Reading List
My ever-growing reading list 📚
Photo by Susan Yin on UnsplashRisk Disclaimer
Please read the Risk Disclaimer before reading this post.
Introduction
I am constantly hearing about interesting books in podcasts, from friends, other developers and traders, on forums etc.
I have a tendency to quickly find them on Goodreads and hit the “Want to read” button. As a result, my Goodreads profile has gotten a bit out of hand!
I spent some time this evening (8 December 2019) going through the entire list and picking out the books I want to read the most.
The categorised lists are below in alphabetical order.
June 2020 Update
I finally bit the bullet and got an Audible subscription! Now I can listen to books while I clean the house.
Here are the books I read / listened to in June:
- The War Of Art by Steven Pressfield.
Trading Books
| Author | Title | Comments | Links | Date Started Reading | Date Finished Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al Brooks | Reading Price Charts Bar by Bar: The Technical Analysis of Price Action for the Serious Trader | Tim Hamilton (one of my trading friends) recommended this book to our trading group, and so it is high on my priority list. | Goodreads | ||
| Alex Nekritin, Walter Peters | Naked Forex: High-Probability Techniques for Trading Without Indicators | I’m curious about the content of this book, someone I know read it as the base for his approach to FX trading. | Goodreads | ||
| Alexander Elder | Come Into My Trading Room: A Complete Guide to Trading | This is high on my priority list. | Goodreads | ||
| Alexander Elder | The New Trading for a Living: Psychology, Trading Tactics, Risk Management, and Record-Keeping | This is high on my priority list. | Goodreads | ||
| Andreas Clenow | Following the Trend: Diversified Managed Futures Trading | This is high on my priority list. | Goodreads | ||
| Atul Gawande | The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right | Paul Wallace recommends this constantly, so I am currently reading it. | Goodreads | July 2019 | |
| Clive Lambert | Candlestick Charts: An introduction to using candlestick charts | This is high on my priority list. | Goodreads | ||
| Courtney D. Smith | How to Make a Living Trading Foreign Exchange: A Guaranteed Income for Life | Goodreads | |||
| Curtis Faith | Way of the Turtle: The Secret Methods that Turned Ordinary People into Legendary Traders: The Secret Methods that Turned Ordinary People into Legendary Traders | Goodreads | |||
| Edwin Lefèvre | Reminiscences of a Stock Operator | I started this book ages ago but lost steam. I think reading it from the beginning again would be a good idea. | Goodreads | ||
| Garth Friesen | Bite the Ass Off a Bear: Getting In and Standing Out On a Hedge Fund Trading Floor | This was recommended on Steven Goldstein and Mark Randall’s podcast. | Goodreads | ||
| Gregory Zuckerman | The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution | Goodreads | |||
| Jack D. Schwager | Hedge Fund Market Wizards | Goodreads | |||
| Jack D. Schwager | Market Wizards: Interviews With Top Traders | Goodreads | |||
| Jack D. Schwager | Stock Market Wizards: Interviews with America’s Top Stock Traders | Goodreads | |||
| Jack D. Schwager | The Little Book of Market Wizards: Lessons from the Greatest Traders | Goodreads | |||
| Jack D. Schwager | The New Market Wizards: Conversations with America’s Top Traders | Goodreads | |||
| James Surowiecki | The Wisdom of Crowds | Goodreads | |||
| Jim Paul, Brendan Moynihan | What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars | I’ve read this before and would like to read it again. | Goodreads | ||
| John J. Murphy | Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets | I have heard that this is the bible of technical analysis. | Goodreads | ||
| Linda Bradford Raschke | Trading Sardines: Lessons in the Markets From a Lifelong Trader | This book sounds fantastic! | Goodreads | ||
| Michael W. Covel | The Complete TurtleTrader: How 23 Novice Investors Became Overnight Millionaires | Goodreads | |||
| Mike Bellafiore | How to Become a 7 Figure Trader | Goodreads | |||
| Mike Bellafiore | One Good Trade: Inside the Highly Competitive World of Proprietary Trading | A couple of my trading friends have recommended that I read this. | Goodreads | ||
| Mike Bellafiore | The Playbook: An Inside Look at How to Think Like a Professional Trader | A couple of my trading friends have recommended that I read this too. | Goodreads | ||
| Nassim Nicholas Taleb | Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets | Goodreads | |||
