Favorite trading books

Quote from EllisWyatt:

Buyer beware. The majority of popular trading literature probably would make a person dumber than when he started. If one had to choose between reading all of it or none of it, one would be better off reading none of it.

Having said that, here is a distilled book list for your consideration. I would probably start with Rand, Hazlitt, Harris and then Douglas -- starting with general principles, then economics, market structure and individual mind set.

Books on trading, in alpha order:

Bogle on Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor by John Bogle
Dynamic Hedging: Managing Vanilla and Exotic Options by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Economics in One Lesson: 50th Anniversary Edition by Henry Hazlitt
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles MacKay
Granville's New Strategy of Daily Stock Market Timing for Maximum Profit by Joseph E. Granville
How I Made $2,000,000 In The Stock Market by Nicolas Darvas
How To Make Money In Stocks: A Winning System in Good Times or Bad, 3rd Edition by William J. O'Neil
Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders by Jack D. Schwager
The New Market Wizards: Conversations with America's Top Traders by Jack D. Schwager
Option Volatility & Pricing: Advanced Trading Strategies and Techniques by Sheldon Natenberg
Paul Wilmott Introduces Quantitative Finance by Paul Wilmott
Technical Analysis from A to Z, 2nd Edition by Steven B. Achelis
Technical Analysis of Stock Trends by Robert D. Edwards, John Magee
Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets: A Comprehensive Guide to Trading Methods and Applications by John J. Murphy
Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom by Van K. Tharp
Trading and Exchanges: Market Microstructure for Practitioners by Larry Harris
Trading for a Living: Psychology, Trading Tactics, Money Management by Alexander Elder
Trading in the Zone: Master the Market with Confidence, Discipline and a Winning Attitude by Mark Douglas

Trading related novels and non-fiction:

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco by Bryan Burrough, John Helyar
The Bonfire of the Vanities: A Novel by Tom Wolfe
Den of Thieves by James B. Stewart
The Education of a Speculator by Victor Niederhoffer
Goldman Sachs: The Culture of Success by Lisa Endlich
Hedgehogging by Barton Biggs
Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefèvre
Rigged: The True Story of an Ivy League Kid Who Changed the World of Oil, from Wall Street to Dubai by Ben Mezrich
Ugly Americans: The True Story of the Ivy League Cowboys Who Raided the Asian Markets for Millions by Ben Mezrich
Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron by Bethany McLean, Peter Elkind
When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by Roger Lowenstein
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The same person who gave me Liar's Poker also gave me Goldman Sachs by Lisa Endlich. I have looked at it a little but have not started reading it yet.

The Market Wizards books are a favorite of mine as well, only because of the mass of different opinions and the fact that ideas are not repeated and monotonous, like many books by one author.

I agree with you that much trading literature (along with investing, real estate, forex, online auctions, etc.) is only about how much you can make, etc. and that is really not what I am interested in reading-as a matter of fact I find myself lately reading more about economics and things that dont even directly mention trading in a strict sense. But it is funny because the shelves of the average bookstore are packed with stuff like you mention in the first paragraph-I guess thats what people want to read, or want to hear I guess you could say. Trading for Dummies? What?
 
Quote from Steve Tvardek:

I actually got "Enhancing Trader Performace" by Brett Steenbarger as a christmas gift, I read it while on vacation in Cozumel 2 weeks ago. I actually really liked it, there are few trading books I find worth reading these days (that I havent read already) but this was one of them.
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Well Steve, it looks like it is unanimous then! I just finished reading the article from Ellis's link-I agree that the concept of "flow" is the driving force towards success, not just in trading but in all endeavors, and I think that all too often myself and probably most people know that much better than they actually put it into practice.

"While he advocated a set of strict therapeutic procedures to be followed, his own published cases deviated from these significantly." -Amen
 
Ari Kiev...

I haven't really touch his books only skimmed through them.

He wrote so many of them I was personally wondering if you only had to read only one or two, which one would it be.

The reason I am asking is because I just recently hired a trainee and she gave me a list of his books and wondering which would be worthwhile.
 
Quote from derek7422:

The Logical Trader by Mark Fisher sounds like my cup of tea. I'm not really into other people's systems anyways, even if I learned one I would probably never follow it! It may be off topic because I have not looked at the Logical Trader but that is what I like about the Market Profile studies-the ultimate simplicity in the words but the ultimate relation to any market really-like the writing says, whether you are trading "beans or bonds."

Steenbarger seems to be a favorite for many people.
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Well what was also very interesting and enlightening is his approach and way of seeing how time plays a part in one's P and L.
 
derek7422 said:
I love the old books from the old guys on the street, like in the 1930s or before. There is so much wisdom in the words, and I believe that markets fundamentally never change(per se)-but great knowledge cannot always be obtained from what happened 2 months ago or even 20 years ago, because it is too fresh in history and too many people still remember it. But by looking back further one gains information that not everybody knows about or understands.

Stock Market Wizards is also on my list of must-reads, since I have finished the first two.
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Good points, nothing like a 7 + year trend or 20 year....LOL
 
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