Well! You must have heard, if you don’t find an answer to any question not only about academics but also about life, read books as “Books are man’s best friend”. Everything can be cleared easily if you start investing your time reading books. Now, you must be thinking, what is the relation between the stock market and books? Let me tell you, one can create expertise in trading by reading stock market books written by multi-talented investors and stock brokers. These books are something that will make you much more excited about the next happenings in the market.

 The only requirement is that one must have patience in reading and self-understanding. The core objective of writing this article is that the beginners to the stock market should be acknowledged by such books sold at international levels. To trade correctly, one must have a proper approach and strategies to follow that can be found in investment books. Let’s learn more about stock market books one must know and their author’s biography.

1. The Intelligent Investor

Known as ‘The Bible for Investors’, the book is written by British-born American economist, professor and investor ‘Benjamin Grahman’. He is popularly known as “The Father of Value Investing” and two of the popular books in neoclassical investing.

The Intelligent Investor was written in 1949 and provided successful strategies for value investing in the stock market. Even Warren Buffet refers to it as “by far, the best book on investing ever written”, as he read it at the age of 20 and began using the strategies in his portfolio while investing. This book has been one of the most popular books on investing and Graham’s legacy.

Key Takeaways Of The Book

• Price and value are two entirely different concepts.
• Risk is not the short-term Volatility of returns.
• To be successful, you must be psychologically prepared.
• You can’t predict the future.
• Investing with a margin of safety increases the probability of success.

This Book Teaches Us Lessons On:

• Investment and Speculation, Inflation, Stock market history in early 1972.
• Portfolio policy from positive and negative approach, market fluctuations, and adviser advice.
• Security analysis for lay investors in general approach.
• Stock selection for defensive and enterprising investors.
• Comparison of four listed companies and eight pairs of companies, four instructive case histories.
• Shareholders and Management dividend policy.
• “Margin of Safety” is the central concept of investment. 

• One Up On Wall Street: Invest In What You Know

Peter Lynch, an American investor, mutual fund manager, and philanthropist, wrote this book and published it by Simon & Schuster in 1989. He coined numerous mantras on modern individual investing, such as to invest in what you know and ten-bagger. Financial media has described him as a ‘Legend’ for his performance record.

The author, in his book, teaches how ordinary investors can achieve high returns if they follow a common-sense investing approach and also talks about the market dynamics. One of his famous quotes says, “Invest in what you know. It leaves out the role of serious fundamental stock research. People buy stock, and they know nothing about it. That’s gambling, and it’s not good”. The book consists of three sections- First, an introduction to investing and developing an investor’s mind; second, a step-by-step process to pick stocks; third, a long-term view of investing and portfolio.

Key Takeaways Of The Book

• The professional investor has many disadvantages compared to the amateur, such as size, explanation, and capital dependency on clients.
• If you like to store, you will love the stock. When looking for employment opportunities, you must remember to check how much the product or service you enjoy affects the company’s bottom line. 
• All investment opportunities are not equal. According to the author, there are six categories of stock investment, i.e. slow growers, stalwarts, fast growers, cyclical, turnarounds, and asset plays. All these are explained in detail in the book.

The Book Teaches Us The Lessons On:

• Making of the stock picker.
• The Wall Street oxymoron.
• Passing the mirror test.
• The perfect stock, what a deal!
• The two-minute drill.
• The best time to buy and sell, etc.

• Stocks to Riches: Insights on Investor Behaviour

The book is written by one of India’s finest and most respected investors, Parag Parikh. Before starting his mutual fund business, he ran a portfolio management service whose mission was “We create high net worth individuals, we do not chase them”. Parag was the founder and chairman of the Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services Limited (PPFAS), Mumbai. He was a man full of ideas and on a mission to empower the middle class to invest and grow their wealth. Stock to Riches explains the fundamental concepts one must understand to earn money in the stock market.

Concepts like investing, the difference in trading and speculation, loss aversion, decision paralysis, mental accounting and herd mentality. He has also discussed in detail how bias influences us to make quick decisions which can sometimes cause harm to financial well-being.

Key Takeaways Of The Book

• When your investment has failed, remember that your goal should be maximising wealth and not justifying your purchase.
• An investor can make superior returns if he does his due diligence, knows what’s happening with the world and is emotionally resilient.
• Segregate gains and Integrate losses provide a good insight into making the most out of our investment and life.
• The chapter on the Market bubble provides keen insights into how the stock markets function as a system. 

The Book Teaches Us Lessons On

• Introduction to Behavioural Science.
• Loss Aversion.
• Sunk cost fallacy.
• Decision Paralysis.
• Mental heuristics.
• Mental Accounting.

• The Alchemy of Finance: A Philosophical Finance Guide

The Book is a philosophical finance book by the renowned writer George Soros. The book provides theoretical and practical accounts of market trends and a fresh paradigm on understanding the market, including valuable lessons on investment.

Through various practical examples from his career, he presents the mental models he developed to understand social events better, thus introducing a concept of reflexivity. It is defined as the two-way connection in which the events influence the participant’s views and the participant’s views also influence the events. It is also listed among the top 10 stock market books, specially written for beginners.

Key Lessons Of The Book:

• The Human Uncertainty Principle.
• Power Relationships.
• What is to be done?

• The Warren Buffett Way: Investment Strategies of the World’s Greatest Investor

The Warren Buffet way book was written by Robert Hagstrom, which outlines the strategies and principles of value investing of the American Businessman and investor Warren Buffett. It explores in detail the nine tenants Buffett has used in their investment history and the nuances of all the major purchases he has made over the past fifty-something years.

Warren Buffett’s professional life highlights the core message: “In evaluating people, you look for three qualities- integrity, intelligence and energy. If you don’t have the first, the other two will kill you”.

Key Lessons From The Book

• Warren Buffett built an investment Empire with $100.
• Don’t pay attention to the stock market and economic cycles.
• You don’t need a diversified portfolio- Stick to what you know.

‘Why the rich are rich?’ The rich are rich not because they look rich but rather because they possess the rich’s skills and strategies. They are the ones who invest in assets instead of purchasing liabilities“.- Warren Buffett.