Greenblatt’s favorite books are The Intelligent Investor, Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, Security Analysis, and Reminiscences of a Stock Operator.
Author, hedge fund manager, author, and finance professor Joel Greenblatt is one of today’s most influential value investors.
Reading his recommended books is one of the best ways to understand Greenblatt’s philosophy and strategies. Those books reveal the ideas and insights that shape Greenblatt’s thinking and guide his management of Gotham Funds.
Joel Greenblatt’s Favorite Books
- One Up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch
- University of Berkshire Hathaway
- The Big Secret for the Small Investor
- The Intelligent Investor
- The Little Book That Still Beats the Market
- What Works on Wall Street
- The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need
- The New Finance
- Value Investing: From Graham to Buffett and Beyond
- Money Masters of Our Time
13 Best Joel Greenblatt Book Recommendations
1. One Up On Wall Street by Peter Lynch
How to Use What You Already Know to Make Money in The Market.
Legendary fund manager Lynch describes his stock-picking methodology in this classic. Lynch shows how you can make money by investing in companies that make products you use every day.
Lynch offers a simple value investment strategy that any person with little knowledge or experience of the markets can use. A person who loves her iPhone could buy Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock, for instance.
Lynch’s philosophy is that opportunities for moneymaking investments are all around us. Lynch also thinks most people know enough about some subjects to be successful investors. Most people, however, ignore those opportunities.
| Amazon | Audible.com | Audiobooks.com |
2. University of Berkshire Hathaway
This book is the official publication of Warren Buffet’s philosophy. Written by Buffett and his long-time business partner, Charlie Munger, this book explains how to invest in stocks with a focus on value investing principles. The book highlights their unique approach to stock picking and provides readers insight into their decision-making process.
30 Years of Lessons Learned from Warren Buffett & Charlie Munger at the Annual Shareholders Meeting
This book reprints and retells many of Buffett’s classic writings, including his famous letters to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B).
In the essays, Buffett offers investment advice in plain English on regulated industries, investing opportunities, market valuation, popular opinion of the market, financial crises, housing bubbles, acquisitions, and corporate governance.
Greenblatt admires this book because it offers a deep insight into Buffett’s thoughts, philosophy, and methodology. Those who want to learn how Buffett thinks and invests can learn much from this book.
| Amazon | Audible.com | Audiobooks.com |
3. The Big Secret for the Small Investor (2006)
This book, written by Joel Greenblatt and Andrew Tobias, is a great introduction to the basics of investing. It introduces readers to concepts such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, options, futures, margin accounts, and other investments. It also explains important investment terms and strategies, such as diversification and asset allocation.
A New Route to Long-Term Investment Success
Greenblatt’s guide to Value investing is widely admired by some of today’s top value investors, including Michael Price and Andrew Tobias.
Greenblatt distills modern value investing principles for a mass audience. If you want to learn and understand Greenblatt’s philosophy and strategies, this is the book.
He explains to everyday investors how to value a business and why the small investor has an inherent edge over the big investment firms that have to show results month by month, quarter by quarter, and year by year.
| Amazon | Audible.com | Audiobooks.com |
4. The Intelligent Investor
The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham is considered the bible of value investing. It is timeless and widely read by some of today’s most successful investors, including Warren Buffett, George Soros, Joel Greenblatt, and Peter Lynch.
Zweig’s 2006 update of Graham’s 1949 classic is an important resource for value investors today. Zweig rewrites Graham’s lessons with modern examples.
If you read one Value investing book, this version of The Intelligent Investor should be it.
Anyone wanting to learn value investing and apply it in the modern world needs to consult Zweig and Graham.
| Amazon | Audible.com | Audiobooks.com | Blinkist |
5. The Little Book That Still Beats the Market
The Little Book That Still Beats the Market is an accessible entry into value investing. This book, written by successful hedge fund manager and Columbia professor Joel Greenblatt, emphasizes the importance of patient capital and paying attention to fundamentals.
