Charlie Munger
Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway
Charlie Munger built his worldly wisdom approach on reading across psychology, biology, and history, and the recommended list in Poor Charlie's Almanack sent a generation of investors to the same shelf. These picks of his live in the index.
3 books Charlie recommends
In Charlie's order. Each note is our paraphrase of why they rate it, drawn from their public lists and interviews, not a quote.
Influence
Why Charlie rates itMunger rates Cialdini's work so highly that he sent him a share of Berkshire stock as thanks for filling holes in his thinking about misjudgment.
Intermediate~6hRead the breakdown →Also picked by Naval Ravikant, Tim Ferriss and James Clear
The Selfish Gene
Why Charlie rates itThe gene's-eye view is one of Munger's favourite examples of a big idea from one discipline that explains behaviour everywhere else.
Advanced~7hRead the breakdown →Also picked by Naval Ravikant
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Why Charlie rates itDiamond's environmental account of history sits on Munger's recommended list as a model of explaining outcomes through systems rather than personalities.
Advanced~10hRead the breakdown →Also picked by Bill Gates
More shelves to borrow
Other readers, other shelves.
The world's most famous investor, who credits one book with shaping everything he did with money.
The reader-in-chief, whose annual lists mix big history with lives told from the inside.
His 2015 A Year of Books club read one serious book a fortnight, heavy on how societies work.