| Nick Radge | Unholy Grails - A New Road to Wealth | Goodreads | |||
| Robert Menschel | Markets, Mobs & Mayhem: A Modern Look at the Madness of Crowds | Goodreads | |||
| Steve Nison | Beyond Candlesticks: New Japanese Charting Techniques Revealed | Goodreads | |||
| Steve Nison | Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques: A Contemporary Guide to the Ancient Investment Techniques of the Far East | Goodreads | |||
| Steven Drobny | Inside the House of Money: Top Hedge Fund Traders on Profiting in a Global Market | Goodreads | |||
| Van K. Tharp | Eight Edges You Must Have: Your Written Trading Plan | Goodreads | |||
| Van K. Tharp | Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom | Goodreads | |||
| Van K. Tharp | Van Tharp’s Definitive Guide To Position Sizing | Goodreads |
Business Books
| Author | Title | Comments | Links | Date Started Reading | Date Finished Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ash Maurya | Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works | Goodreads | |||
| Avinash K. Dixit, Barry J. Nalebuff | The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist’s Guide to Success in Business and Life | Goodreads | |||
| Ben Horowitz | The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers | Goodreads | |||
| Brant Cooper, Patrick Vlaskovits | The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development: A cheat sheet to The Four Steps to the Epiphany | Malan Joubert lent this to me, and I never gave it back to him. Sorry Malan, I will post it back to Cape Town once I have read it! | Goodreads | ||
| Cal Newport | So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love | Goodreads | |||
| Chris Guillebeau | The \$100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future | Goodreads | |||
| Clarke Ching | Rolling Rocks Downhill: Accelerate Agile using Goldratt’s TOC | Neil Kidd recommended this to me. | Goodreads | ||
| Clayton M. Christensen | The Innovator’s Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book that Will Change the Way You Do Business | Goodreads | |||
| Daniel H. Pink | Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us | Mashooq Badar recommended this to me. | Goodreads | ||
| Donella H. Meadows | Thinking in Systems: A Primer | Goodreads | |||
| Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Jeff Cox | The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement | Neil Kidd recommended this to me. | Goodreads | ||
| Eric Ries | The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses | I’ve read this before (it was the first book Jess ever bought for me), but I would like to read it again. | Goodreads | ||
| Frederick P. Brooks Jr. | The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering | Goodreads | |||
| Gary Vaynerchuk | Crush It!: Why Now Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion | I love Gary Vaynerchuk’s style in his videos, so I am keen to see what his book is like. | Goodreads | ||
| H. William Dettmer | Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints | Goodreads | |||
| James Kerr | Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About the Business of Life | Steve Lydford recommended this to me. | Goodreads | ||
| Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson | Rework | I’ve read this before and would like to read it again. | Goodreads | ||
| John C. Maxwell | The 360 Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization | Goodreads | |||
| Manny Medina, Max Altschuler, Mark Kosoglow | Sales Engagement: How The World’s Fastest Growing Companies are Modernizing Sales Through Humanization at Scale | Goodreads | |||
| Marcus Buckingham, Curt Coffman | First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently | Goodreads | |||
| Marshall Goldsmith, Mark Reiter | What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful | Goodreads | |||
| Mary Lynn Manns, Linda Rising | Fearless Change: Patterns for Introducing New Ideas | Goodreads | |||
| Matthew Dixon, Brent Adamson | The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation | Goodreads | January 2020 | ||
| Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, Gene Kim | Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations | Christopher Bimson recommended this to me. | Goodreads | ||
| Peter F. Drucker | The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done | Goodreads | |||
| Peter Thiel, Blake Masters | Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future | Carl Anderson recommended this to me. | Goodreads | ||
