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Charlie Munger's Reading List: 30 Books from His Talks, Meetings and Almanack
30
items Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett's longtime partner at Berkshire Hathaway, spent decades telling shareholders which books to read. Every pick here comes from his own remarks at Berkshire, Wesco or Daily Journal meetings, or from the recommended reading...
Sections
6
How people decide and persuade
Evolution and human nature
Science, clearly explained
Why some nations get rich
Builders and great lives
Tech, Wall Street and investing
How people decide and persuade
Munger's favorite subject: the mental shortcuts that lead smart people into bad decisions, and how others exploit them.
Robert Cialdini's study of the tactics, like reciprocity and social proof, that get people to say yes. Munger built much of his talk on the psychology of human misjudgment around it, mailed copies to his children and gave Cialdini a share of Berkshir...
Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion|Hardcover
Malcolm Gladwell looks at how timing, culture and years of practice, not just talent, shape who succeeds. At the 2009 Wesco meeting Munger called it a terrific book and singled out the chapter on people with very high IQs who still failed in life.
Outliers: The Story of Success | Hardcover
Fifty short lessons on persuasion from Cialdini and two fellow researchers, each built around a single experiment. Munger suggested it at the 2008 Berkshire meeting as a companion to Influence for teaching young people how not to be manipulated.
Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive|Paperback
A business school textbook on the biases that distort decisions, from overconfidence to anchoring. Munger admitted at the 1995 Berkshire meeting that it is not a lively read, but said there is a lot of wisdom in it.
Judgment in Managerial Decision Making|Hardcover
The autobiography of Herbert Simon, the Nobel economist who argued that people settle for good enough because attention and information are limited. Munger recommended it at a Berkshire meeting, while warning that it would mostly appeal to readers wi...
Models of My Life | Paperback
The Harvard Negotiation Project's guide to settling disputes by focusing on what each side needs rather than on fixed positions. It is on the recommended reading list in Poor Charlie's Almanack, the collection of Munger's talks.
Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In
Evolution and human nature
Biology was one of the main fields Munger borrowed ideas from. These books explain how genes, evolution and limits shape behavior.
Richard Dawkins explains evolution from the gene's point of view, including why animals sometimes help each other. Munger said at the 1996 Berkshire meeting that he had to read it twice to understand it fully, and that unlearning old beliefs was the ...
The Selfish Gene: 40th Anniversary Edition|Paperback
Matt Ridley picks one gene from each human chromosome and uses it to tell a story about heredity, disease and behavior. Munger called it a fabulous book at a Berkshire meeting and joked that its findings on stress boded well for Warren Buffett's life...
Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters|Paperback
Jared Diamond's earlier book on how humans, who share almost all of their DNA with chimpanzees, came to dominate the planet and why that power is risky. It is on the Poor Charlie's Almanack reading list next to his later book Guns, Germs, and Steel.
The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal|Paperback
Garrett Hardin, the ecologist who coined the tragedy of the commons, argues that population and resources have hard limits that polite debate tends to avoid. Munger put it on the Poor Charlie's Almanack reading list for its blunt thinking across ecol...
Living within Limits: Ecology, Economics, and Population Taboos|Paperback
Science, clearly explained
Munger loved books that make hard science readable. Several of these he praised as the best explanations he had read.
Robert Wright profiles a physicist, a biologist and an economist who each looked for one big idea to explain the world. It is on the Poor Charlie's Almanack reading list, which fits Munger's habit of borrowing models from many fields.
Three Scientists and Their Gods: Looking for Meaning in an Age of Information
Physicist Gino Segre follows temperature through cooking, climate, the human body and the early universe. It is one of the science picks on the Poor Charlie's Almanack reading list.
A Matter of Degrees: What Temperature Reveals about the Past and Future of Our Species, Planet, and Universe|Paperback
Physicist Lawrence Krauss explains modern cosmology and how a universe could arise from empty space. Munger recommended it at the 2013 Daily Journal meeting, calling it one of the most remarkable books he had ever read.
A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing|Paperback
John Gribbin shows how chaos and complexity, from weather to living things, can come out of a few simple rules. Munger called it a perfectly marvelous book at the 2004 Berkshire meeting and said its title describes what we are all looking for.
