Masters, The New Money Masters and Money Masters of Our Time. This is a great way of being introduced to a variety of different approaches, one or more of which you may want to study further.

Investment Gurus by Peter J. Tanous is another book along the same lines.

In Market Wizards and New Market Wizards, Jack Schwager has done a sterling service by finding and interviewing some of the greatest traders of our generation. Traders talk far more about their systems, methodology and thought processes than most investors do. As a result, even if the last thing you want to do is buy a futures contract, you’ll find these two books of interviews a valuable source of proven ideas for building and testing your own investment system.