Charlie Munger spent a lifetime reading across every discipline he could find. He built what he called a “latticework of mental models” by pulling ideas from biology, psychology, economics, physics, and history. The authors who shaped that framework weren’t limited to finance. They were scientists, philosophers, and historians whose ideas he carried into every decision he made.
1. Charles Darwin
No thinker appeared more frequently in Munger’s speeches than Charles Darwin. Munger admired Darwin’s intellectual discipline, particularly his habit of seeking out evidence that contradicted his own theories.
“The great example of Charles Darwin is that he avoided confirmation bias. Darwin probably changed my life because I’m a biography nut, and when I found out the way he always paid extra attention to the disconfirming evidence and all these little psychological tricks.” – Charlie Munger.
Munger applied evolutionary thinking to business and markets, viewing competition through the lens of adaptation and survival. Darwin’s method of relentless self-correction became the foundation of Munger’s approach to rational decision-making.
2. Benjamin Franklin
Munger returned to Benjamin Franklin throughout his life, viewing him as the most outstanding example of the self-improving American polymath. He especially loved Carl Van Doren’s 1952 biography.
“I am rereading a book I really like, which is Van Doren’s biography of Benjamin Franklin, which came out in 1952, and I’d almost forgotten how good a book it was. We’ve never had anybody quite like Franklin in this country. Never again.” – Charlie Munger.
Franklin represented the model Munger himself followed: a curious generalist who mastered multiple disciplines and applied them to real-world problems without pretension.
3. Robert Cialdini
Robert Cialdini may have been the living author Munger championed most aggressively. His book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion became a fixture at nearly every Berkshire Hathaway and Wesco annual meeting. Munger was so impressed that he sent Cialdini a share of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock as a thank-you.
“I suggest you add……. Cialdini’s Influence. You will never make a better investment.” – Charlie Munger.
Cialdini’s research on persuasion, social proof, and incentive-driven behavior mapped directly onto Munger’s framework for understanding human misjudgment. Once you see how influence works, you can’t unsee it.
4. Adam Smith
Munger considered Adam Smith one of the finest thinkers in human history. While most people know Smith for the “invisible hand” concept, Munger valued his deeper warnings about monopolies, corruption, and misaligned incentives.
Smith didn’t treat economics as an abstract theory. He treated it as a study of human nature expressed through markets. That grounding is exactly how Munger approached every business and investment decision throughout his career.
5. Richard Dawkins
Munger praised Richard Dawkins’ evolutionary works with genuine enthusiasm, calling The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker transformative reading.
“I mean, these are powerful books. And they’re a lot of fun. I had to read The Selfish Gene twice before I fully understood it. And there were things I believed all my life that weren’t so, and I think it’s just wonderful when you have those experiences.” – Charlie Munge.r
For Munger, the value wasn’t just in learning new ideas. It was in the unlearning. He cherished any book that could destroy a long-held but incorrect belief, and Dawkins delivered that kind of intellectual disruption.
6. Jared Diamond
Munger read Guns, Germs, and Steel twice, something he said he very seldom did. What captivated him wasn’t just the sweeping historical argument but the way Diamond’s mind worked.
“It’s a marvelous book. And the way the guy’s mind works would be useful in business. He’s got a mind that is always asking why. Why, why, why. And he’s very good at coming up with answers.” – Charlie Munger.
Diamond’s relentless pursuit of root causes mirrored Munger’s own approach to analyzing investments—a thinker who always asks “why” will outperform those who settle for surface-level explanations.
7. Albert Einstein
Munger frequently referenced Einstein’s methods, particularly his curiosity, self-criticism, and willingness to destroy beloved ideas when evidence demanded it. He loved the detail that Einstein nearly failed in obscurity before his breakthroughs.
“If it had not been for his friends, his pals with whom he discussed physics, he never would have gotten the job in the patent office that enabled him to survive in life at a time when he was failing.” – Charlie Munger.
The practical lesson Munger drew from Einstein’s story was clear: even extraordinary intelligence needs the right environment and relationships. No one succeeds in total isolation.
8. Daniel Kahneman
The Nobel laureate’s work on cognitive biases, Thinking, Fast and Slow, became a pillar of Munger’s intellectual framework. Kahneman’s research provided rigorous academic backing for the mental errors Munger had identified over decades of observing human behavior in business.
Munger’s famous speech, “The Psychology of Human Misjudgment,” covers many of the same traps Kahneman documented, from overconfidence to loss aversion. Kahneman provided the scientific foundation for what Munger saw playing out every day in boardrooms and markets.
9. Garrett Hardin
A lesser-known pick, but one Munger promoted consistently. Hardin’s Living Within Limits was featured in Poor Charlie’s Almanack and was regularly given away by Munger. Hardin’s work on ecology, population, and the “tragedy of the commons” fed Munger’s thinking about systems and the cost of ignoring hard limits.
Hardin’s central argument is that many of society’s worst problems come from refusing to acknowledge real boundaries. That idea resonated with Munger, who spent his career warning investors about the dangers of wishful thinking.
10. Viktor Frankl
Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning struck a chord with Munger because it combined extreme experience with rational analysis. Frankl survived Auschwitz and then built a psychological theory of purpose from that suffering, rather than simply recounting it.
Munger admired thinkers who endured terrible circumstances and turned their experience into something useful. Frankl’s core insight, that meaning can be found in any situation, aligned with Munger’s philosophy of confronting reality and finding a rational path forward.
Conclusion
What ties these authors together is the pattern that defined Munger’s intellectual life. He wasn’t drawn to a single field. He sought out the best thinkers from biology, psychology, economics, physics, and history, then wove their ideas into a unified system for understanding the world.
“I believe in the discipline of mastering the best that other people have ever figured out. I don’t believe in just sitting down and trying to dream it all up yourself. Nobody’s that smart.” – Charlie Munger.
These 10 authors gave Munger the raw materials for his mental models. For anyone serious about thinking more clearly about money, business, or life, this reading list is a powerful place to start.