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202 free books · links checked 16 Oct 2026
Last updated 16 Oct 2026
A thinly fictionalised account of trader Jesse Livermore's career, from beating the bucket shops to winning and losing fortunes on Wall Street. Still one of the most-read books on trading psychology.
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Charles Mackay's 1841 study of mass manias, including the Dutch tulip craze, the Mississippi Scheme and the South Sea Bubble. A classic warning about how crowds lose their heads over money.
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Banker Henry Clews looks back on half a century on Wall Street: the panics, the speculators and famous figures like Jay Gould and Commodore Vanderbilt.
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An early-1920s practical guide to stock speculation that covers how markets move, when to buy and sell, and the discipline a speculator needs.
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A 19th-century treatise on how stock exchange speculation works and on the judgement and temperament needed to succeed at it.
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G. C. Selden's 1912 book argues that prices are driven largely by the mental attitude of traders. It explains crowd sentiment, manipulation and why the public tends to buy near tops.
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Henry Howard Harper looks at the human side of stock market trading: greed, fear, hope and the mental habits that lead speculators to lose money.
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Harper's short follow-up to The Psychology of Speculation, written after the October–November 1929 crash. It reflects on what the collapse taught investors.
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Thomas Gibson traces the recurring cycles of speculation in stocks and commodities, with their causes, warning signs and consequences.
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Walter Bagehot's 1873 explanation of how the London money market and the Bank of England work. It gave central banks the rule to lend freely during a panic.
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Investment banker George Garr Henry sets out plain principles for investing and explains the main kinds of securities available to ordinary investors in the early 1900s.
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An early-20th-century guide to choosing safe, profitable stock exchange investments, written for investors new to the market.
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Charles Duguid explains in plain terms how the London Stock Exchange works: its members, dealings, settlement and the language of the market.
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A New York Stock Exchange member describes how the exchange works from the inside and defends its role in the economy.
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John Francis's 19th-century history of the London Stock Exchange covers the national debt, famous panics and the colourful characters of the market.
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A Victorian primer on money, banking and investment that explains the basics of handling money for the general reader.
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A short history of France's paper-money (assignat) experiment during the Revolution and the runaway inflation that followed.
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Future Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis exposes how a small group of investment bankers controlled other people's money in early-1900s America.
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John Maynard Keynes argues, writing after World War I, for stable domestic prices over a rigid gold standard. It is an early statement of his monetary ideas.
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Keynes's first book (1913) analyses India's currency system and its move toward a gold-exchange standard.
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Hartley Withers explains how international finance works: how capital moves between countries, and the role of London as a financial centre.
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Adam Smith's 1776 founding work of economics. It covers the division of labour, markets, money, trade and the 'invisible hand'.
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F. Straker traces the history of England's banking system and the London money market, from its origins to the early 20th century.
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Thomas W. Lawson's insider exposé of the Amalgamated Copper affair and the stock-market practices of turn-of-the-century high finance.
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A memoir by promoter George Graham Rice of mining-stock speculation in the Goldfield, Nevada boom. It is a revealing look at how speculative promotions worked.
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NYSE president H. G. S. Noble's account of why the exchange closed when World War I broke out in 1914 and how it reopened.
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A collection of readings on money, banking and currency compiled as a companion text for economics students.
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An early-20th-century textbook explaining the principles and practical problems of banking, with a focus on the United States.
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W. A. Shaw's history of gold and silver currencies in Europe and America from 1252 to 1896.
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Benjamin M. Anderson's economic treatise on what gives money its value and how that value changes.
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Roger Babson argues that lasting prosperity rests on character, religion, integrity and industry, not just on money or natural resources.
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A history of the Bank of England and its influence on English banking and the money market.
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A 19th-century biography of financier Jay Gould, 'the Wizard of Wall Street', and his railroad and market dealings.
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An open-access book on the future of banking, covering innovation, risk and financial inclusion.
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A CFA Institute Research Foundation study of the characteristics shared by past stock-market winners and what they suggest for stock selection.
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A monograph on whether index futures, options and program trading changed the systematic risk of stock indexes.
