Michael Burry, the investor portrayed by Christian Bale in The Big Short, has made book recommendations in three different ways over the years.
He is not a frequent book reviewer, but when he does share what he is reading, it gives a unique window into how he thinks. We have three distinct times where his reading list has been revealed:
Below you will find context and commentary for each list.
1997 Forum Post: Burry's Original Value Investing Book List
The earliest public record of Burry's reading list came in 1997, when he was active on a site called The Silicon Investor. In response to a forum question, he listed six books that shaped his early thinking. That page is no longer active, but you can still view it on the Wayback Machine.
#1. The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
A classic book on value investing, The Intelligent Investor is a popular favorite among the greatest investors of all time. Written by Benjamin Graham in 1949, and updated many times since, its lessons remain timeless.
An example of one principle often cited today, and utilized by Burry in 2008, is that of “Mr. Market,” which expands upon the idea that short-term prices are determined by an investor's mood and not fundamental analysis.
Or, as Graham famously explained, “In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.“
#2. Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits by Philip A. Fisher
Warren Buffett has said that his own investment approach is 85% Benjamin Graham and 15% Phillip Fisher.
Graham stuck in his lane as a value investor; he knew how to identify companies going for deep discounts to book value.
Phillip Fisher's approach, which he lays out in this book, was the opposite — he wanted to find companies that were priced well and bound to grow, which could also be held for a very long time.
In other words, he was an advocate for growth investing.
#3. Why Stocks Go Up and Down by William H. Pike
Being able to read a financial statement to learn whether a company is valued correctly is a core skill for value investors. And for decades, William Pike's Why Stocks Go Up and Down has been a top recommendation for investors to learn this skill.
Last updated in 2013, there's little technical theory in this book. Instead, it's heavy on practical application for understanding financial statement analysis, cash flow generation, stock price valuation, and more.
#4. Buffettology by Mary Buffett and David Clark
As with many investors, Burry learned a lot from following Warren Buffett. The book Buffettology takes a deep dive into Warren Buffett's investment approach.
Updated in 2002 under the name The New Buffettology, the book reviews decades of Buffett trades and dives into the lessons you can learn from them.
#5. Value Investing Made Easy by Janet Lowe
The subtitle of this book is “Benjamin Graham's Classic Investment Strategy Explained for Everyone.”
So, again, Graham's influence on Burry is clear.
It's worth noting the placement of this book at #5 on the list. Personally, I benefit from reading easier books first, working my way up to more advanced books.
Burry lists some of the easier books (like this one) towards the bottom. My guess would be that's because he sees this book as too basic a guide for making serious trades, but a good review of the fundamentals.
#6. Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham (1951 Edition)
Graham wrote The Intelligent Investor with the aim to teach value investing to the masses. Security Analysis, on the other hand, is the more technical book, aimed at those looking for a deep dive into value investing.
My guess is there's a reason Burry puts this last on the list — because you'll need the foundation from the books above to understand the advanced concepts Security Analysis discusses.
The Big Short Bonus Pick: One Book That Shaped Burry's Strategy
If you read the book version of The Big Short, you might catch that there's one book recommended by both Burry and Jamie Mai (the president of Cornwall Capital).
That book is You Can Be A Stock Market Genius by Joel Greenblatt.
Burry's remarks on the book, were:
“I hated the title but liked the book.”
As The Big Short goes on to say:
As he scrambled to find office space, buy furniture, and open a brokerage account, he received a pair of surprising phone calls. The first came from a big investment fund in New York City, Gotham Capital. Gotham was founded by a value investment guru named Joel Greenblatt. Burry had read Greenblatt's book You Can Be a Stock Market Genius. (“I hated the title but liked the book.”) Greenblatt's people told him that they had been making money off his ideas for some time and wanted to continue to do so—might Mike Burry consider allowing Gotham to invest in his fund? “Joel Greenblatt himself called and said, ‘I've been waiting for you to leave medicine.'”
