A Random Walk Down Wall Street
A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkielby Burton Malkiel
Shares rank 3 of 6 investing books by recommenders
Its investing ideas still hold after nearly 50 years; the opening is bloated, so skim it.
Its investing ideas still hold after nearly 50 years; the opening is bloated, so skim it.
3 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 3
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 3 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Core ideas still generally true
“"A Random Walk Down Wall Street" was published nearly 50 years ago and remains generally true.”
Comment from 26 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: What skills do you want to develop or improve in 2026?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Opening section is bloated
“the beginning of the book has become bloated, so I'd recommend skimming it a bit”
Comment from 2 Apr 2026 in “SpaceX confidentially files to go public at $1.75T, reports say”
Other investing books people recommend
The four most recommended other investing books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reminiscences of a Stock Operatorby Edwin Lefèvre | 7 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| The Intelligent Investorby Benjamin Graham | 4 | 1 | 80% | 3 | — | — |
| A Random Walk Down Wall Streetby Burton MalkielThis page | 3 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Security Analysisby Benjamin Graham and David Dodd | 3 | 1 | 75% | 1 | — | — |
| The Little Book of Common Sense Investingby John Bogle | 2 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
3 of the 4 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the beginning of the book has become bloated, so I'd recommend skimming it a bit”
“Bother are great (though Random Walk has been edited many times”
“"A Random Walk Down Wall Street" was published nearly 50 years ago and remains generally true.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.