| Ray Dalio | Principles: Life and Work | I enjoy Ray Dalio’s videos and am excited to read this book. | Goodreads | ||
| Roger Fisher, William Ury, Bruce Patton | Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In | Goodreads | |||
| Steven Kotler, Jamie Wheal | Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work | Goodreads | |||
| Timothy Ferriss | The 4-Hour Workweek | Goodreads | |||
| Timothy Ferriss | Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World | Goodreads | |||
| Tom DeMarco, Timothy R. Lister | Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams | Goodreads | |||
| W. Chan Kim, Renée Mauborgne | Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant | Goodreads |
General Books
| Author | Title | Comments | Links | Date Started Reading | Date Finished Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benjamin Hoff | Winnie-The-Pooh: The Tao of Pooh & the Te of Piglet | Goodreads | |||
| Chris Hadfield | An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth | Goodreads | |||
| James Wallman | Stuffocation | Carl Anderson recommended this to me. | Goodreads | ||
| John Leet | Darkpool | Goodreads | |||
| Nassim Nicholas Taleb | Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder | Goodreads | |||
| Nassim Nicholas Taleb | The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable | Goodreads | |||
| Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter | The Long Earth | Jess bought this for me and I have yet to read it. | Goodreads | ||
| Thom Brooks | Becoming British | I love living in England, so I am excited to read this. | Goodreads | ||
| Viktor E. Frankl | Man’s Search for Meaning | Goodreads | |||
| Yuval Noah Harari | Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind | Goodreads |
Personal Finance Books
| Author | Title | Comments | Links | Date Started Reading | Date Finished Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Sawyer | Reset: How to Restart Your Life and Get F.U. Money: The Unconventional Early Retirement Plan for Midlife Careerists Who Want to Be Happy | Neil Kidd recommended this to me. | Goodreads | ||
| Scott Pape | The Barefoot Investor: The Only Money Guide You’ll Ever Need | Neil Kidd recommended this to me. | Goodreads |
Psychology Books
| Author | Title | Comments | Links | Date Started Reading | Date Finished Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dan Ariely | Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions | Goodreads | |||
| Daniel Kahneman | Thinking, Fast and Slow | Goodreads | |||
| Mark Douglas | Trading in the Zone: Master the Market with Confidence, Discipline, and a Winning Attitude | I will read this again when I have a bit more trading experience. | Goodreads | ||
| Maxwell Maltz | Psycho-Cybernetics, Updated and Expanded | Goodreads | |||
| Terence Watts | Warriors, Settlers & Nomads: Discovering Who We Are & What We Can Be: Discovering Who We Are and What We Can Be | Keith Tunstall recommended this to me. | Goodreads | ||
| W. Timothy Gallwey | The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance | This was recommended on Steven Goldstein and Mark Randall’s podcast. | Goodreads |
Science Books
| Author | Title | Comments | Links | Date Started Reading | Date Finished Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alastair I.M. Rae | Quantum Physics: A Beginner’s Guide | Goodreads | |||
| Brian Greene | The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory | Goodreads | |||
| Chad Orzel | How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog | Goodreads | |||
| J.P. McEvoy, Oscar Zárate | Introducing Quantum Theory: A Graphic Guide | Goodreads | |||
| Neil deGrasse Tyson | Astrophysics for People in a Hurry | Goodreads |
Self Improvement Books
| Author | Title | Comments | Links | Date Started Reading | Date Finished Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andy Hunt | Pragmatic Thinking and Learning: Refactor Your Wetware | David Hall recommended this to me. | Goodreads | ||
| Andy Puddicombe | The Headspace Guide to Meditation & Mindfulness | Goodreads | |||
| Ash Ambirge | The Middle Finger Project: Trash Your Imposter Syndrome and Live the Unf*ckwithable Life You Deserve | Goodreads | |||
| Dale Carnegie | How to Stop Worrying and Start Living | Goodreads | |||
| Dale Carnegie | How to Win Friends and Influence People | I’ve read this before and would like to read it again. | Goodreads | ||
| Dale Carnegie | Public Speaking and Influencing Men in Business | Goodreads | |||