Joel Greenblatt is a very well respected name in investing today, although his book titles often make it sound like you're buying into a get rich scheme. He's currently an adjunct professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Business, in addition to running Gotham Capital.
The book discusses a type of investing Greenblatt has become known for: value and special situations investing. The idea behind the approach is to find events that have little to no impact on the underlying fundamentals of a company, but which devalue the company's stock price.
While there are many varieties of special situation investing, one example would be investing in companies that recently incurred some bad PR. Perhaps their CEO left, Elon Musk tweeted about them, or they physically assaulted a passenger on their airline (all real examples). Nonetheless, the stock declined based on these events, and was therefore a buying opportunity because the fundamentals had not changed.
While the book doesn't sell as many copies as The Intelligent Investor, it's a clear favorite among many of the world's best investors today.
2021 Twitter Bookshelf: 18 Titles That Reveal Burry's Broader Interests
Michael Burry quietly updated his Twitter profile header to a photo of his bookshelf. The image showed 18 book spines, offering a new glimpse into the ideas shaping his thinking at the time.
Only two of the books had appeared in his earlier recommendations: The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham and Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd.
The other 16 books were new additions. Many focus on financial history, bubbles, macroeconomics, and behavioral finance—areas that reflect Burry's broadening perspective over time.
Here's the full list, with the new books hyperlinked.
- The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
- Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd
- The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America by Warren Buffett and Lawrence Cunningham
- The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Howe
- Narrative Economics by Robert Shiller
- The Great Crash 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith
- A Short History of Financial Euphoria by John Kenneth Galbraith
- The New Depression: The Breakdown of the Paper Money Economy by Richard Duncan
- When Money Dies: The Nightmare of the Weimar Collapse by Adam Fergusson
- Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World by Michael Lewis
- This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly by Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff
- Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed
- Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises by Charles P. Kindleberger
- Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay
- The Alchemy of Finance by George Soros
- The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy, 1945–1975 by Max Hastings
While Burry gave no explanation, the titles speak for themselves. His interest clearly expands beyond stock picking to the bigger forces that move markets, governments, and public psychology.
Every Book Michael Burry Has Publicly Recommended
When we combine all three sources—his 1997 forum post, the Big Short reference, and his 2021 Twitter bookshelf—we get the following list of 23 unique titles.
This list is alphabetized for easy reference:
- You Can Be a Stock Market Genius by Joel Greenblatt
- A Short History of Financial Euphoria by John Kenneth Galbraith
- Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World by Michael Lewis
- Buffettology by Mary Buffett and David Clark
- Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits by Philip A. Fisher
- Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay
- Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed
- Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises by Charles P. Kindleberger
- Narrative Economics by Robert Shiller
- Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd
- The Alchemy of Finance by George Soros
- The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America by Warren Buffett and Lawrence Cunningham
- The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Howe
- The Great Crash 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith
- The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
- The New Depression: The Breakdown of the Paper Money Economy by Richard Duncan
- This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly by Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff
- Value Investing Made Easy by Janet Lowe
- Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy, 1945–1975 by Max Hastings
- When Money Dies: The Nightmare of the Weimar Collapse by Adam Fergusson
- Why Stocks Go Up and Down by William H. Pike
Summary
Investing in yourself is something we talk about a lot on The Ways To Wealth. And for good reason: building valuable skills is one of the straightest paths towards improving your life and increasing your wealth.
Burry spent his time building his skills in investing. And without a typical Wall Street resume, he spotted an opportunity few others saw. This is what makes his story so inspirational for many investors out there, and serves as a poignant example of how focusing on self-improvement can lead to great outcomes.
While you may not spot the next housing bubble before everyone else, enhancing your knowledge about investing can help you make better overall decisions and speed up your progress towards your financial goals.
If you're looking to continue your investing education, be sure to check out our other expert-curated lists:
