The Psychology of Money
Morgan Housel
Short stories on why behaviour, not intelligence, decides financial outcomes.
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147+ hand-picked books across 11 shelves, reading paths, and free official and university resources, chosen by practising professionals.
Reading paths
Where should I start?
New to money
- The Psychology of Money
- Let's Talk Money
- The Richest Man in Babylon
- The Little Book of Common Sense Investing
Future CA / tax professional
- Students' Guide to Income Tax including GST
- Advanced Accountancy
- GST Ready Reckoner
- Financial Shenanigans
First-time founder
- The Mom Test
- The Lean Startup
- Profit First
- The E-Myth Revisited
Growing business owner
- Scaling Up
- Good to Great
- Financial Intelligence
- Building a StoryBrand
Aspiring investor
- The Intelligent Investor
- One Up On Wall Street
- The Most Important Thing
- Coffee Can Investing
Lawyer / legal practice
- Law of Contract and Specific Relief
- Company Law
- Law of Evidence
- Getting to Yes
Personal Finance & Wealth
Money habits, saving, budgeting and building long-term wealth. Start here if you are new to finance.
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Robert T. Kiyosaki
A popular first book on assets, liabilities and thinking like an owner.
The Richest Man in Babylon
George S. Clason
Timeless saving and investing rules told as parables.
Let's Talk Money
Monika Halan
An Indian guide to emergency funds, insurance, mutual funds and a simple money system.
I Will Teach You to Be Rich
Ramit Sethi
A practical six-week programme for automating savings and spending consciously.
The Millionaire Next Door
Thomas J. Stanley & William D. Danko
Research on how ordinary people quietly build wealth.
Your Money or Your Life
Vicki Robin & Joe Dominguez
Links spending to life energy and long-term financial independence.
The Simple Path to Wealth
J. L. Collins
A plain-language case for low-cost index investing and avoiding debt.
The Total Money Makeover
Dave Ramsey
A step-by-step plan for getting out of debt.
Die With Zero
Bill Perkins
A different view on spending money on experiences at the right time of life.
The Automatic Millionaire
David Bach
Build wealth by automating saving before you spend.
Think and Grow Rich
Napoleon Hill
A classic on goals, persistence and the mindset of achievement.
Investing & Stock Markets
Value investing, index investing, market psychology and risk. The books most professional investors recommend.
The Intelligent Investor
Benjamin Graham
The foundation of value investing: margin of safety and Mr. Market.
Security Analysis
Benjamin Graham & David Dodd
The original textbook on analysing stocks and bonds.
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits
Philip A. Fisher
The growth-investing checklist known as the scuttlebutt method.
One Up On Wall Street
Peter Lynch
How individual investors can find great companies in everyday life.
A Random Walk Down Wall Street
Burton G. Malkiel
The classic argument for diversified, low-cost investing.
The Little Book of Common Sense Investing
John C. Bogle
Why index funds beat most active managers after costs.
The Essays of Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett, ed. Lawrence Cunningham
Buffett's shareholder letters organised by topic.
Poor Charlie's Almanack
Charlie Munger
Mental models and multidisciplinary thinking for investing and life.
The Most Important Thing
Howard Marks
Risk, cycles and second-level thinking from a leading credit investor.
Coffee Can Investing
Saurabh Mukherjea, Rakshit Ranjan & Pranab Uniyal
Buying high-quality Indian companies and holding them for the long term.
The Dhandho Investor
Mohnish Pabrai
Low-risk, high-return investing lessons drawn from Indian entrepreneurs.
Stocks to Riches
Parag Parikh
Behavioural finance for Indian equity investors.
Irrational Exuberance
Robert J. Shiller
How bubbles form in stock and property markets.
Fooled by Randomness
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Luck, survivorship bias and the limits of prediction.
The Black Swan
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Rare, high-impact events and how to prepare for them.
Corporate Finance & Valuation
Capital budgeting, cost of capital, valuation, financial analysis and derivatives for finance professionals and founders.
Principles of Corporate Finance
Richard Brealey, Stewart Myers & Franklin Allen
The standard MBA textbook on investment and financing decisions.
Corporate Finance
Jonathan Berk & Peter DeMarzo
A rigorous, modern treatment built around the law of one price.
Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies
McKinsey & Company (Koller, Goedhart, Wessels)
The practitioner reference for DCF and value creation.
Investment Valuation
Aswath Damodaran
Comprehensive tools for valuing any asset.
The Little Book of Valuation
Aswath Damodaran
A short, accessible introduction to valuing companies.
Narrative and Numbers
Aswath Damodaran
How to connect a business story to a valuation model.
Financial Statement Analysis and Security Valuation
Stephen Penman
Accounting-based valuation for analysts.
Financial Shenanigans
Howard Schilit
How to detect accounting tricks and earnings manipulation.
Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives
John C. Hull
The standard reference on derivatives pricing and risk.
Investments
Zvi Bodie, Alex Kane & Alan Marcus
Portfolio theory, asset pricing and fixed income.
Financial Intelligence
Karen Berman & Joe Knight
Finance for non-finance managers and founders.
The Outsiders
William N. Thorndike
Eight CEOs who excelled at capital allocation.
Accounting & Financial Reporting
From double entry to Ind AS and IFRS. Textbooks used by commerce students, CA aspirants and accountants.
Financial Accounting
Jerry Weygandt, Paul Kimmel & Donald Kieso
A clear international textbook on the accounting cycle and statements.
Intermediate Accounting
Donald Kieso, Jerry Weygandt & Terry Warfield
In-depth coverage of recognition and measurement.
Advanced Accountancy
R. L. Gupta & M. Radhaswamy
A long-standing Indian reference for partnership, company and special accounts.
Financial Accounting
S. N. Maheshwari & S. K. Maheshwari
Widely used in Indian commerce degrees.
Financial Accounting for CA Foundation
P. C. Tulsian
Concept-and-practice book for CA students.
Horngren's Cost Accounting
Srikant Datar & Madhav Rajan
Costing, budgeting and management control.
Accounting Made Simple
Mike Piper
A 100-page primer for complete beginners.
Financial Statements
Thomas Ittelson
Visual, step-by-step guide to the three statements.
How to Read a Financial Report
John A. Tracy & Tage C. Tracy
Understand cash flow and profit connections.
Interpretation and Application of IFRS Standards
Wiley
Annual practitioner guide to IFRS.
Taxation: India & International
Income tax, GST, customs and international tax. Commentaries professionals keep on their desks, plus books for global tax.
Students' Guide to Income Tax including GST
Vinod K. Singhania & Monica Singhania
The most widely used student book on Indian income tax and GST.
Direct Taxes Law & Practice
Vinod K. Singhania & Kapil Singhania
Detailed practitioner coverage of direct taxes.
Systematic Approach to Income Tax
Girish Ahuja & Ravi Gupta
Popular text for CA and CS students.
Kanga & Palkhivala: The Law and Practice of Income Tax
N. A. Palkhivala (ed.)
The classic Indian income tax commentary.
Sampath Iyengar's Law of Income Tax
Bharat Law House
Multi-volume section-wise commentary.
GST Ready Reckoner
V. S. Datey
Quick reference for GST provisions and procedures.
Indirect Taxes: Law and Practice
V. S. Datey
GST and customs for students and practitioners.
Taxmann's GST Manual
Taxmann
Bare law, rules, notifications and circulars in one place.
Customs Law Manual
R. K. Jain
Customs Act, rules and tariff reference.
Klaus Vogel on Double Taxation Conventions
Ekkehart Reimer & Alexander Rust (eds.)
The leading commentary on tax treaties.
International Tax Primer
Brian J. Arnold
A concise introduction to international tax concepts.
J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax
J.K. Lasser Institute
Annual US individual tax guide.
Law: Corporate, Contract & Litigation
Constitution, contracts, companies, evidence, procedure and dispute resolution. Core books for lawyers and business owners.
Introduction to the Constitution of India
D. D. Basu
The standard introduction to the Indian Constitution.
Indian Constitutional Law
M. P. Jain
Authoritative constitutional law text.
Law of Contract and Specific Relief
Avtar Singh
Clear explanation of the Indian Contract Act.
Indian Contract and Specific Relief Acts
Pollock & Mulla
The classic detailed commentary.
Company Law
Avtar Singh
Companies Act concepts for students and professionals.
Guide to the Companies Act
A. Ramaiya
The detailed practitioner commentary.
Law of Evidence
Ratanlal & Dhirajlal
Standard reference on evidence law.
The Code of Civil Procedure
C. K. Takwani
Civil procedure explained for students and litigators.
The Law of Torts
Ratanlal & Dhirajlal
Negligence, nuisance, defamation and liability.
Law of Arbitration and Conciliation
O. P. Malhotra
Commentary on Indian arbitration law.
Law Relating to Intellectual Property
B. L. Wadehra
Trademarks, copyright, patents and designs in India.
Black's Law Dictionary
Bryan A. Garner (ed.)
The most cited legal dictionary.
Getting to Yes
Roger Fisher & William Ury
Principled negotiation for deals and disputes.
Business Strategy & Management
How great companies compete, plan and execute. Essential reading for owners and managers.
Good to Great
Jim Collins
What separated companies that made a lasting leap in performance.
Built to Last
Jim Collins & Jerry I. Porras
Habits of visionary, enduring companies.
Competitive Strategy
Michael E. Porter
Five forces and industry analysis.
