Investor

My friend VW asked what's the other book I bought for Christmas.

It was The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham.

Oh, this is certainly not the best book on investment. But it remains a superb one to start with - ironically because one would not have a gush of enthusiasm or a delusion of knowing all tricks in the stock market after reading it. Our pioneer in value investment did not tell us how to become rich; he showed us what is realistic.

And, if you found this little book illuminating, go and read its elder brother: Security Analysis by Graham and Dodd (especially the first two editions). No, you won't find tips to become a billionaire either. But there is a ingenious discussion on investment and speculation, followed by a treasure of case scenarios on how people are trapped in the stock market.

(The only problem is, however, one needs some background knowledge in finance, and, for example, knows how to read a balance sheet, in order to understand the cases.)

As Sherlock Holmes said, "There's nothing new under the sun. Everything has been done before."