I found this to be a very insightful book. It’s strange to say so, but out of the tens of investing books I’ve read, this 1934 text is the best by far.
The authors have the unique approach of reasoning about investments from the ground up. Every chapter introduces some aspect of investing that needs consideration, followed by many real-world examples. These are, of course, horribly outdated, but because they’re always used in support of some abstract bit of reasoning, they still feel relevant.
It’s also shocking how little the world of investing has changed in ninety years. If you strip the references to years and hide the names of companies, the text could easily pass for something written in the last ten years. For instance, they talk about the housing and mortgages bubble, two different sector bubbles, a general mania that distorted all prices, and countless scams.
That said, the seventh edition is certainly an odd beast. You have to read through over a hundred pages of introductions and forwards to get to the first word written by the authors. Overall, I think a third of the book is now written by other people. All these additions do serve to re-ground the book into our times, but it’s not something I’ve seen done elsewhere.
I strongly recommend this to anyone who has investments. It clocks in at over 800 dense pages, but it’s absolutely worth the time investment.