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A CFA Institute Research Foundation monograph on measuring and managing the costs of trading equities.
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Three groups of experts explain how factor models are used to explain and forecast security returns.
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A CFA Institute Research Foundation study of managed futures and why their low correlation with stocks and bonds can help a portfolio.
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A tutorial on interest rate swaps and currency swaps: how they are structured, priced and used.
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A CFA Institute Research Foundation monograph that re-examines whether holding stocks longer really reduces risk ('time diversification').
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A CFA Institute Research Foundation monograph on building term-structure models of interest rates using binomial trees.
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A summary of research on life annuities and longevity insurance and their role in an optimal retirement portfolio.
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A CFA Institute Research Foundation guide to how exchange-traded funds work and how to use them in portfolios.
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Leading writers draw lessons from financial market history for today's investors.
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A CFA Institute Research Foundation study of equity valuation methods and their limits, including how risk and cash-flow expectations drive prices.
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A primer on alternative investments (hedge funds, private equity, real assets and more) and how they compare with traditional investing.
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Meir Statman's 'second generation' behavioural finance treats investors as normal rather than irrational and offers guidance for avoiding common errors.
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A CFA Institute Research Foundation handbook on applying AI, machine learning, NLP and big data in investment management.
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Richard D. Wyckoff (writing as Rollo Tape) teaches how to read the ticker tape to judge supply, demand and the next move in stock prices.
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Wyckoff describes his own methods for trading and investing in stocks and bonds, drawn from years in the market.
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A short work by Charles H. Dow, founder of the Wall Street Journal, on scientific approaches to stock speculation. It outlines ideas behind what became Dow Theory.
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William Peter Hamilton's 1922 classic sets out the Dow Theory and argues that stock market averages forecast business conditions.
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S. A. Nelson's 1903 book was the first to collect and explain Charles Dow's market editorials. It gave Dow Theory its name.
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A 19th-century guide to the realities and pitfalls of stock speculation.
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A practical early guide to stock speculation that stresses caution, common sense and avoiding typical mistakes.
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An economist's study of how speculation on American stock and produce exchanges works and what it does for the economy.
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A large exposé of fraudulent and doubtful speculative schemes in stocks, grain and bucket shops in early-1900s America.
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John Moody, founder of Moody's, explains how to invest on Wall Street with sound judgement.
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G. C. Selden's practical guide to investing in stocks and bonds for profit (revised third edition).
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Sereno S. Pratt explains how Wall Street worked: the stock exchange, brokers, banks and the money market.
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P. T. Barnum's lecture on making and keeping money, covering choosing the right work, avoiding debt and working hard.
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Russell Conwell's famous lecture argues that opportunity and wealth are often right where you already are, if you look.
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Walter Dill Scott applies psychology to raising the efficiency of workers and managers in business.
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William Walker Atkinson explains the psychology behind selling, covering the mind of the buyer and the salesperson.
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Short life stories of American businessmen who did more than make money, from inventors to philanthropists.
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Burton J. Hendrick chronicles the rise of big business in America after the Civil War: oil, steel, railroads and their captains.
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A 1922 guide to courtesy and professional conduct in business: dealing with colleagues, customers and correspondence.
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A practical guide to writing effective business letters, covering structure, tone and purpose.
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Volume 1 of a 1910 business reference set covering accounting, auditing, commercial law and management.
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Volume 1 of an early-1900s business administration series, focused on business economics and the principles of running a firm.
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Seymour Eaton's study guide to business practice, covering banking, finance, commercial law and trade.
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Benjamin Franklin's own story of rising from printer's apprentice to successful businessman and statesman, including his famous plan of 13 virtues.
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OpenStax's free, peer-reviewed college textbook on starting and growing a venture, from opportunity recognition to business models and funding.
Download freeOpenStax's free, peer-reviewed textbook on management: planning, organising, leading and controlling organisations.
Download freeOpenStax's free, peer-reviewed introduction to business, covering economics, marketing, management, finance and entrepreneurship.
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An open-access edited collection of research on entrepreneurship.