Competitive Advantage
Michael E. Porter
The value chain and sustaining an edge.
Blue Ocean Strategy
W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne
Creating uncontested market space.
The Innovator's Dilemma
Clayton M. Christensen
Why successful firms lose to disruptive innovation.
Good Strategy Bad Strategy
Richard Rumelt
Diagnosis, guiding policy and coherent action.
The Effective Executive
Peter F. Drucker
Managing time, contribution and decisions.
High Output Management
Andrew S. Grove
Running a team like a production line of decisions.
Playing to Win
A. G. Lafley & Roger L. Martin
A practical strategy framework from P&G.
The Goal
Eliyahu M. Goldratt
Theory of constraints told as a factory novel.
7 Powers
Hamilton Helmer
The foundations of durable business strategy.
The E-Myth Revisited
Michael E. Gerber
Why small businesses fail and how systems fix it.
Scaling Up
Verne Harnish
People, strategy, execution and cash for growing firms.
Entrepreneurship & Startups
From idea to product-market fit, funding and scale. Read these before and while building your business.
The Lean Startup
Eric Ries
Build, measure, learn: testing ideas cheaply.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Ben Horowitz
Honest advice on the toughest leadership moments.
The Mom Test
Rob Fitzpatrick
How to talk to customers and learn the truth.
Crossing the Chasm
Geoffrey A. Moore
Moving from early adopters to the mainstream market.
Traction
Gabriel Weinberg & Justin Mares
Nineteen channels to find customers.
Business Model Generation
Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur
The business model canvas.
The Startup Owner's Manual
Steve Blank & Bob Dorf
Customer development, step by step.
Venture Deals
Brad Feld & Jason Mendelson
Term sheets and fundraising explained.
Profit First
Mike Michalowicz
A cash management system for small businesses.
Rework
Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson
Unconventional rules for small, calm companies.
The $100 Startup
Chris Guillebeau
Launching small businesses with little capital.
Stay Hungry Stay Foolish
Rashmi Bansal
Stories of Indian entrepreneurs from IIM Ahmedabad.
Connect the Dots
Rashmi Bansal
Indian founders who built businesses without an MBA.
Marketing, Sales & Brand
Positioning, persuasion, offers and selling. Turn a good product into steady revenue.
Influence
Robert B. Cialdini
Six principles of persuasion backed by research.
Positioning
Al Ries & Jack Trout
Winning a place in the customer's mind.
This Is Marketing
Seth Godin
Marketing as serving the smallest viable audience.
Building a StoryBrand
Donald Miller
A clear message framework for websites and pitches.
$100M Offers
Alex Hormozi
Designing offers customers find hard to refuse.
The Challenger Sale
Matthew Dixon & Brent Adamson
Teaching and tailoring in complex sales.
Economics & Policy
How economies, incentives and institutions work, from classical economics to behavioural economics.
The Wealth of Nations
Adam Smith
The founding text of modern economics (public domain).
The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
John Maynard Keynes
The basis of modern macroeconomic policy.
Economics in One Lesson
Henry Hazlitt
Seeing the unseen effects of policy.
Freakonomics
Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
Incentives revealed through surprising data.
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Daniel Kahneman
The two systems of thinking and common biases.
Nudge
Richard H. Thaler & Cass R. Sunstein
Designing choices that help people decide better.
Poor Economics
Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo
Evidence on fighting poverty.
Why Nations Fail
Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson
Institutions as the root of prosperity.
Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Thomas Piketty
Long-run data on wealth and inequality.
India Unbound
Gurcharan Das
India's economic journey from independence to liberalisation.
Imagining India
Nandan Nilekani
Ideas that shaped and will shape modern India.
Mindset, Habits & Leadership
Discipline, focus, resilience and leading people. The inner game behind every successful professional and founder.
Atomic Habits
James Clear
Small changes that compound into remarkable results.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Stephen R. Covey
Principle-centred personal effectiveness.
Man's Search for Meaning
Viktor E. Frankl
Finding purpose in the hardest circumstances.
Meditations
Marcus Aurelius
Stoic reflections on duty and self-control (public domain).
Principles
Ray Dalio
Life and work principles from a leading investor.
Grit
Angela Duckworth
Passion and perseverance as predictors of success.
The Power of Habit
Charles Duhigg
How habits work in people and organisations.
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Dale Carnegie
The classic on relationships and communication.
Start with Why
Simon Sinek
How leaders inspire action through purpose.
Extreme Ownership
Jocko Willink & Leif Babin
Leadership lessons on accountability.
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
Eric Jorgenson
Wealth and happiness ideas from an investor.
Ikigai
Héctor García & Francesc Miralles
The Japanese idea of a purposeful life.
Wings of Fire
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
The autobiography of India's missile man and President.
The Art of War
Sun Tzu
Ancient strategy applied to competition (public domain).
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