Here’s what I’ve been reading for the past three months:
- Medici Money — The Medici Bank lasted five generations but less than a century. The book details the founding, rise, and decline of the Medici Bank. The power, influence, and complexity that came with building a bank that spanned most of Europe is explained.
- A Brief History of Panics — This old book covers financial panics in the U.S., starting with 1814 and ending with 1913. Brief accurately describes the writeup on each panic. The author breaks the panics into four causes banking, credit, capital, and tariff changes. It’s data heavy on money in circulation, loans issued, deposits, etc. The lesson is that financial panics have been a recurring theme in the U.S. for over 200 years.
- Tales of National Indemnity Company — Jack Ringwalt founded National Indemnity and wrote this book to commemorate its 50th anniversary. He covers his early insurance career, founding the company, the challenges, growth, and eventual sale to Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett. The book spans a total of 50 pages. PDF copies can be found online.
- The Pleasure Was All Mine — I bought this book several years ago, forgot about it, and just rediscovered it on my shelf. Fred Schwed Jr’s autobiography comes with a catch. It’s more about the people in his life, and their influence on him, then his life itself. It’s filled with humor, a bit of wisdom, and not much finance.
Book notes from last quarter:
Need more fall reading ideas? Try these book lists:
- FT and Schroders Business Book of the Year 2025 — the long list of books up for the Business Book of the Year Award.
- The Ultimate Fall 2025 Reading List – Literary Hub’s list of lists filters through a couple dozen book lists to give you the books recommended most often.
Related Reading: