The Most Important Thing
Howard Marks, cofounder of Oaktree Capital, gathers the ideas he has been sending clients in memo form for years and shapes them into a single argument about how markets actually work. He returns again and again to a handful of themes: understanding risk, respecting cycles, thinking on a second level beyond the crowd, and knowing the limits of your own certainty. Warren Buffett called the memos required reading, and the book keeps their plain, patient voice. Marks is less interested in stock tips than in the mindset of a serious investor, one that treats humility as an edge. It is a slow, careful book for people who want to think about money without pretending the future is knowable.
What you might want to know about The Most Important Thing
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Legendary investor Howard Marks distills decades of memos into a book about risk, cycles, second level thinking, and the discipline it takes to avoid losing money.
The Most Important Thing was written by Howard Marks, published in 2011 by Columbia University Press.
The Most Important Thing is 208 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Most Important Thing takes most readers 3 to 5 hours to finish.
The Most Important Thing is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.