10 Books Warren Buffett Repeatedly Recommended for Success in Life
Warren Buffett built his reputation through investing, yet many of the books he has recommended are about people, business judgment, communication, and human error. That fits his view of success. A person can understand financial statements and still make costly decisions if ego, fear, or poor habits take control.
He has spent much of his life reading and studying the work of the best thinkers. The books and authors below have appeared in Buffett’s shareholder letters, interviews, and public comments. Together, they offer ideas that can help readers make better decisions with money, work, and relationships.
1. The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
“By far the best book on investing ever written.” – Warren Buffett
Buffett bought The Intelligent Investor in 1949 at age nineteen. Benjamin Graham gave him a way to think about stocks as partial ownership of real businesses rather than lottery tickets whose value rises or falls every day.
Graham’s margin of safety principle asks investors to leave room for mistakes. His discussion of market swings also matters far beyond investing. A calm person has an advantage when everyone else is either excited, panicked, or desperate to act.
2. Business Adventures by John Brooks
When Bill Gates asked Buffett for a favorite business book in 1991, Buffett sent him his own copy of Business Adventures.
John Brooks wrote about corporate errors, Wall Street behavior, executive decisions, and companies under pressure. The stories are old, but the types of people are still recognizable. Businesses still run on ambition, fear, incentives, denial, and occasional good sense.
That is what gives the book its value. It teaches readers to look past current fashions and study behavior. A company can have a brilliant product and still fail because the people running it make foolish choices when money and status are at stake.
3. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Buffett has said that Dale Carnegie training helped him overcome his fear of public speaking.
Early in life, Buffett was so uncomfortable with public speaking that he avoided courses requiring it. He paid $100 for a Dale Carnegie course, completed it, and later said that he still kept the diploma in his office.
Buffett credited Dale Carnegie training with helping him overcome his fear of public speaking, and Carnegie’s principles on communication and relationships influenced his early development.
Dale Carnegie’s book focuses on respect, listening, interest in other people, and clear communication. The advice is plain, which may explain why it has lasted. Many opportunities depend on whether people trust you, understand you, and want to work with you.
4. Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits by Philip Fisher
“I am 15% Fisher and 85% Benjamin Graham.” – Warren Buffett
Philip Fisher influenced Buffett’s view of what makes a company worth owning. Graham taught him to insist on value, while Fisher directed attention toward excellent management, strong products, and businesses with room to grow for years.
The book encourages investors to study the company behind the ticker symbol. A low price alone does not guarantee a good investment. A business with capable leadership and a product customers keep choosing may deserve a patient investor.
5. Poor Charlie’s Almanack, edited by Peter D. Kaufman
“Anybody that reads it is going to learn a whole, whole lot.” — Warren Buffett, discussing Poor Charlie’s Almanack at Berkshire Hathaway’s 2005 annual meeting.
Buffett often said that his longtime partner Charlie Munger improved his thinking and pushed him toward better decisions.
Poor Charlie’s Almanac gathers Munger’s speeches and observations about business, psychology, history, economics, and decision-making. Munger argued that people make weaker judgments when they rely on one narrow field of knowledge.
His approach calls for learning across disciplines and watching for predictable human mistakes. Bad incentives, envy, groupthink, and overconfidence can ruin a decision before the numbers even enter the discussion. That lesson applies in boardrooms, markets, and ordinary life.
“This book is something of a publishing miracle, never advertised, yet year after year selling many thousands of copies from its Internet site.” — Warren Buffett
6. The Outsiders by William N. Thorndike Jr.
“An outstanding book about CEOs who excelled at capital allocation.” – Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway’s 2012 shareholder letter
The Outsiders studies chief executives who produced strong long-term results through unusual independence and careful capital allocation. They paid close attention to where each dollar could earn the best return inside or outside their companies.
Buffett’s praise points to a skill many people overlook. Running a company is not only about giving speeches, hiring staff, or appearing busy. It also involves deciding when to invest, buy another business, repurchase shares, pay dividends, or hold cash and wait.
7. Where Are the Customers’ Yachts? by Fred Schwed Jr.
“The funniest book ever written about investing.” – Warren Buffett
Fred Schwed’s book is funny because the target is often grim. It points out the gap between Wall Street professionals who collect fees and ordinary customers who assume that constant activity must be helping them get ahead.
The central warning is worth taking seriously. Before accepting financial advice, understand how the advisor, broker, or fund manager gets paid. If the compensation depends on transactions, a person’s interests may differ from those of the investor receiving the recommendation.
8. Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
Buffett named Shoe Dog the best book he read in 2015 and praised Phil Knight as a gifted storyteller.
Phil Knight’s memoir tells the early story of Nike, including cash shortages, legal fights, uncertainty, and conflict with suppliers. It does not portray entrepreneurship as a smooth climb where every bold choice works out.
That is part of its appeal. Building a company often requires people to go through years when the business feels fragile, and the outcome remains unclear. Knight’s story shows that a strong idea needs stamina behind it.
9. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
“Influence is one of the best business books of all time.” — Warren Buffett
“Robert Cialdini has had a greater impact on my thinking than any other scientist.” — Charlie Munger
Cialdini explains why people respond to authority, scarcity, social proof, and reciprocity. These forces show up in sales pitches, stock promotions, job interviews, advertising, and boardrooms. They can cause intelligent people to make fast decisions for weak reasons.
Readers can use the book in two ways. It can improve their ability to communicate and help them spot pressure tactics before they act on them. A little skepticism is useful when a pitch relies more on urgency than evidence.
Charlie Munger repeatedly praised Robert Cialdini’s work on persuasion, a subject that mattered deeply to Buffett and Munger in their study of human behavior.
10. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John C. Bogle
“Rather than listen to their siren songs, investors, large and small, should instead read Jack Bogle’s The Little Book of Common Sense Investing.” — Warren Buffett
John Bogle’s book advocates simple, low-cost index-fund investing. Instead of trying to predict every market move or hire managers who promise superior results, Bogle urges investors to own a broad slice of the market and keep costs low.
Buffett’s support for this approach is useful because it cuts through noise. Many people would be better served by a sound plan they can stick with than by a complicated strategy they abandon after the first difficult stretch.
In his 2014 shareholder letter, Buffett advised a trustee to put 90% of the cash for his wife’s benefit into a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund.
Conclusion
These books cover investing, business, communication, psychology, and personal conduct. Their shared lesson is that success usually comes from better judgment over a long period. Good judgment develops through study, experience, and the willingness to question one’s first reaction.
Buffett’s reading list does not offer a quick formula for wealth or a perfect answer for every decision. It offers something more useful: ideas that can make a reader less reckless with money, clearer in business, and harder to fool.