Created the job of global investment strategist at Morgan Stanley in 1985, where he was a partner for over 30 years; founded the hedge fund Traxis Partners in 2003 and called the dot-com bubble. Died in 2012.
Thirty years of Morgan Stanley global strategy plus Hedgehogging, still the most candid insider account of how hedge fund managers actually behave.
4 books of their own · 5 articles · 5 books they recommend
Essays and stories on the people and psychology of running a hedge fund.
Posthumous Wiley volume drawn from Morgan Stanley's archive of his strategy notes
Hedgehogging | Essays and stories on the people and psychology of running a hedge fund. | 2006 | T2 | – |
Wealth, War and Wisdom | – | 2008 | T4 | – |
A Hedge Fund Tale of Reach and Grasp: Or What's a Heaven For | Wiley | 2010 | T4 | Mohnish Pabrai |
| Biggs on Finance, Economics, and the Stock Market: Barton's Market Chronicles from the Morgan Stanley Years | Posthumous Wiley volume drawn from Morgan Stanley's archive of his strategy notes | 2013 | T4 | – |
A speculator modelled on Jesse Livermore learns to read and trade the market.
“The finest trading book ever written is Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin LeFevre. It is colloquial reminiscences by a legendary speculator of the mistakes and lessons he learned over a…” — Barton Biggs
Source: Biggs calling it the finest trading book ever written
Also recommended by: Bill Miller, Colm O'Shea, Dan Loeb and 4 others
Markets as a game of crowd psychology, seen through 1960s go-go Wall Street.
“One of the great books about investing is Adam Smith's 'The Money Game' which was published in 1967.” — Barton Biggs
Source: Biggs on one of the great books about investing
Also recommended by: Howard Marks, Mohnish Pabrai and 5 others
Why people mistake luck for skill, above all in markets.
“Fooled by Randomness is a serious, intellectually sophisticated book, well worth reading carefully. At times, the book is condescending. Nevertheless, there are some great insights.” — Barton Biggs
Source: Biggs on a sophisticated book worth reading carefully
Also recommended by: Michael Mauboussin, Mohnish Pabrai and 10 others
Crowd manias from the Mississippi scheme and South Sea Bubble to witch trials.
“The first couple of chapters of this book, which describes in detail the great financial and stock market manias of the eighteenth century, are essential reading for all serious investors.” — Barton Biggs
Source: Biggs on the first chapters as essential reading
Also recommended by: Bernard Baruch, Peter Cundill, Prem Watsa and 1 other
How the wish for agreement in close groups led to fiascos like the Bay of Pigs.
“Years ago Irving Janis, a Yale psychologist, wrote a wonderful little book called Groupthink, which compellingly highlights its dangers. It is full of fascinating case studies of the phenomenon, but…” — Barton Biggs
Source: Biggs on a wonderful little book that never sold
Also recommended by: Adam Weiss
| China Is No Bubble | Newsweek | 2010 |
| Barton Biggs author archive | Newsweek | 2010 |
| Hedge Funds Fall Hard And Fast | Newsweek | 2009 |
| Barton Biggs On Why Markets Will Rally | Newsweek | 2009 |
| Global Investor: Don't Wait To Hit Bottom | Newsweek | 2008 |
| Barton M. Biggs, Market Prognosticator, Is Dead at 79 Paywall | The New York Times | 2012 |
| Barton Biggs, Morgan Stanley strategist who foresaw dot-com crash, dies at 79 Paywall | The Washington Post | 2012 |
| Barton Biggs dies aged 79 Paywall | Financial Times | 2012 |
| Barton Biggs, Erudite Wordsmith Of Global Finance | Forbes | 2012 |