I don’t do a lot of investment reading, so I can’t comment on whether it would be good to continually re-read those books.

There are some books that you can glean more from as you re-read them such as books on philosophy, economy, history, in the sense that you may be able to understand them on a new level or make different connections as you re-read. I’d be unlikely to read them each year, though, because it definitely would limit my ability to read new items (on the same or other topics). Perhaps I’d re-read when I felt I was getting rusty–or wanted to rethink the issue again.

I’ve definitely noticed that the more I write or just try to synthesize the ideas of two or more authors in my thinking, the more wish that I had the books I’d read on hand so as re-read certain passages or quote them even.

Then again, I tend to remember the general concept extremely well and ‘forget’ the details the author uses to support arguments, dates, names of studies–if I remembered these things or could always find them online, I wouldn’t find myself wishing I had the books as often. (I just did away with my whole library in our last move. I can’t say I’m completely used to not having books at my fingertips, but at least it forces me to look at other options–online sources and summaries, for example.)

“Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered”
This is one of the books that changed my way of thinking about work & the economy. I first read it in the 70′s.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0060916303/?tag=oildepletiove-20

My copy is somewhere in the boxes in the garage. We moved 18 months ago & I am still down sizing my stuff. I am going through all of my books and purging most.

I find that certain books are totally worth a re-read, if not to refresh the my mind of the arguments or reinvigorate the spirit they awakened, then to simply experience the same enjoyment that I felt the first time around. Some topics that make my cut are literature on the efficiency of markets, encouragement toward lifestyle design and freedom, and assorted books that I have generally found interesting.

To expand on the last category, the book in the that category that I’m re-reading now is “Robbing Banks” (a history of bank robbery and the responses of banks to the threat of robbery – not a how-to guide!). Next up in the pile is a book on sketching.

Funny that you say that. I just decided the do the same thing last month. The reason is that my memory is short or overloaded with information, the more you read, the more you have to “forget” to free up the memory. The seond reason is, that I noticed that when I read the same book few years later, I understand it differently, and I see things I did not see before – perhaps because I read other books and learned new things over the years. So far my list to re-read contains:
Black Swan by Taleb, Irrational Exhuberrance by Shiller, and Man’s Search for Meaning by Frankl.
AJ

I am currently working thru the books that I have seen listed on your site. I would love to see your top 10 investment book list again to help me priortize my long list. Thanks

I don’t re-read books annually, but I do re-read books for various reasons.

I re-read _The Tightwad Gazette_ when I feel I need an inoculation against the consumer mindset, maybe every three or four years. I suspect _No Impact Man_ could serve a similar purpose.

I re-read some books when I miss the voice (_Snow Crash_, _Something Wicked This Way Comes_) or the characters (various Georgette Heyer novels, Palmer’s _Emergence_).

I re-read some books when I’m sick of mediocre books and just want to read something I already know is awesome (_Ender’s Game_, _Interface_) or fun (_Fox in Socks_, _Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons_) again.

And there’s _Madrigal’s Magic Key to Spanish_ when I decide I’m going to try to learn Spanish again.

And there are some books that help remind me what kind of person I want to be (_About a Boy_, _The Accidental Tourist_).

And some books are just comfortingly familiar books to which I’ve felt a connection (_Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_, _House of Stairs_, _This Star Shall Abide_).

Speaking of not going there…The book “How I found Freedom in an Unfree World” can be dangerous on existing relationships…warning!

My reading is not on an annual (or any other) cycle, but…

I regularly re-read Lao Tzu and Sun Tzu.

Have read these several times (at least in part): Hesse (Steppenwolf & Siddhartha), Hemingway (Old Man And The Sea), Hazlitt (Economics In One Lesson), Shiller (Irrational Exuberance, different editions), Taleb (Fooled By Randomness), Graham & Dodd (Security Analysis, 1940 edition), Orwell (Nineteen Eighty-Four).

I imagine some of you have read about the Anti- and Quantum Library concepts?

http://theinnovationist.com/2008/08/the-three-hierarchical-layers-of-books/

I don’t generally reread. For nonfiction books, I’ll often take notes so then I can refer to them to jog my memory. Hands down the best investment books I’ve read are “The Four Pillars of Investment” and “All about index funds”.

Also The Enchidrion by the stoic Epictetus. Free online.

Muscle by Sam Fussell – when I am taking something too far, this book always reminds me to step back and think about how my actions would appear to the objective outside observer