My first was... Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco The greed /backstabbing holy moly ! Probably one of the greatest books ever...and a page turner to boot !
Yep....fun read. Was it AMEX's Robinson who Kravis told to wait for the board meeting to end and he would get millions for his patience?
Probably Beat the Street (and later One Up on Wall Street) by Peter Lynch. The investing lessons have held up fairly well, despite some of the critcisms. (Hint: It's 1000x times more complicated than "buy what you know," and he says as much in the books.)
Kahneman & Tversky's "Judgment Under Uncertainty...," and Tufte's "Visual Display...," both published in 1982
Were you already a trader at the time you read these books ? I only ask because these books are an interesting choice for being the first books you read . So I'm assuming you were already deep into trading. As for me,I loved reading up on the inner workings/ characters and shenanigans of wall street before I ever starting trading.
I don't think I have ever read any book about Wall Street/trading, But some time around the mid/late 90's...I read general books about real estate investing and creating businesses. There were some very small crumbs of market wisdom in those books. What Really propelled and sky-rocketed me to this world of wall street/trading...was the Fall 2008 housing Market crisis. That was the main and only true triggering variable that made me open the door to this new world, and step inside it...and really explore it,