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A study of NYSE opening and closing prices that examines how market structure affects volatility and trading volume.
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A monograph that applies a new analytical method to valuing options on Treasury bond futures.
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A CFA Institute Research Foundation monograph on interest-rate models and the risk premiums built into interest-rate markets.
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James Allen's short 1903 classic argues that our thoughts shape our character, circumstances and success.
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Wallace D. Wattles's 1910 New Thought book presents a 'Certain Way' of thinking and acting that he claims leads to wealth.
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Samuel Smiles's 1859 bestseller celebrates self-reliance, perseverance and hard work through hundreds of short life stories.
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Samuel Smiles on frugality, saving and careful money management as the basis of independence.
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Samuel Smiles on character (duty, integrity, self-control and courage) as the true foundation of success.
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Orison Swett Marden's motivational classic on ambition, determination and making the most of opportunity.
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Marden's guide to building character and achieving success, aimed especially at young people.
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Marden's 'stepping-stones to fame and fortune': character, persistence and seizing opportunity.
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Marden on willpower as the engine of achievement, and how to strengthen it.
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Arnold Bennett's witty guide to using the hours outside work for self-improvement instead of letting them slip away.
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Arnold Bennett argues that we should manage our own minds as carefully as we manage machines and money.
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Arnold Bennett's essays on training the mind for efficiency, and other practical hints for daily life.
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Arnold Bennett's reflective essays on living well and managing oneself.
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Frank C. Haddock's self-development guide to willpower, personal magnetism and inner strength for success.
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The private notebooks of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius: Stoic reflections on duty, self-control and calm in hard times.
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Epictetus's short Stoic handbook teaches that peace comes from focusing only on what is within our control.
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Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein's practical course on confident, effective public speaking.
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Elbert Hubbard's short 1899 essay praises the worker who takes initiative and gets the job done without excuses.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson's first essay collection, including the famous 'Self-Reliance' and 'Compensation'.
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Basil King's personal, spiritual approach to overcoming fear and worry.
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William George Jordan's short essays on calmness, self-control and inner strength.
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A practical course of lessons and exercises for training attention and mental focus (written as Theron Q. Dumont).
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Florence Scovel Shinn's 1925 spiritual self-help book on the power of words, faith and positive expectation.
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Sir John Lubbock on the everyday sources of happiness: books, friends, work, nature and duty.
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Ralph Waldo Trine's New Thought classic on peace, power and plenty through spiritual harmony.
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Thomas Troward's lectures on the relationship between mind and material reality, a foundational New Thought text.
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Booker T. Washington's autobiography, from slavery to founding the Tuskegee Institute. It is a story of self-help and perseverance.
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Sun Tzu's ancient Chinese treatise on strategy, often read today for lessons in competition and business strategy.
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Machiavelli's 1513 handbook on gaining and keeping power, a frank study of leadership and politics.
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Frederick Winslow Taylor's 1911 founding text of scientific management: studying work systematically to raise productivity.
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Fictional letters from a self-made Chicago meatpacker to his son, full of shrewd, humorous business and life advice.
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Andrew Carnegie tells his own story, from poor Scottish immigrant to steel magnate and philanthropist.
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Andrew Carnegie's essay arguing that the rich have a duty to use their surplus wealth for the public good.
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Franklin's famous speech of 'Father Abraham', which collects Poor Richard's sayings on industry, frugality and avoiding debt.
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Frederick Winslow Taylor's paper on applying systematic, scientific methods to running factories and workshops.
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Frank and Lillian Gilbreth on reducing unnecessary worker fatigue as a way to raise productivity and well-being.
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Lillian Gilbreth's 1914 book brings psychology and the human element into scientific management.
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A practical early-1900s handbook of small business ideas and ways to earn money.
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A practical guide to the basics of managing: analysis, planning, organisation, handling staff and supervision.
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William Crosbie Hunter's short, aphoristic essays of practical business and life advice for employers and employees.
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A large 19th-century compendium of ideas for earning money, from small trades to starting a business.
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Orison Swett Marden collects successful people's own accounts of how they achieved success.
