From Warren Buffett To Peter Lynch: Books Envision Capital’s Nilesh Shah Reads

Did Indians achieve true independence in 1991? What can the founder of PayPal teach investors about startups? What life lessons can one learn from Warren Buffett? These are some underlying themes of Nilesh Shah’s favourite books.

Here’s why these books have stood out for the managing director and chief executive officer of Envision Capital.

Freedom At Midnight, By Dominique Lapierre & Larry Collins

History as a subject has always interested me. This is what led me to read this book much later, when I had already finished my formal studies. This book gives you a threadbare account of the evolution of India, especially around the freedom movement and India’s path to independence.

India Unbound, By Gurcharan Das

This book deals with India post independence and especially the economic thought process which has evolved. It provides a very interesting narrative on India's economic policies and the shift from a state-controlled economy to the dismantling of the industrial licence regime. One of the sentences in the book has ‘remained deep in my memory’, as the author says that “while India as a nation achieved independence in 1947, Indians achieved independence only in 1991”.

The Tao Of Warren Buffett, By Mary Buffett And David Clark

Buffett has been an important influence in shaping my investment thought process. While I have read many books on Buffett, this book lays out very lucidly his thoughts not just on investing, but also about life in general. It also brings about a common thread between the mantras for success in life, career & investing.

One Up On Wall Street

Beating The Steet, By Peter Lynch

Both these books are about the investing philosophy of Peter Lynch, the legendary professional fund manager. These books highlight how to evolve and improve as investors, especially emphasising the fact that looking around us for what products and brands sell well with customers and how they can become interesting investments as well.

Zero To One, By Peter Thiel

This book has been one of my most recent readings. While some of my earlier readings on investments have been more focused on established businesses, this book is more about entrepreneurship, startups and new age businesses. While most books deal with success on Wall Street, this book is about Silicon Valley and gets you to set up or evaluate startups and how they can become from zero to one.