Deep Simplicity: Bringing Order to Chaos and Complexity
John and Mary Gribbin tell how scientists worked out that ice ages come and go, and how those swings in climate shaped human evolution. Munger said at the 2002 Berkshire meeting that it was the best book of scientific explanation he had ever read.
Ice Age: How a Change of Climate Made Us HumanJ
Why some nations get rich
Munger kept asking why some societies pull ahead. These three histories are his answers.
Jared Diamond argues that geography, crops and animals, not differences between peoples, explain why some societies conquered others. Munger said in 1998 that he had read it twice and that Diamond's habit of always asking why would be useful in busin...
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (Pulitzer Prize Winner)|Paperback
Harvard historian David Landes looks at why some countries grew rich and others did not, weighing culture, institutions and geography. Munger recommended it at the 1999 Berkshire meeting as a follow-up to Guns, Germs, and Steel by a historian who kno...
The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor|Paperback
Arthur Herman traces how a small, poor country produced thinkers like Adam Smith and David Hume and helped shape modern science, economics and government. Munger said the question of how such a tiny population had so much influence had always interes...
How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything in It|Paperback
Builders and great lives
Biographies of the business builders and the founding father Munger admired most.
Ron Chernow's biography of John D. Rockefeller, from his strict upbringing to Standard Oil and his later philanthropy. Munger called it one of the best business biographies he had ever read at the 1999 Berkshire meeting.
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.|Paperback
Two Seattle reporters follow Bill Gates from teenage programmer to the head of Microsoft in its early years. Munger recommended it at the 1993 Berkshire meeting for showing what it took to write and sell software.
Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire
Carl Van Doren's Pulitzer-winning biography of Franklin, covering his business, science and diplomacy. Munger said at the 1994 Berkshire meeting that he was rereading it and had almost forgotten how good it was.
Benjamin Franklin, Volume 1 | Paperback
Joseph Frazier Wall's long, prize-winning biography of the Scottish immigrant who built a steel empire and then gave most of his fortune away. This biography is the Carnegie title on the Poor Charlie's Almanack reading list.
Andrew Carnegie by Joseph Frazier Wall
Franklin's own account of his rise from runaway apprentice to printer, scientist and statesman, including his plan for building good habits. Munger admired Franklin more than almost anyone, and the book is on the Poor Charlie's Almanack reading list.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Connie Bruck's biography of Steve Ross, who turned a funeral home and parking lot business into Warner Communications and then Time Warner. Munger told the 1994 Berkshire meeting that he very much enjoyed it and called Bruck an insightful writer.
Master of the Game: Steve Ross and the Creation of Time Warner
Tech, Wall Street and investing
Munger's picks on how companies adapt, how Wall Street behaves and how a focused investor thinks.
Intel's Andy Grove explains how to spot the moments when a company's whole business environment shifts, and what Intel did when it happened. It is on the Poor Charlie's Almanack reading list.
Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company|Paperback
William Thorndike profiles eight CEOs, including Berkshire director Tom Murphy, who beat the market by being careful with capital. Munger recommended it with enthusiasm at the 2013 Daily Journal meeting.
The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success|Hardcover
Steven Levy's inside account of how Google was built and how its engineering culture works. Munger, who said he had ignored high tech all his life, told the 2011 Berkshire meeting that he found it very interesting.
In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives|Paperback
Gregory Zuckerman tells how John Paulson made billions betting against subprime mortgages before the 2008 crash. Munger said at the 2010 Wesco meeting that he found Paulson's story particularly fascinating, though he worried about the young people it...
The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History|Paperback
Frank Partnoy's memoir of selling complex derivatives at Morgan Stanley in the 1990s, and of the clients who lost money on them. Munger told people to read it and warned that it would turn their stomach.
Fiasco: The Inside Story of a Wall Street Trader | Paperback
Robert Hagstrom explains focus investing: owning a few businesses you understand well instead of many you barely know. Munger said at the 1999 Berkshire meeting that it surprised him with how good it was and told shareholders to buy a copy.
The Warren Buffett Portfolio: Mastering the Power of the Focus Investment Strategy|Paperback