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Herbert Casson's biography of Cyrus McCormick, inventor of the mechanical reaper and builder of a farm machinery business.
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Henry Ford explains his philosophy of business, manufacturing, wages and service in this 1922 memoir.
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P. T. Barnum's autobiography of his life as a showman and entrepreneur, with its successes, failures and comebacks.
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Peter B. Kyne's short motivational story about a determined young salesman who completes an impossible task.
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Claude C. Hopkins, a pioneer of measured, 'scientific' advertising, tells the story of his career and the lessons he learned.
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Harry Gordon Selfridge, founder of the London department store, surveys the history of trade and merchants through the ages.
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Harrington Emerson's 1912 classic sets out twelve principles of efficiency for organisations, from clear ideals to standardised operations.
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Frank B. Gilbreth explains scientific management in a simple question-and-answer format.
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Arthur Frederick Sheldon's 1911 textbook on the principles of salesmanship.
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Herbert N. Casson's 1911 study of advertising and selling from the standpoint of the new science of business management.
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Roger Babson's 1909 guide to using business statistics as 'barometers' to time investments and business decisions.
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Walter Dill Scott applies psychology to advertising: attention, memory, suggestion and persuasion.
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Ad-agency pioneer Earnest Elmo Calkins explains how the advertising business works.
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Walter Dill Scott's early (1903) exposition of the psychological principles behind effective advertising.
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Herbert N. Casson's lectures on applying efficiency methods to business and personal work.
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Harold Whitehead's practical textbook on the principles and methods of selling.
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John D. Rockefeller's memoir of his business career and Standard Oil, followed by his views on the 'difficult art of giving'.
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P. T. Barnum's first autobiography (1855), covering his early careers as clerk, merchant, editor and showman.
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37signals' book on building successful web software by keeping things small, simple and fast. The publisher offers it free online.
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Basecamp's free book on how its teams shape, bet on and ship projects in six-week cycles instead of endless backlogs.
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A curated collection of Naval Ravikant's wisdom on building wealth and finding happiness. The author offers it free as a PDF, ePub and on the web.
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Sam Altman's short guide for founders on ideas, product, growth, team and execution, drawn from his time leading Y Combinator.
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Stripe Press's free online edition of Charlie Munger's collected talks and wisdom on investing, business and clear thinking.
Download freeOpenStax's free, peer-reviewed marketing textbook covering strategy, consumer behaviour, branding, pricing and digital marketing.
Download freeOpenStax's free, peer-reviewed textbook on how people behave in organisations: motivation, teams, leadership and culture.
Download freeOpenStax's free, peer-reviewed textbook on ethical decision-making in business.
Download freeOpenStax's free, peer-reviewed introduction to the legal environment of business, including contracts, torts and business organisations.
Download freeOpenStax's free, peer-reviewed introduction to financial accounting and financial statements.
Download freeOpenStax's free, peer-reviewed introduction to managerial accounting: costing, budgeting and decision-making.
Download freeOpenStax's free, peer-reviewed introduction to patents, trademarks, copyright and trade secrets for innovators and entrepreneurs.
Download freeAn open-access collection of ten research papers on FinTech innovations, including in banking and lending.
Download freeSeventeen open-access research articles on financial markets, volatility and risk management around the world.
Download freeAn open-access study of household debt and financial vulnerability in Central and Eastern Europe after decades of fast credit growth.
Download freeAn open-access book on how systemic risk and uncertainty build up inside financial systems, written in the light of the Global Financial Crisis.
Download freeAn open-access book on how banks identify and manage environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks.
Download freeAn open-access volume that combines econometric theory and applications to study the dynamics of financial crises.
Download freeAn open-access collection applying game theory and decision theory to problems in business, economics and finance.
Download freeAn open-access monograph on how digital technology and sustainability are reshaping finance and business in Europe.
Download freeAn open-access overview of cryptocurrencies: how they work, their innovations and risks, and where they may be heading.
Download freeAn open-access book on how fintech, from mobile banking to peer-to-peer lending, affects business and economic development.
