As Berkshire Hathaway’s visionary vice chairman and Warren Buffett’s right-hand man, Charlie Munger oversaw the company return roughly 2,000,000% on its initial value, or 20,000 to 1. Consistently outperforming market indexes and guiding generations of successful investors, the 97-year-old billionaire credits his staunch pragmatism to the cultivation of multidisciplinary mental models.
In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time – none. Zero.
Drawing heavily from the study of physics, sociology, history, ethics, theology and biology, Munger’s system for practical knowledge is one of constant learning. A voracious reader, he’s recommended a wide range of titles over the years for their unique insights on business and on life.
From human evolution to the psychology of persuasion, find Charlie Munger’s reading list below. Complement with the bookshelves of Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Richard Branson.
Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field: How Two Men Revolutionized Physics by Nancy Forbes &Basil Mahon
Deep Simplicity: Bringing Order to Chaos and Complexity by John Gribbin
Fiasco: The Inside Story of a Wall Street Trader by Frank Partnoy
Ice Age by John Gribbin & Mary Gribbin
“The best work of science exposition and history that I’ve read in many years!”
How the Scots Invented the Modern World by Arthur Herman
Models of My Life by Herbert A. Simon
A Matter of Degrees: What Temperature Reveals about the Past and Future of Our Species, Planet, and Universe by Gino Segre
Andrew Carnegie by David Nasaw
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal by Jared Diamond
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
Living within Limits: Ecology, Economics, and Population Taboos by Garrett Hardin
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow
The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor by David S. Landes
The Warren Buffett Portfolio: Mastering the Power of the Focus Investment Strategy by Robert G. Hagstrom
Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley
Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher &William Ury
Three Scientists and Their Gods: Looking for Meaning in an Age of Information by Robert Wright
Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company by Andrew S. Grove
(via Business Insider)