I recently read "The Big Drop" by Jim Rickards. I've read his other 2 books also. They were good but this one really seemed to be over the top insightful. Different from the same BS you read all the time. Has anyone else read any insightful books on Markets and Economies?
The best financial book (if we can include that in "Markets and Economies") I've ever seen is "Security Analysis" by Benjamin Graham.
How Markets Fail by John Cassidy. The logic of economic calamities and an excellent overview of the history of economic thought.
I've been thinking about reading this book for years. I think your comment just sealed the deal for me. Lol
Thanks Charles. I will look out for it. To be honest, this book was breaking new territory for me and in a lot of ways was a stretch in that I had not studied economics formally and most of my economic education has been from a mixture of hard knocks, the odd success and making my own mind up about what works and what does not. Having the various economic theories explained along with the flaws in the Keynesian model, poor decision making from the Fed and Wall St greed leading up to the GFC MKI gave me lots of "ah-ha" moments. Confirmation that nothing has been learned in Wall Street, Keynesian is still flawed and that we destined to repeat the mistakes of the past has encouraged me to make another trip to see my local bullion dealer.
The Intelligent Investor by Graham is the version intended for regular people Security Analysis was written for professionals (but I haven't read it though - seen it - bloody thick book!)
Some impressive sounding titles here (may be a feature of the genre): "The new paradigm for financial markets - the credit crisis of 2008 and what it means" by G Soros - Read it and still don't know what he's talking about!! "The Bell does ring!" by P Novak-Reich - Interesting introduction to Elliott Wave and Gann based strategies (something/nothing?) "Just one thing - 12 of the world's best investors reveal the one strategy you can't overlook" J Mauldin (Ed.) - Liked the chapter on psychology, thought there was good stuff throughout but mostly over my head "Australia: boom to bust" by L David - Recent (2014), local content, plausible analysis
The book is really unique because it has all the basics for financing investment (except cash-flow analysis) presented by someone with a large and broad experience in the securities market and that decided to take wisdom and good sense to the extreme. After reading the book you may become a bit disappointed that no magic trick was given for you to easily make tons of money on the markets, just what turns out to be obvious and time-consuming. But you will realize that you just found the wisest way to protect (and eventually grow) your wealth and that all the other ways are illegitimate shortcuts that will most probably fail in the long-term. However, be aware that is book is targeted for people with a degree in Accounting / Management / Economics (it assumes that the reader already knows about all the financial concepts such as financial statements, types of securities, etc.) and with sufficient wealth to build a portfolio of dozens of securities.
It depends on what you regard as "regular people". Both do not explain financing concepts. They merely use them to build reasonings and conclusions. So, if the "regular people" don't have any background in Finance, none of the books is intended for them. The major difference between both books is that The Intelligent Investor is 90% philosophical and 10% technical whereas Security Analysis is 50%-50%. So the latter demands more background to be fully understood, I give you that. Security Analysis is not only thick but dense. It has 4 times more substance than any other financial book I know about. Most of books contain a couple of ideas. Security Analysis is the bible of investing.
For texts and online learning on economics as opposed to finance, I'd recommend you spend some time here: http://academy.mises.org/ Economics from the Austrian School.
I have read one of John Mauldins books also. Code Red. Liked it a lot. He was the first one to introduce me to the concept that Japan was "A bug in search of a windshield." LOL
Yes they do. Security Analysis for example covers almost all kinds of financial securities: common stocks, preferred stocks, bonds, convertibles, warrants, participating issues, etc.
