Investing by the Books

We welcome back Chris Mayer to unpack his new book, The Investor’s Odyssey . How does it build upon the lessons of 100 Baggers? We dive into the realities of brutal stock drawdowns, the mechanics of compounders, and how Chris is leveraging AI in his investing process. Stick around to the end for some fun detours into Homer, translations, and Christopher Nolan! ————————————— Our conversation with C...

Our guest for this episode is Thomas “Tom” Russo, a respected global value investor and the managing member of Gardner, Russo & Quinn in the US. Tom has over 40 years of track record as a professional investor and is known for his focus on consumer goods and companies with the capacity to reinvest and the capacity to suffer. In the conversation, Tom brings up two classic books: “Common Stocks...

Jeff Totten, founder and CEO of the US-based holding company Evergreen Services Group, is a thoughtful and driven entrepreneur with an investor mindset. We discuss 'Built from Scratch', written by the founders of Home Depot, which offers numerous lessons on decentralization, funding, and capital allocation. ————————————— Our conversation with Jeff Totten was recorded on 10 April 2026. ————————————...

This episode features Ehsan Ehsani, an investor at Crescendo Partners in New York and an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School. We discuss his book 'Finding Value in Numbers’, in which Ehsan emphasizes the importance of building a personalized investment framework. ————————————— Our conversation with Ehsan Ehsani was recorded on 9 March 2026. ————————————— For more info about the podcast,...

The UK-based portfolio manager Andrew Hollingworth, founder of HollAnd Advisors, joins Eddie to discuss the book '1929' by Andrew Ross Sorkin. The conversation covers parallels to the 2008 financial crisis, how Andrew deals with market distress, and a couple of strong reading recommendations. ————————————— Our conversation with Andrew Hollingworth was recorded on 13 January 2026. ————————————— For...

Eddie has the pleasure of speaking to Rupal Bhansali, author of ‘Non-Consensus Investing’ and a seasoned investor with over 30 years of experience. We discuss her journey from growing up in a stockbroker's family in India to becoming a CIO managing billions of dollars in New York. The conversation covers several themes from her book, including risk management, crowded trades, and the importance of...

This episode features the US-based portfolio manager Ryan Bunn. We discuss Philip Carret's classic investment book 'The Art of Speculation', which influenced later legends like Warren Buffett and Philip Fisher. We conclude that Carret’s nearly 100-year-old insights – including his ‘Twelve Commandments for Speculation’ – remain remarkably relevant today. ————————————— Our conversation with Ryan Bun...

Our guest Ethan Everett is an investment analyst in the US and author of 'The Investment Philosophers'. We discuss the book, in which he connects philosophical ideas from thirteen thinkers, including Spinoza, Hume, and Kierkegaard, to modern investing practices. The conversation also touches on his grandfather's influence as a former student of Benjamin Graham and Ethan's future book projects, con...

We are joined by the US investor Ryan Floyd from Barca Capital to discuss ‘A Time of Gifts' by Patrick Leigh Fermor. The book chronicles Fermer's journey as an 18-year-old Englishman walking through Europe in 1933-1934. While it’s not a typical investing book, we uncover numerous lessons for investors, including the value of observation and action. ————————————— Our conversation with Ryan Floyd wa...

Lars Stenlund co-founded the Swedish firm Vitec Software in 1985. For 35 years, he served as its CEO, and since 2021, he is the Chairman. In this interview, Lars shares his lessons and personal reflections from the journey with Vitec. The basis for our conversation is the book “Driven by Curiosity: Vitec – The First 40 Years”, published in 2025. ————————————— Our conversation with Lars Stenlund wa...

Fund managers Adnan & Oddbjørn from REQ Capital discuss their brand new book, The Compounders. The book highlights the journeys of nine companies from Sweden, North America, and the UK that have been exceptional compounding machines. ————————————— Our conversation with Adnan Hadžiefendić & Oddbjørn Dybvad was recorded on 3 September 2025. ————————————— For more info about the podcast, make...

In this episode, we have the pleasure of welcoming back Stephen Penman, professor emeritus of accounting and security analysis at Columbia Business School. Stephen has been elected into the Accounting Hall of Fame and is also a distinguished author. We discuss his latest book, in which he shows how accounting helps you, how it doesn't help you, and how to use it when evaluating investments. Stephe...

