There are a lot of books about value investing.

And I've read most of them.

But the best book on gains through compounding I've found, is Joys of Compounding: The Passionate Pursuit of Lifelong Learning by Gautam Baid.

For a few reasons:

• Reason #1: Compounding doesn't just apply to investments. Baid digs in from investing greats to philosophers and scholars. Compounding interest shows amazing gains in dollar value and knowledge alike.

• Reason #2: The best investment you can make is an investment in your self. Looking at the investing greats, most spend a huge amount of their day reading and becoming learning machines. If it is good for Buffett and Munger, in their 90's, It is good for most of the rest of us.

• Reason #3: Choose the right associates in life. “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Jim Rohn and inversely “The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve. Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity." Colin Powell

• Reason #4: Build earning power through a business owner mind-set. If you treat any investment you make as taking ownership of a company, be it a single share or thousands of shares. Then you will think long and hard before you tarnish your reputation with a bad business. Only high value and high principled companies should make it through your filter.

If you are at all interested in value investing, I can't recommend this book enough.

(And if you've read it, do you agree? What other book would you recommend for beginners?)