The Great Debate

If anyone needed a reminder that Christmas and NewYear holidays are almost here, Societe Generale has provided it. Analyst Dylan Grice has picked up the mantle of the departed James Montier to offer a seasonal reading list for those with a fixation about investment and economics.

True, some people might prefer to immerse themselves in a rollicking sea tale from Patrick O'Brian or a good old  Sookie Stackhouse vampire mystery. But we know that Reuters blogs' readers are a discriminating lot with a keen understanding of and passion for finance. So here is Dylan's list of six must-reads:

1. Manias, Panics and Crashes, by Charles P. Kindleberger;
2. The Essays of Warren Buffet, edited by Richard Cunningham;
3. Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, by Edwin Lefevre;
4. Fooled by Randomness, by Nassim Taleb;
5. The Case against the Fed, by Murray Rothbard;
6. Judgement under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases, eds Kahneman, Slovic and
Tversky.

So what is your reading list? Tell us what you would include  and why.

– Margaret Doyle is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are her own –

By Margaret Doyle

Barclays has avoided the dead hand of state shareholding and, on Thursday’s evidence, it looks as though it will escape completely.

Barclays Capital has enjoyed a storming first quarter — so good it is hard to see it being sustained — which has allowed the bank to make more big write-downs and still report a 15 percent increase in pre-tax profit.