So there are millions of finance reading lists, most of which contain superbly written but intellectually empty hagiographies of great financiers and their fantastic works. Or instead pretend to give you the secrets you need to know in order to make money on the stock market.

This list promises none of these things, this list is a list of books which over my years in the Finance trade I have found incredibly helpful in explaining what is actually happening and why. It's not coherent, it's not a university course and it definitely wont help you in a polemical discussion with your friends about the next great investment. However it might help you understand where we're going, how we got here and what the purpose of it is.