The Goldman Sachs Suggested Reading List

[Andy Nguyen]

Are you a Goldman Sachs aspirant and want to learn about its corporate culture, its thinking? What's better than to see the literature that inspires and shapes their rank and file over the years? Goldman Sachs compiles a list of books written by many of its own as well as from the most influential authors in finance.

This list is among the most comprehensive finance reading lists we've seen . There are definitely many lesser known literature gems among this list.

Written by Current or Former Goldman Sachs Employees

• The Five Great Myths About China and The World by Jonathan Anderson and Fred Hu; PPP Company Limited; 2003
• Exploring General Equilibrium by Fischer Black; MIT Press; 1995
• Business Cycles and Equilibrium by Fischer Black; Blackwell Publishers; 1991
• Managing Currency Risk by Fischer Black; Association for Investment Management & Research; 1989
• Old Girls' Network: Insider Advice for Women Building Businesses in a Man's World by Connie Duckworth, Sharon Whiteley
• Goldman Sachs : The Culture of Success by Lisa Endlich; Knopf; 1999
• Beginning the Journey: China the United States and the WTO by Robert Hormats; Council on Foreign Relations Press; 2001
• Global Aging and Financial Markets: Hard Landings Ahead by Robert Hormats; Center for Strategic and International Studies; 2002
• The Boundaryless Organization: Breaking the Chains of Organization Structure, Revised and Updated by Steve Kerr
• The GE Work-Out : How to Implement GE's Revolutionary Method for Busting Bureaucracy & Attacking Organizational Proble by Steve Kerr; McGraw-Hill Trade; 2002
• The Practice of Risk Management by Bob Litterman; Euromoney Publications PLC, 1998
• Foundations for Financial Economics by Bob Litzenberger and Chi-fu Hwang Prentice Hall; 1998
• Markets, Mobs & Mayhem: How to Profit From the Madness of Crowds by Robert Menschel John Wiley & Sons; 2002
• Adam Smith and the Origins of American Enterprise by Roy C. Smith St. Martin's Press; 2002
• Wealth Creators : The Rise of Today's New Rich and Super-Rich by Roy C. Smith; St. Martin's Press; 2001
• The Global Bankers by Roy C. Smith; BeardBooks, Incorporated; 2000
• High Finance in the Euro-Zone: Competing in the New European Capital Market by Roy C. Smith; Pearson Education; 2000
• The Money Wars: The Rise & Fall of the Great Buyout Boom of the 1980s by Roy C. Smith; BeardBooks, Incorporated; 2000
• Cases and Readings in Markets, Ethics, and Law by Roy C. Smith; Simon & Schuster Custom Publishing; 1996
• Street Smarts: Linking Professional Conduct With Shareholder Value in the Securities Industry by Roy C. Smith; Harvard Business School Publishing, 1997
• Global Banking by Roy C. Smith Oxford University Press; 1995
• Comeback: The Restoration of American Banking Power in the New World Economy by Roy C. Smith; Harvard Business School Publishing; 1993
• Securities Markets in the 1980s: The New Regime 1979-1984 by Barrie A. Wigmore; Oxford University Press; 1997
• The Crash and Its Aftermath: A History of Securities Markets in the United States, 1929-1933 (Contributions in Economics and Economic History) by Barrie A. Wigmore; Greenwood Publishing Group; 1986