Klaus Kleinfeld has been the global CEO of two Fortune 500 companies – Siemens and Alcoa. In this episode, we have the pleasure of discussing his book 'Leading to Thrive', where Klaus shares his lessons from heading big organizations, but also on how to live a good life. Our conversation with Klaus Kleinfeld was recorded on 24 July 2025. For more info about the podcast, go to the episode page and...

Alex Morris, founder of TSOH Investment Research, shares his insights from Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella's book 'Hit Refresh.' We discuss the importance of empathy in leadership, cultural transformation, and finding your edge in equity research. Our conversation with Alex Morris was recorded on 16 June 2025. After four great years, this episode marks the last one with Niklas as co-host. Eddie will...

Economist and financial historian Lodewijk Petram discusses his book, "The World's First Stock Exchange," which focuses on the Dutch East India Company in the seventeenth century. We delve into the origins of the stock market, an IPO in 1602, and the similarities between historical and modern investor behavior. For more info about the podcast, go to the episode page and make sure to follow us on X...

We are happy to have Laurence (Lar) Endersen on the podcast. Lar is an experienced and thoughtful investor based in Ireland, where he heads his private investment firm Capstrive. Lar is also the author of books such as 'Pebbles of Perception'. We discuss his latest title – The Compounder's Element – a valuable and entertaining gem on long-term investing. For more info about the podcast, go to...

David Marcus is a US investor with decades of experience working for legends like Michael Price and Jan Stenbeck. We discuss Brad Jacob’s book How to Make a Few Billion Dollars and David’s fascinating journey as an investor and operator. For more info about the podcast, go to the episode page and make sure to follow us on X/Twitter . We love to hear your thoughts on what you like and what we can i...

Phil Rosenzweig has been a professor at IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland, for about 30 years. We discuss Phil’s legendary book “The Halo Effect”, which debunks much of the classic management literature and explains how we tend to think that when a company performs well, the CEO is fantastic, the company has operational excellence, and the employees love to work there. We set a halo on...

Jaime Lester is a hedge fund industry veteran who has worked at firms such as Steinhardt Partners and David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital. He is also an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School and has managed his own investment fund for nine years. We discuss his book “Pause to Think,” which is a compilation of thirty-two mental models. Jaime also applies these models to various frameworks, s...

Will Barnes is the co-founder of the primary research firm In Practise and joins us to discuss their new book “In Practise”. The book has eleven chapters, each featuring an in-depth interview with an experienced operator helping us to better understand successful companies like Spotify, Danaher, and Constellation Software. In Practise is the first volume in a series of books that will be published...

Asif Suria is an entrepreneur and investor in the US who focuses on a specific investing strategy that we haven’t talked about much in the podcast: event-driven investing or special situations. The title for this conversation is Asif’s book The Event-Driven Edge in Investing, in which he explains six different event-driven strategies, such as merger arbitrage and stock buybacks. For more info abou...

Brett Gardner is an investment analyst at the US-based investment partnership Discerene Group and, since about a week, a published author with his book Buffett’s Early Investments. The focus of our conversation is Brett's book, where he has uncovered a few of Buffett’s investments in the 1950s and 1960s that until now have been rather unknown. For more info about the podcast, go to the episode pag...

Simon Kold is the founder of the Denmark-based investment firm Kold Investments and was previously at Novo Holdings, one of the world’s largest investment organizations. Our conversation focuses on Simon’s upcoming book, On the Hunt for Great Companies, which details how to determine business quality. We cover the aspects we find the most interesting and encourage everyone to buy the book and read...

Moritz Sitte is the investor at Antheia AB, a private investment firm founded by Daniel Ek. Moritz has previously worked as an investment manager at Baillie Gifford in Edinburgh for twelve years. We speak about The Clock of the Long Now and discuss topics such as investment philosophy, reframing one’s state of mind, and balancing the long with the short term. For more info about the podcast, go to...

Stephen (Steve) Clapham is the founder of Behind the Balance Sheet, an investment research and investor training consultancy. He has 25 years of experience as an investment analyst and has been a partner and head of research at two multi-billion dollar hedge funds. We discuss his book, the Smart Money Method, how he trains finance professionals, and his investment philosophy. For more info about t...