This 2010 update of a 2005 classic distills Greenblatt’s strategies and philosophies for ordinary people.
The original Little Book introduced Greenblatt’s famous “Magic Formula” to a mass audience. This edition redefines the Magic Formula for the post-2008 Financial Crisis markets.
The Little Book is a step-by-step guide to Value investment in the modern markets. Greenblatt shows how to apply value investing formulas to contemporary investments in bull and bear markets.
The Little Book is a tremendous resource if you need a good introduction to Value investing in modern markets. Plus, The Little Book offers a great introduction to Greenblatt’s thinking.
Joel Greenblatt also features in our All-Time Top 20 Investment Books List.
| Amazon | Audible.com | Audiobooks.com | Blinkist |
6. What Works on Wall Street
The Classic Guide to the Best-Performing Investment Strategies of All Time by James O’Shaughnessy
O’Shaughnessy offers a basic guide to investment strategies that explains how the professionals invest. If you want to understand such concepts as EBITA, price-cash flow, dividends, shareholder yields, market capitalization, and price-to-earnings ratios, What Works on Wall Street is the book for you.
Greenblatt recommends What Works on Wall Street because it introduces investment strategies and concepts for ordinary people. If you want to begin investing, What Works on Wall Street is a great book.
| Amazon | Audible.com |
7. The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need
Tobias’ book is a comprehensive guide to investing. This book covers the stock market and bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, and real estate investments. It also offers guidance on saving for retirement and managing your portfolio.
Greenblatt considers this book a good introduction to the basics of investment written for ordinary people. Tobias explains important investment concepts, including minimal risk, tax strategies, skepticism, planning, and decision-making.
Tobias’s work is still one of the best investment books for ordinary people. The basic strategies Tobias offers can help any investor survive and make money in a complex market.
8. The New Finance
Overreaction, Complexity, and Their Consequences.
In this book, Rober A. Haugen examines the effects of overreaction and complexity on financial markets. They discuss how these two factors can lead to mispricing in the stock market and other forms of irrational behavior by investors. This book is an important read for any investor who wants to gain a better understanding of the forces driving financial markets.
This textbook is one of the best introductions to behavioral finance and basic Value investing philosophy. Haugen exposes the inefficiency and dangers of markets by explaining their weaknesses.
Anybody who wants a good understanding of modern markets and Behavioral Finance Theory needs to read The New Finance. The New Finance is a great resource if you want to understand value investing’s academic basis. The latest editions include two chapters on the stock volatility after the Great Financial Meltdown 2008.
9. Value Investing: From Graham to Buffett and Beyond
Bruce C. N. Greenwald, Judd Kahn, and Michael van Biema
This book by Bruce Greenwald, Judd Kahn, Paul D. Sonkin, and Michael van Biema is an excellent guide to Value investing. It looks at the theories behind Benjamin Graham’s original principles of value investing and explains why Warren Buffett has been so successful with them.
A history of value investing that introduces readers to the top minds in value investing and their theories. Lead author Greenwald teaches Value investing at Columbia Business School in New York.
Greenblatt considers Value Investing a valuable resource because it contains case studies of the value investment masters’ techniques and strategies. This book is a must-read because it is an academic analysis of value investment and a great introduction to the markets for serious investors.
10. Money Masters of Our Time
This book by John Train was written in 2000 and presents profiles of some of the most influential investors of our time, including Warren Buffett, George Soros, Peter Lynch, and John Templeton. It contains lessons from these investment masters and great insights into their strategies. Not only does it provide a comprehensive overview of successful investing techniques, but it also puts them into context with real.
Greenblatt recommends Money Masters because it examines some of the greatest investment wizards of our age and their strategies.
Train’s “Money Masters” include George Soros, Warren Buffett, Jim Rogers, and many investors ordinary people could be unfamiliar with. Train shows how and where the Money Masters get their information and investment criteria.
If you want to learn from the great investors of our time, Money Masters is an important book.
11. The New Contrarian Investment Strategy
This book by David Dreman is a great resource for those looking to take an unconventional approach to investing. It offers an in-depth look at how contrarian investment strategies can be applied, providing invaluable insights into how behavioral factors affect the stock market. With this knowledge, investors can achieve better returns and reduce risk while engaging in contrarian trading.
Dreman explains the basics of contrarian investment in this modern investing classic. Greenblatt admires The New Contrarian because it teaches investors to distrust the market.
Dreman’s most interesting recommendation is to buy below-average stocks for which you have low expectations when they trade at a good price. The theory behind this belief is that you will lose less money if you invest in good, low-priced stocks.
Dreman’s writing is a good introduction if you want to understand contrarian investment. Those seeking a new investment strategy can learn from Dreman.
12. Security Analysis and Business Valuation on Wall Street
A Comprehensive Guide to Today’s Valuation Methods
This comprehensive guide to today’s valuation methods offers a broad and balanced perspective on security analysis and business valuation. It covers everything from basic quantitative tools to more sophisticated approaches, such as real options models, which provide insight beyond traditional financial data. The authors discuss the core concepts of equity investing, including risk and return calculations, how investors assess companies, and current trends in
Hooke rewrites and refines Benjamin Graham’s classic value investing strategies for the 21st Century. Greenblatt finds Security Analysis and Valuation valuable because it offers contemporary real-world security analysis examples in the modern stock market.
Hooke introduces such major market players as private equity funds, hedge funds, mutual funds, institutional money managers, and investment banks. This book is an excellent resource if you want a guide to the modern investment markets.
13. Contrarian Investment Strategies
Dreman’s classic on contrarian investing is an important book for any serious investor. He discusses the importance of understanding market psychology, how to benefit from market mispricings and irrationality, analyzing value stocks versus growth stocks, and explains the power of a disciplined approach.
Dreman presents four important contrarian investment strategies in this classic from 1999.
Important insights Dreman offers include investors’ tendency to overvalue the best stocks and undervalue the worst stocks. Dreman thinks this tendency leads to price surprises in the markets.
Dreman’s strategy is based on the belief that investors always react to market changes. For example, investors sell stocks fast in bear markets and buy quickly in bull markets. This overreaction is why investors are surprised when the market rises or falls.
Dreman’s major recommendation is to buy good stocks when they are out of favor with the market. Contrarian Investment Strategies is a good explanation of a basic value investment strategy and behavioral investment.
Summary
Joel Greenblatt is one of today’s most interesting value investors. Greenblatt manages $4 billion worth of assets at Gotham Asset Management. Yet Greenblatt has taught value investment at Columbia Business School for over 20 years.
Anybody who wants to understand contrarian and Value investing needs to study the books on Greenblatt’s reading list. Understanding the connection and contrasts between Value and contrarian investing strategies can help you devise an effective investment strategy that works for you.
Joel Greenblatt’s book recommendations can be a great resource if you want to create an investment strategy. A good reading list is the first tool a value investor needs in their toolbox.
Greenblatt has written acclaimed works on investing, including The Little Book that Beats the Market, The Big Secret of the Small Investor, and You Can Be a Stock Market Genius. Admirers of Greenblatt’s writings include investing legend Seth Klarman.
Sources:
Hi Austin, thanks for the question. Yes the Warren Buffett Book is recommended in Joel Greenblatt required course reading at Columbia University. https://www6.gsb.columbia.edu/courses/syllabus/Value%20%26%20Special%20Situation%20Investment%20(Greenblatt,%20Yarsky)%20FA2015.pdf
Hi,
I am the editor of University of Berkshire Hathaway.
To hear Joel Greenblatt recommend our book is a great thrill.
Can you tell me the source of this recommendation? I’d love to find out where it came from.
Thanks!