A: Story of Drexel and their rise and dramatic downfall brought on by Milken. Captures the insider trading scandals of the 80's and is truly a Wall Street epic.

A- Niederhoffer is one of those tragic characters who embodies the life of a speculator. This book is just as much a memoir as it is a book on speculation, but it is a pleasure to read. The book is very personal and he is a brilliant writer. A bit of a modern Larry Livingston.

A: Another business epic. This time LBO's, junk bonds, funny money, and the 80's. Expect total corporate warfare.

A- More thought provoking than instructive, but key to understanding luck and randomness, specificly in regards to very rare and surprising events, or black swans.

B: I think balancing this with a book like Taleb's or Market Wizards is interesting. Are the most succesful traders a product of relentress practice or luck? Who knows.

B: Great book if you've done some trades and felt the anxiety associated with risk. If you have not then it may be harder to relate to and enjoy. Written in a very story telling fashion so it reads easy.

B: A collection of short stories. The whole book is worth buying just for the story about the race that a fat guy at Saloman ran.

C+ Anthology of financial panics. Its a good starting point if you want to understand tech bubble, 87 crash, LTCM/Russian default, and the recent crash(although his coverage on that was a little outdated by the time it came to press)

B+ This is basically a bunch of stories of different academics who made devolopments in understanding probability. Pretty smooth read, good for people with an appreciation for the quantitative side of life.

A- A nice complement to Charles MacKay, Wisdom of Crowds has some great stuff on the power of markets under certain conditions, and the conditions that make them utterly wrong. This isn't really about trading or finance but the underlying message about markets is something that should help shape how you approach them.

C: This is basic and friendly but fairly comprenhensive. Good for a one time easy read if you don't know much or anything about bonds. If you are interested in fixed income pricing/math you might want to skip this one and go for Fixed Income securities instead.

This is one of those crackpot theories that a lot of people really truely believe in.

A: This book consists of two parts, the first is a detailed account of the last week of Bear Stearns. The second is a detailed history of the firm, right up until the last week. I thought the latter was fascinating but its an all around great book. RIP Bear.

B+ Very solid history of the firm. Only goes up to the IPO in 1999.

B+ One of those great historical accounts that reminds you of how things just don't change.

B+ The first fifty pages of this book pretty much sum the rest of it up. Soro's theory of reflexivity is one of those things that is definitley worth understanding.