For an MBA student planning to build a career in Finance, general understanding of finance, financial statements, businesses and valuation are core areas where work is needed. In this line, a lot of worldly wisdom is available in the form of books that are remarkable for learning. We have carefully curated a list of books we believe you should go through, in order to broaden your perspective about financial analysis and business valuations. In this post , we are listing the books that you should read, and re-read, and you will see how this changes the way you look at finance and valuations.

The Ascent of Money – by Niall Ferguson

The book talks about the origins for various asset classes, and financial products, globally. A very interesting read from the perspective of financial history

Liar’s Poker – by Michael Lewis

A hilarious tale of an investment banker – and his view of the investment banking world

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Behavioural Finance is one of the top areas of research in recent past, looking at biases that affect investors and analysts. This book takes a good look at those biases, and what we should be careful about while making assumptions in financial evaluation.

Fooled by Randomness – by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

A fascinating and original take on the way we assess risk, and how we tend to miscalculate risk in the financial world. Must Read for anyone who wants to be an analyst or investor.

The Intelligent Investor – by Benjamin Graham

Sort of a bible for any investor or analyst. Probably the first book recommended to anyone intending to analyse companies and valuations

The Little Book of Behavioral Investing: How Not to be Your Own Worst Enemy – by James Montier

This little book scores above many other books in helping us understand some of the major behavioural biases in analysis of companies and investments.

Value Investing and Behavioral Finance – Insights into Indian Stock Market Realities – by Parag Parikh

This is a book by legendary Indian Value investor, the late Mr Parag Parikh. With Indian markets as the backdrop, this book initiates you into long term company analysis.

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine – by Michael Lewis

Shows the story of global economy in 2007, just before the subprime crisis, and explains how a set of investors made money in those markets by being Short

When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management – by Roger Lowenstein

A book about the first major hedge fund to fail – The LTCM crisis.

If It’s Raining in Brazil, Buy Starbucks – by Peter Navarro

One of the best books linking global macro events to market moves. This would help understanding in the linkages between macroeconomic data and valuations of companies.

This list is obviously just a short initiation into the world of reading around finance. There is much more that can be done here. If there are any books around finance that you have found fascinating, do share about those in the comments section, so that others could benefit from those as well!!

Happy Reading!!