So you want to be an investment banker you say? You're thinking of starting a hedge fund? You think you're cut out for the private equity life style? You know that you want to put in the long hours at a challenging job for a chance at that big brass ring? You're wondering how to get a job at a big investment bank? Well knowing what you want to do is only the first step, you have to know how to talk the talk and walk the walk before you even have a chance at the big payout.
It's a good think for you that we did the heavy lifting and through a robust dues dillagence process agregated the opinions of a variety of educator and professional opinions to bring you this list. These books will tell you the stories of some folks who have walked the same path and help you realize if you're cut out for the business and if you fit best on the sales and trading side of the business, doing analysis of financial instruments or advising on mergers and acquisitions.
It's a good think for you that we did the heavy lifting and through a robust dues dillagence process agregated the opinions of a variety of educator and professional opinions to bring you this list. These books will tell you the stories of some folks who have walked the same path and help you realize if you're cut out for the business and if you fit best on the sales and trading side of the business, doing analysis of financial instruments or advising on mergers and acquisitions.
1.) Wall Street Meat : My Narrow Escape from the Stock Market Grinder By: Andy Kessler
Told over the back drop of the rise of tech superstars Frank Quattrone (CS First Boston), Mary Meeker (Morgan Stanley) and Henry Blodget (Merrill Lynch) this book recounts hedge fund manager Andy Kessler's early years in the business. Kessler was was an engineer by trade who, as the result of a series of random events, ended up being thrown into what will go down in history as one of the most interesting times in investing, the go-go 1990s. This is a great book for those who started their career outside finance to get a glimpse at how simultaneously easy and difficult the move for bright folks can be. 
So you picked up Quants after the recent crisis and are interested in reading how author Micheal Lewis cut his teeth on the subject of investments you say? Well look no further. This is the book that Lewis wrote to dissuade others from entering this industry by talking about his experiences as a bond salesman in the 80s. Lewis's critiques of the system though provide a very robust framework for how to enter the system, navigate it and ultimately get paid for one's work within it. The book details a particularly relevant time in history, the rise of the modern bond sales at Solomon Brothers.
John knee tells the story of investment banking in the go-go 90s through his experiences at landing a job at Goldman Sachs through a chance phone call and then moving on to Morgan Stanley. He laments on the "good old days" when investment banking was a relationship game before the changes the took place during the tech bubble. This is what makes this book different. It is not just a recanting of tales from someone's time in the industry but an analysis of the changes that took place during that decade. 
So you say you're never read Reminiscences you classless buffoon? I'm guessing you felt it a better use of your time to play Farmville on the Facebook huh? Listen, at some point in time someone is going to start bringing up the foundations of the industry and fist bumping isn't going to get you out of not knowing anything about the last hundred years, so read this book. The author talks about trading and speculation in a way that speaks to the time but still preaches lessons that are relevant today. He was never an investor and always a speculator. He identified the winds of the market and road them. You'll walk away from this book knowing that the trend is your friend, history repeats itself, no stock is too high to buy or too low to sell and to let your winners run and cut your losses quickly. More importantly you'll have something that happened before 1990 to talk about at parties. 
Listen, you’re not going to be in investment banking forever. If you’re smart, you’ll make the jump over to a private equity firm. There instead of just nibbling on the crumbs of the 7% revenue your firm gets for underwriting a deal you’ll nibble off the crumbs of a recognizable brand name being taken private and then public once again. If you want to know how this business works you better know about Steve Schwarzman. You better know how he tried unsuccessfully to get Lehman Brothers on board. You better know about how he turned a partner and a secretary into a Wall Street institution. Most of all though, you better know that when you make it having world famous crooner Rod Stewart belt out “Do You Think I’m Sexy” at your birthday is a real possibility.
If you want to go into investment banking you have probably considered this firm. What’s a prospective summer associate to do though when the firm is fairly secretive about it’s operations you say though? Well the answer is read up! This book spends some time talking about the first hundred years of Goldman before it gets into the recent changes in the firm. This sense of historical perspective can only make you seem more knowledgeable though. 
So let’s be honest, you could just watch the movie
, which is great, but you’ll get so much more out of this landmark American deal making story if you read this book. The book tells the story of Ross Johnson stealing an idea from and ultimately taking on Henry Kravis of KKR head to head. This book has it all, cool guys smoking, double crossing and ballooning deal prices. If you’re interested in how one of these mega transactions plays out reading this book will give you the insight that most outsiders never get. 8.) Bombardiers by Po Bronson
Like a lot of these other books telling the story of i-banking this book is a pretty quick read and a quite enjoyable one. With that said, it's banking plus the stereotypical archetypes of the people that enter the financial playing field. The book tells the story of an office full of bond traders and how the system rewards some and crushes others. It's a little on the absurd side at times, but maybe that's just the industry? You'll laugh, you'll cry, you may even get a non financial friend to read it.9.) Running Money : Hedge Fund Honchos, Monster Markets and My Hunt for the Big Score By: Andy Kessler
So you read Kessler's Wall Street Meat and wondered what happened next? Well he went on to run a hedge fund, wrote Wall Street Meat and then wrote this book! If you like Wall Street Meat (and you will) you'll like the follow up. Kessler tells the story of transitioning his career, attempting to raise capital, realizing that he needs to be taken seriously and ultimately talking about what worked. Listen, no one wants to be an analyst forever, so pick up this book and read about the next steps. 
You want to go to Wall Street because you think you're smart right? Well so did these guys. When Genius failed profiles the experiences of a couple of PhDs setting up a fund and truing their theories into real executable trading strategies. You would assume that guys that smart could clean up right? Well they did for a while and then
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Fuck Micheal Lewis. If that guy was half as smart as he purports to be he would have stuck around with the rest of his on boarding class and made ten times the money he has now.