Industry Background and Flavor

• Understanding Wall Street by Jeffrey Little & Lucien Rhodes
• The Global Bankers by Roy Smith
• The Money Masters by John Train
• The New Money Masters by John Train
• Money Masters of Our Time by John Train
• The Intelligent Investor: The Classic Text on Value Investing by Benjamin Graham
• The Visual Investor: How to Spot Market Trends by John J. Murphy
• The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America by Warren Buffett
• Buffettology: The Previously Unexplained Techniques That Have Made Warren Buffett The Worlds by Mary Buffett and David Clark
• The Warren Buffett Way: Investment Strategies of the World's Greatest Investor by Robert G. Hagstrom Jr.
• The Alchemy of Finance: Reading the Mind of the Market by George Soros
• Bill Gross on Investing by William H. Gross
• Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street by Peter L. Bernstein
• Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds by Charles MacKay
• Greed and Glory on Wall Street: The Fall of the House of Lehman by Ken Auletta
• The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance by Ron Chernow
• The House of Nomura: The Inside Story of the Legendary Japanese Financial Dynasty by Albert Alletzhauser
• The New Crowd: The Changing of the Jewish Guard on Wall Street by Judith Ramsey Ehrlick & Barry J. Rehfeld
• One Up On Wall Street : How To Use What You Already Know To Make Money In The Market by Peter Lynch
• Beating the Street by Peter Lynch
• "Our Crowd": The Great Jewish Families of New York by Stephen Birmingham
• Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre
• Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country by William Greider
• Soros on Soros: Staying Ahead of the Curve by George Soros, Bryon Wien & Krisztina Koenen
• Guerrilla Investing: Winning Strategies for Beating the Wall Street Professionals by Peter Siris
• The Battle For Investment Survival by Gerald Loeb
• Money and Power: The History of Business by Howard B. Means
• The Great Game: The Emergence of Wall Street as a World Power: 1653-2000 by John Steele Gordon
• Toward Rational Exuberance: The Evolution of the Modern Stock Market by B. Mark Smith
• 100 Years of Wall Street by Charles R. Geisst, Richard A. Grasso
• A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Gordon Malkiel
• Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings by Philip A. Fisher
• The Go-Go Years: The Drama and Crashing Finale of Wall Street's Bullish 60s by John Brooks
• Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter Bernstein
• Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds by Charles MacKay, Martin Fridson, Joseph de la Vega
• Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises by Charles Kindleberger
• The Big Board: A History of the New York Stock Market by Robert Sobel
• The Chastening: Inside The Crisis That Rocked The Global Financial System And Humbled The Imf by Paul Blustein
• From Here to Economy: A Shortcut to Economic Literacy by Todd G. Buchholz
• After the Trade Is Made: Processing Securities Transactions by David Weiss
• The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Open Society Endangered by George Soros
• Martin Zweig's Winning on Wall Street by Martin Zweig
• Money Game by Adam Smith
• The Fed : The Inside Story How World's Most Powerful Financial Institution Drives Markets by Martin Mayer
• Maestro : Greenspan's Fed and the American Boom by Bob Woodward
• The Quotations of Chairman Greenspan: Words from the Man Who Can Shake the World by Larry Kahaner

The following popular works are, of course, exaggerated depictions of the darker side of the industry. However, they do provide some of the flavor of life on "The Street."

• Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco by Bryan Burroughs and John Helyar
• Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis
• The Predators' Ball: The Inside Story of Drexel Burnham and the Rise of the Junk Bond Raiders by Connie Bruck
• When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by Roger Lowenthal
• Fiasco: The Inside Story of a Wall Street Trader by Frank Portnoy
• Confessions of a Street Addict by James J. Cramer
• Den of Thieves by James B. Stuart
• Monkey Business: Swinging Through the Wall Street Jungle by John Rolfe and Peter Troob
• Next: The Future Just Happened by Michael Lewis
• The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story by Michael Lewis

Broad Industry History

• Investment Banking: A Tale of Three Cities by Samuel L. Hayes III and Philip M. Hubbard
• A History of Corporate Finance by Jonathan Barron Baskin and Paul J. Miranti, Jr.
• Global Banking by Roy C. Smith and Ingo Walter
• Wall Street Women by Anne B. Fisher
• In the Black: A History of African Americans on Wall Street by Gregory S. Bell
• The Last Partnerships : Inside the Great Wall Street Money Dynasties by Charles R. Giesst
• The City of London, vol 1-4 by David Kynaston
• The Rise and Fall of the Merchant Bank by Erik Banks
• The London Stock Exchange: A History by Ranald Michie
• The Death of Gentlemanly Capitalism by Philip Augar

Analytical and Reference
Periodicals

• Wall Street Journal (daily, Monday through Friday)
• Barron’s (weekly publication)

General

• Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms by John Downes & Jordan Elliot Goodman
• The Intelligent Investor: The Classic Text on Value Investing by Benjamin Graham
• International Economics: Theory And Policy by Paul R. Krugman
• The Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Money and Investing by Kenneth M. Morris
• The Irwin Guide to Using the Wall Street Journal by Michael B. Lehman
• Financial Times Guide to Using the Financial Pages by Romesh Vaitilingam
• The Atlas of Economic Indicators: A Visual Guide to Market Forces, and the Federal Reserve by W. Stansbury Carnes, Stephen D. Slifer
• Wall Street Words: An Essential A to Z Guide for Today's Investor by David Logan Scott

FICC & Equities

• The Bond Book, Third Edition: Everything Investors Need to Know About Treasuries, Municipals, GNMAs, Corporates, Zeros, Bond Funds, Money Market Funds, and More by Annette Thau
• The Most Powerful Bank: Inside Germany's Bundesbank by David Marsh
• Controlling & Managing Interest Rate Risk by Anthony G. Cornyn and Robert A. Klein
• The Handbook of Fixed Income Securities by Frank J. Fabozzi
• The Money Market by Marcia Stigum
• Money Market Bond Calculations by Marcia Stigum
• Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment by David F. Swensen

Options/Derivatives

• How I Trade Options by Jon Najarian
• Options as a Strategic Investment by Lawrence McMillan
• Options:Essential Concepts by The Options Institute
• Options For The Stock Investor: How Any Investor Can Use Options to Enhance and Protect their Return by James B. Bittman
• Trading Index Options by James B. Bittman
• All About Options: The Easy Way to Get Started by Thomas A. McCafferty
• How the Options Markets Work by Joseph A. Walker
• Mastering Derivatives Markets: A step-by-step guide to the products, applications and risks by Francesca Taylor
• McMillan on Options by Lawrence G. McMillan
• New Financial Instruments by Julian Walmsley
• Options, Futures and Other Derivatives by John C. Hull

IMD

• Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management by Frank Reilly and Keith Brown

Written About, By or For Money Managers and Traders

• Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders by Jack D. Schwager
• The New Market Wizards: Conversations with America's Top Traders by Jack D. Schwager
• Stock Market Wizards: Interviews with America's Top Stock Traders by Jack D. Schwager
• Trader Vic: Methods of a Wall Street Master by Victor Sperandeo
• Trader Vic II: Principles of Professional Speculation by Victor Sperandeo
• Exceptional Trading: The Mind Game by Ruth Barrons Roosevelt
• Trading to Win: The Psychology of Mastering the Markets by Avi Kiev
• The Disciplined Trader: Developing Winning Attitudes by Mark Douglas
• Stan Weinstein's Secrets For Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets by Stan Weinstein
• Trading in the Zone: Master the Market with Confidence, Discipline and a Winning Attitude by Mark Douglas and Thom Hartle
• Trading in the Zone : Maximizing Performance with Focus and Discipline by Ari Kiev
• Trading With Crowd Psychology by Carl Gyllenram
• Pit Bull: Lessons from Wall Street's Champion Day Trader by Martin S. Schwartz et al
• The Master Swing Trader: Tools and Techniques to Profit from Outstanding Short-Term Trading Opportunities by Alan S. Farley
• How to Trade In Stocks by Jesse Livermore
• The Market Maker's Edge: A Wall Street Insider by Josh Lukeman
• The Super Traders: Secrets and Successes of Wall Street's Best and Brightest by Alan Rubenfeld
• Zebra In Lion Country by Ralph Wanger with Everett Mattlin
• Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets by John J. Murphy
• Hit and Run Trading: The Short-Term Stock Traders' Bible by Jeff Cooper
• Hit and Run Trading II: Capturing Explosive Short-Term Moves in Stocks by Jeff Cooper
• Street Smarts: High Probability Short-Term Trading Strategies by Laurence A. Connors and Linda Bradford Raschke
• The 5 Day Momentum Method by Jeff Cooper
• The Real Holy Grail: Money Management Techniques of Top Traders by Eddie Kwong
• Trading Connors VIX Reversals by Laurence A. Connors and Gregory Che

 

[Anthony DeAngelis]

Simply epic Andy. I am going to print this off and use it as a reading list. Thanks so much !

 

[Lyosha]

whoa.. that'll take me a year... or three...

 

[Andy Nguyen]

I'm impressed myself. There are plenty of good books in the Industry Background reading that I wouldn't have heard of without this list.
Looks like I'm going to have to update the Quantnet Master reading list

 

[jimkliew]

My favorite books (from GS list), this humble-list should give you a good sense of finance.
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (Wiley Investment Classics) by Edwin Lefevre
A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing (Completely Revised and Updated)by Burton Gordon Malkiel
Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis
When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by Roger Lowenthal
Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street by Peter Bernstein

Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders by Jack D. Schwager
The New Market Wizards: Conversations with America's Top Traders by Jack D. Schwager

[very popular Finance PhD book]
Foundations for Financial Economics by Bob Litzenberger and Chi-fu Hwang Prentice Hall; 1998

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Simply epic Andy. I am going to print this off and use it as a reading list. Thanks so much !

Anthony,
I attached a PDF file that I have embed links to the books so people don't have to search for it on Amazon. Feel free to print it or distribute on your website.

 

[away zhang]

Thank, Andy and Jim!

I have to say, Jim's list is more practical and less intimidating than GS's.

I have a question: is it important to read a lot of books on trading for a quant?

 

[CLy]

Anthony,
I attached a PDF file that I have embed links to the books so people don't have to search for it on Amazon. Feel free to print it or distribute on your website.

The link is broken, so I create a new PDF.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Fixed the list by uploading the PDF again. For new members who haven't seen it yet.

 

[Samantha Hardy]

Thank you, great list!