Download freeAn open-access collection on the use of machine learning and AI in finance, including prediction, risk and trading.
Download freeAn open-access overview of global financial markets, covering systemic risk, regulation and financial innovation.
Download freeAn open-access book on how bank performance is measured, written after the post-2008 reforms.
Download freeAn open-access collection of research on fintech and sustainable financing (third edition of the series).
Download freeAn open-access collection of advanced mathematical modelling methods used in economics, econometrics and finance.
Download freeAn open-access collection on monetary policy and its links to sustainable business and new technologies.
Download freeAn open-access book on commodity exchanges and how they can make agricultural markets more transparent and efficient.
Download freeAn open-access handbook on financial infrastructures (payments, settlement and data systems) and how they shape global finance.
Download freeAn open-access history of microfinance in Cambodia from the 1990s to today, with its remaining challenges for financial inclusion.
Download freeProceedings of the first C.F.A. seminar, which debated whether the efficient market and random walk hypotheses make financial analysis pointless.
Download freeA CFA Institute Research Foundation tribute that collects Benjamin Graham's late writings and reflections on his legacy as the father of security analysis.
Download freeA CFA Institute Research Foundation tutorial explaining how options and futures on financial assets work and how investors can use them.
Download freeA study that compares neural-network and other AI techniques for predicting corporate bankruptcy.
Download freeThe authors examine why currency can be an attractive asset class for institutional investors and how to invest in it.
Download freeProceedings of a Boston University conference on life-cycle saving and investing, with a focus on financial education and consumer protection.
Download freeA CFA Institute Research Foundation study of fund management through the lens of 'emotional finance': the feelings and stories behind investment decisions.
Download freeA plain-language introduction to futures and options markets, covering how these derivatives work and how they are priced and used.
Download freeExplains how environmental markets such as emissions trading work and why they may form a new asset class.
Download freeA guide for investment professionals on how modern electronic markets work, and why and how to trade efficiently.
Download freeA monograph on factor investing and asset allocation viewed through the business cycle.
Download freeA CFA Institute Research Foundation handbook with background and practical guidance on sustainable investing.
Download freePresents the Popularity Asset Pricing Model, which argues that market premiums come from assets being unpopular. It links classical and behavioural finance.
Download freeA CFA Institute Research Foundation book on measuring clients' risk tolerance and profiling investors in private wealth management.
Download freeConnects financial theory with human behaviour to build a practical framework for retirement planning.
Download freeA CFA Institute Research Foundation book on how geopolitics and economics interact, and how to measure and manage the resulting investment risks.
Download freeAnalyses why many global bond markets traded at negative yields, and what that meant for economies and investors.
Download freeInvestment educator Paul Merriman offers several of his own investing books as free downloads from his site, covering index investing, asset allocation and retirement.
Download freeAn open-access Springer book on Islamic social and public finance (zakat, waqf and related tools) and monetary policy for inclusive welfare.
Download freeAn IsDB Institute textbook introducing the core principles of Islamic economics and Islamic finance.
Download freeAn IsDB Institute book on how artificial intelligence could transform Islamic finance.
Download freeThe IsDB / IFSB ten-year framework and strategies for developing the Islamic financial services industry.
Download freeRobyn Klingler-Vidra and Ramon Pacheco Pardo examine how East Asian governments have backed high-growth tech startups, and what that means for capitalism in the region.
Download freeAn open-access collection of research on how sustainable high-growth firms are founded and grow.
Download freeAn open-access book on how indigenous knowledge systems can support youth entrepreneurship.
Download freeAn open-access collection on entrepreneurship education and how it can empower students.
Download freeChinese scholars rethink 'urban entrepreneurialism' and explain why the state remains central to how cities are run in market-reform China.
Download freeA CFA Institute Research Foundation study of the common factors that drive liquidity and trading activity across stocks.
Download freeA monograph on how informed trading affects volatility and liquidity in options markets.
Download freeA CFA Institute Research Foundation monograph on actively managing currency exposure in a world of floating exchange rates.
Download freeA CFA Institute Research Foundation book on hedging, especially hedging currency risk in international portfolios.
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