The Ideas Report For Serious Investors

Mohnish Pabrai is founder and managing partner of Pabrai Investment Funds, a family of value-oriented investment partnerships with a fee structure similar to that of the Buffett Partnerships of the 1950s and '60s, i.e. no management fee and 25% performance fee above 6% annual hurdle rate.

While Pabrai Funds struggled in 2008, they continue to have a long-term track record that is vastly superior to that of the S&P 500 Index. Pabrai follows a concentrated investment strategy built upon the principles of Ben Graham, Warren Buffett and Joel Greenblatt.

The following are some of Mohnish Pabrai's favorite books, as listed on the website of Pabrai Investment Funds:

• Common Sense on Mutual Funds, by John Bogle (says Pabrai: "Wonderful Book. I highly recommend all of John Bogle's writings to any investor. John's views are strongly grounded with both theory and extensive empirical data.")
  
• The Essays of Warren Buffett, by Warren Buffett and Larry Cunningham (says Pabrai: "The only book on Buffett endorsed by him. It's a good book to pick up after having read the last 20 years of letters to shareholders. He did a terrific job.")
  
• Security Analysis, by Ben Graham (says Pabrai: "Wonderful Book. There is a lot of terrific data in this book. Needs to be read slowly and carefully - and then re-read. Strongly recommended.")
  
• The Intelligent Investor, by Ben Graham (says Pabrai: "Make sure you read the 1934 edition. It is a terrific work and should be digested slowly.")
• The Essential Buffett, by Robert Hagstrom (says Pabrai: "I recommend all of Hagstrom's books on Buffet. One should read them in sequence - "The Warren Buffett Way" followed by "The Warren Buffett Portfolio" followed by "Latticework" and finally "The Essential Buffett.")
• The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, by David Landes (says Pabrai: "Good book with some great insights")
• Damn Right, by Janet Lowe (book about Charlie Munger; says Pabrai: "Great book. Highly Recommended")
• Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist, by Roger Lowenstein (says Pabrai: "Another good Buffett Biography...")
  
• Beating the Street, by Peter Lynch (says Pabrai: "I strongly recommend all of Peter Lynch's book esp. this one and One up on Wall Street.")
• Secret Formula, by Frederick Allen (says Pabrai: "Great Book to help understand Coca-Cola")
• Titan, by Ron Chernow (says Pabrai: "Very compelling biography on John D. Rockefeller – a must read")
• The Making of a Blockbuster, by Gail DeGeorg (says Pabrai: "The Wayne Huizenga Story. On my Top Ten List. Awesome. An inspiration.")
• Leadership Jazz, by Max DePree (says Pabrai: "Max was the CEO of Herman Miller and a terrific leader. Great book")
• Personal History, by Katherine Graham (says Pabrai: "Highly Recommended")
• Only the Paranoid Survive, by Andy Grove (says Pabrai: "On my Top Ten List. Great Book. Grove was CEO of Intel.")
• Pour Your Heart Into It, by Howard Schultz (says Pabrai: "Good book. The Starbucks Story")
• Made in America, by Sam Walton (says Pabrai: "Awesome book. The Sam Walton/Walmart Story. On my Top Ten List. Inspiration for me during the first year at TransTech")
• How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, by Guy Kawasaki (says Pabrai: "Awesome book. On my Top Ten List. CEO of garage.com and a friend")
• Ogilvy on Advertising, by David Ogilvy (says Pabrai: "Ogilvy is a brilliant guy and a terrific writer. Really enjoyed this book and learned a lot.")
• The Innovator's Dilemma, by Clayton Christensen (says Pabrai: "Awesome book.")
• The Soul of a New Machine, by Tracy Kidder (says Pabrai: "Tracy won a Pulitzer Prize for this book. Must-read for anyone in a product development or a startup environment.")
• Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, by Dr. John Gray (says Pabrai: "If you're a man and married, read and follow this book. Very helpful.")
• Use Both Sides of Your Brain, by Tony Buzan (says Pabrai: "Very Interesting little book")
• City of Djinns, by William Dalrymple (says Pabrai: "Awesome book. Great way to get a perspective on Delhi's present and past.")
• What Do You Care What Other People Think, by Richard Feynman (says Pabrai: "Richard Feynman's books are awesome. Very bright physicist. Must-read!")
• The Geodesic Network, by Peter Huber (says Pabrai: "Peter is a Forbes columnist, a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a very very brilliant man. I think he's a lawyer from Harvard Law School and an MIT-trained Electrical Engineer. I love to read his column in Forbes. This is a brilliant work written after the break-up of the Bell System via divestiture.")
• The Deceiver, by Frederick Forsyth (fiction; says Pabrai: "Frederick Forsyth is one of my favorite fiction authors. His worldly wisdom is terrific and difficult to put his books down after you start.")
• Titans, by Tim Green (fiction; says Pabrai: "Tim Green is a former NFL player. Now he's a writer and an attorney. His fiction centered in the NFL is great - even for a non-sports fan like me.")
• The Blue Bedspread, by Raj Kamal Jha (fiction; says Pabrai: "Jha is a IIT, Kharagpur grad (engineer) who went on to become a journalist. This is his first book and is terrific. Deals with the subject of incest in an Indian setting")
• The Golden Gate, by Vikram Seth (fiction; says Pabrai: "Set in verse, it's a wonderful read")
• Cracking India, by Bapsi Sidhwa (fiction; says Pabrai: "Bapsi is a awesome writer. Wonderful book. Part of it was made into the film “Earth” by Mira Nair. Recommend the movie and the book")
• The Bonfire of the Vanities, by Tom Wolfe (fiction; says Pabrai: "Tom Wolfe is really good at chronicling our times. This was a wonderful book on the 1990s NY scene")
• A Man in Full, by Tom Wolfe (fiction; says Pabrai: "The South in our times. Well chronicled. Wonderful book")

Finally, we recommend the following two books authored by Pabrai:

• The Dhandho Investor
• Mosaic: Perspectives on Investing