| Dale Carnegie | The Art of Public Speaking | Goodreads | |||
| David Goggins | Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds | Goodreads | |||
| James Clear | Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones | Goodreads | |||
| Jocko Willink, Leif Babin | Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win | Sandro Mancuso recommends this book. | Goodreads | ||
| Kerry Spackman | Winner’s Bible: Rewire your Brain for Permanent Change | Some of the guys in my trading group have recommended this to me. | Goodreads | ||
| Mark Manson | The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life | I’ve read this before and would like to read it again. | Goodreads | ||
| Matthew Syed | Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success | Goodreads | |||
| Patrik Edblad | The Self-Discipline Blueprint: A Simple Guide to Beat Procrastination, Achieve Your Goals, and Get the Life You Want | Goodreads | |||
| Robert Greene | Mastery | Mashooq Badar recommended this to me. | Goodreads | ||
| Shunryu Suzuki | Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice | Goodreads | |||
| Stephen R. Covey | The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change | I’ve read this before and would like to read it again. | Goodreads | ||
| Timothy Ferriss | The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman | Goodreads | |||
| Timothy Ferriss | The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life | Goodreads | |||
| Timothy Ferriss | Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers | Goodreads |
Software Development Books
| Author | Title | Comments | Links | Date Started Reading | Date Finished Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander Shvets | Design Patterns Explained Simply | Goodreads | |||
| Andy Hunt, Dave Thomas | The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master | Goodreads | |||
| Eric Evans | Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software | Goodreads | |||
| Eric Freeman, Kathy Sierra, Bert Bates, Elisabeth Robson | Head First Design Patterns | Goodreads | |||
| Erich Gamma, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides, Richard Helm | Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software | Goodreads | |||
| Floyd Marinescu | Domain-Driven Design Quickly | I’ve read this before and would like to read it again. | Goodreads | ||
| Henrik Kniberg | Scrum and XP from the Trenches | Goodreads | |||
| Jon Skeet | C# in Depth | Goodreads | |||
| Kent Beck | Test Driven Development: By Example | Goodreads | |||
| Kevlin Henney | 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know: Collective Wisdom from the Experts | Goodreads | |||
| Martin Fowler | Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code | Goodreads | |||
| Michael C. Feathers | Working Effectively with Legacy Code | Goodreads | |||
| Pedro Moreira Santos, Marco Consolaro, Alessandro Di Gioia | Agile Technical Practices Distilled | Goodreads | |||
| Robert C. Martin | Agile Software Development, Principles, Patterns, and Practices | Goodreads | |||
| Robert C. Martin | Clean Architecture | Goodreads | |||
| Robert C. Martin | Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship | I’ve read this before and would like to read it again. | Goodreads | ||
| Sandi Metz, Katrina Owen | 99 Bottles of OOP | Goodreads | |||
| Sandro Mancuso | The Software Craftsman: Professionalism, Pragmatism, Pride | I’ve read this before and would like to read it again. | Goodreads |
Stoicism Books
| Author | Title | Comments | Links | Date Started Reading | Date Finished Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meditations | Marcus Aurelius | Paul Wallace recommended this to me. | Goodreads | ||
| Ryan Holiday | Stillness Is the Key | Doron Dusheiko recommended this to me. | Goodreads | ||
| Seneca | Letters from a Stoic | Goodreads | |||
| Seneca | On the Shortness of Life | Goodreads |
Credits
I’d like to express my gratitude to the people below for the tools they built and the reading recommendations which they provided.
- Carl Anderson
- Christopher Bimson
- David Hall
- donatj, who created the tool I used to create the markdown tables used in the code behind this post.
- Keith Tunstall
- Malan Joubert
- Mark Randall
- Mashooq Badar
- My lovely wife, Jess
- My trading group
- Neil Kidd
- Paul Wallace
- Steve Lydford
- Steven Goldstein
- Tim Hamilton
)
Scott Edwards
CTO / Head of Engineering
Lead software engineer, engineering manager, and beginner guitarist. I also have a strong interest in long-term investing.