Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger built one of the most significant investment partnerships in history, and both men credited reading as the foundation of their success. Munger once said that he never knew a wise person who didn’t read constantly. Buffett has estimated that he spends roughly 80 percent of his working day reading.
What makes their reading habits worth studying is not just volume but overlap. When both men independently praised the same book, it signals something more profound than personal taste. It reveals the shared intellectual framework behind Berkshire Hathaway’s extraordinary track record.
1. “The Intelligent Investor” by Benjamin Graham
This is the book that started it all for Buffett. He has called it the best book on investing ever written and described picking it up as one of the luckiest moments of his life. Graham’s core lesson is that successful investing requires emotional discipline above all else. The market will constantly tempt you to buy high and sell low, and only investors who treat stocks as real businesses can resist that pull.
Munger shared Buffett’s deep respect for Graham’s intellectual framework, even as he pushed Buffett to evolve beyond strict bargain hunting toward buying wonderful companies at fair prices. The foundation Graham laid in this book shaped how both men thought about risk, margin of safety, and the difference between investing and speculation.
2. “Security Analysis” by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd
If “The Intelligent Investor” is the philosophical guide, “Security Analysis” is the technical manual. Buffett studied under both Graham and Dodd at Columbia University and later wrote the foreword for a subsequent edition of the book. He credited the book and the men behind it with changing his life.
This text taught a generation of value investors how to read financial statements, evaluate bonds, and assess a business’s intrinsic value. Munger respected Graham’s analytical rigor and understood that without this kind of foundational discipline, no investment philosophy could withstand market pressure.
3. “Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits” by Philip Fisher
Philip Fisher represented the other half of the intellectual equation that shaped Berkshire Hathaway. While Graham focused on quantitative analysis and buying cheap, Fisher emphasized qualitative factors like management quality, competitive advantages, and long-term growth potential. Buffett and Munger discussed Fisher’s philosophy together at shareholder meetings, and Buffett openly recommended his books.
Buffett has described his own investment approach as roughly 85 percent Graham and 15 percent Fisher, though many observers believe Fisher’s influence grew over time. Munger was a key force in that evolution, consistently encouraging Buffett to pay fair prices for exceptional businesses rather than bargain prices for mediocre ones.
4. “The Wealth of Nations” by Adam Smith
Adam Smith’s 1776 masterpiece is not a typical investment book, but Buffett and Munger both drew heavily from its philosophical framework. They discussed the book together at Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meetings, exploring how Smith’s insights about markets, competition, and the division of labor applied to their own business decisions.
Smith’s central observation that free markets tend to allocate resources more efficiently than central planning resonated deeply with both men. They built Berkshire Hathaway around the idea of letting talented managers run their businesses with minimal interference from headquarters.
That decentralized approach echoes Smith’s argument that economic systems work best when individual actors are free to pursue productive activity without excessive top-down control.
5. “The Warren Buffett Portfolio” by Robert Hagstrom
Munger publicly praised this book at a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting, calling it a considerable contribution to the synthesis of human thought on the investment process. He admitted he had initially dismissed it based on the author’s earlier work, but after reading the full manuscript, he was genuinely impressed. He recommended that every shareholder in attendance buy a copy.
The book explains the principles behind focus investing, the strategy of concentrating capital in a small number of high-conviction positions rather than diversifying broadly. This approach defined how Buffett and Munger actually invested for decades. Hagstrom captured the mechanics of their philosophy in a way that made it accessible to serious investors who wanted to understand why patience and discipline beat diversification.
6. “Poor Charlie’s Almanack” edited by Peter Kaufman
This collection of Munger’s speeches, essays, and philosophical musings is one of the most unique business books ever published. Buffett wrote the foreword and promoted it with characteristic humor at shareholder meetings, joking that carrying it around would make people look urbane and erudite. Behind the joke was a genuine endorsement of the book’s substance.
The real value of “Poor Charlie’s Almanack” lies in Munger’s concept of building a latticework of mental models drawn from psychology, physics, biology, history, and economics. Munger argued that you can’t make good decisions using only the tools from a single discipline.
You need frameworks from many fields working together. This book captures that multidisciplinary approach better than anything else in print and remains essential for anyone who wants to think more clearly about investing and life.
7. “The Outsiders” by William Thorndike
Buffett named this book number one on his recommended reading list in his 2012 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter, calling it an outstanding book about CEOs who excelled at capital allocation. Munger separately praised it as a book that details the extraordinary success of CEOs who took a radically different approach to corporate management.
Thorndike profiles eight CEOs whose companies dramatically outperformed the market over long periods. The common thread was not charisma or operational brilliance but disciplined capital allocation. These leaders understood that deciding where to deploy cash is the most crucial job a CEO has. That principle sits at the heart of everything Buffett and Munger built at Berkshire Hathaway.
Conclusion
The books that Buffett and Munger both respected reveal a clear pattern. They valued texts that taught disciplined thinking, rational decision-making, and a deep understanding of how businesses and markets actually work. These are not get-rich-quick guides. They are serious works that demand careful reading and sustained thought.
The lesson for anyone building wealth is that the right books can reshape how you think about money, risk, and opportunity. Buffett and Munger did not agree on everything, but when both men pointed to the same book, it was worth paying attention. These seven titles are a strong starting point for anyone who wants to develop the kind of mental framework that produces lasting financial results.