Title: My Summer Reads Show: Compounding Quality (Substack, paid post — compoundingquality.net) Guest: Pieter Slegers / Team Compounding Quality (author; signed "Team Compounding Quality") Date: 2026-07-07 URL: https://www.compoundingquality.net/p/my-summer-reads Length: written post — no timestamps Note: Paid-subscriber post captured via Stephen's logged-in session. Body text verbatim; UI chrome removed. No securities are named with a view anywhere in the post; companies mentioned (Costco, Nike, Microsoft, LVMH, Amazon, See's Candies, GEICO, Apple) appear only inside descriptions of the books. Discrepancy in the original: the numbered list opens with "The Art of Quality Investing" as book 1, but the closing summary list replaces it with "Warren Buffett's Early Investments: Brett Gardner" — so eleven titles appear in total across the two lists. Both are recorded below as written. Hi friend Summer is just around the corner. An ideal time to relax with friends & family, and read a great book. Let's get inspired. Here are 10 books I recently read and truly enjoyed. The importance of reading Think about it for a second... ... Have you ever met a very smart person who didn't read a lot? The goal is to go bed a little bit smarter than when you woke up. Every. Single. Day. You should be a continuous learning machine. Since I started tracking my reading in 2024, I've read 241 books. Interested to get the full list? Send an email to pieter@compoundingquality.net. Now let's dive into our 10 favorite summer reads. 1. The Art of Quality Investing (Luc Kroeze & Compounding Quality) Interested to learn about our investment philosophy? The Art of Quality Investing tells you everything you need to know: What is quality investing? The characteristics quality stocks have How to find these companies yourself Plenty of practical examples You can order your copy here: Order your copy 2. The Complete Financial History of Berkshire Hathaway (Adam Mead) If you're a Berkshire Hathaway fan, this book is a goldmine. Adam Mead walks you through Berkshire Hathaway's entire journey. It explains how it was transformed from a failing textile business to a global conglomerate. You'll read deep dives about investments like See's Candies, GEICO, and Apple. A must read book for any serious investor if you ask me. 3. The Art Of Playing Defense (Whitney Tilson) Most investing books focus on finding the next big winner. But this book teaches you how to avoid the mistakes that can permanently damage your portfolio (and life). Using examples of fraud, bad management, and excessive debt, Tilson explains why protecting your capital should always come first. 4. Lessons From The Titans (Scott Davis) What do you think Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, Charlie Munger, and John Templeton all have in common? They are some of the most successful investors in the world. Scott Davis takes a closer look at their careers to understand what made them so successful. Reading this book helps you dive into the mind of some of the most genius investors. 5. How To Make a Few More Billion Dollars (Brad Jacobs) Brad Jacobs is one of the most successful entrepreneurs you have never heard of. He is a college dropout who goes on to complete over 100 acquisitions. This earns him a reputation as one of the best dealmakers in the world. Over his career, he built and scaled eight multi-billion dollar companies. In this book, Jacobs shares some invaluable lessons he learned along the way. He covers everything from hiring great people and building a strong culture to growing sales, making smart acquisitions, and allocating capital wisely. (P.S People looked really weird at me when I was reading this book on the train. I'm not sure why) 6. What I learned about Investing from Darwin (Pulak Prasad) Do you know Charles Darwin? He is the man behind the theory of evolution by natural selection. It became the foundation of modern evolutionary biology. But what does biology have to do with investing? That's the question Pulak Prasad explores in this book. He explains that the world's best companies share many of the same traits as the species that survive in nature. They adapt. They stay resilient. They continuously improve over time. Pulak Prasad shows how these principles can help investors identify exceptional businesses. 7. Good To Great (Jim Collins) Why do some companies become great while others stay average? That's the question Jim Collins answers in this book. He studied a group of companies that achieved exceptional results over long periods of time and looked for the patterns behind their success. The summary is simple: great companies are rarely built on a single product, strategy, or lucky break. They are built through strong leadership, the right people, and years of disciplined decisions. 8. The Compounders (Kjetil Nyland) What do companies like Costco, Nike, Microsoft, and LVMH have in common? They all did tremendously well on the stock market over the past few decades. In this book, Kjetil Nyland studies successful businesses and determines what made them so successful. He tells us that rather than focusing on short-term market movements, we should look at the qualities that allows businesses to keep growing forever. As you read the book, you will begin to see some repeating patterns: Strong brands Great management Loyal customers The ability to reinvest profits at high rates of return It's fascinating how a handful of exceptional businesses can turn a simple investment into life-changing wealth over time. 9. The 5 Types of Wealth (Sahil Bloom) Most people think wealth is all about money. Sahil Bloom disagrees. In this book, he explains that a rich life is built on more than just financial success. There are 5 types of wealth: Time Wealth: Control over your time. Social Wealth: Strong relationships and community. Mental Wealth: A clear mind and sense of purpose. Physical Wealth: Good health, energy, and fitness. Financial Wealth: Money that gives you freedom. As Herman Cain said: "Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful." 10. Turning The Flywheel (Jim Collins) What do you think made Amazon so successful? The rise of the internet? Jeff Bezos? Or just luck? Jim explains in this book that Amazon is successful not because of a single reason. When high-quality decisions are taken over and over again, it catches a momentum. This is what he calls a Flywheel. The idea is simple: Small positive actions when repeated consistently over time, create extraordinary results. Conclusion Here are the 10 amazing books that we have covered in this article: Warren Buffett's Early Investments: Brett Gardner The Complete Financial History of Berkshire Hathaway: Adam Mead The Art of Playing Defense: Whitney Tilson Lessons from the Titans: Scott Davis How to Make a Few More Billion Dollars: Brad Jacobs What I Learned About Investing from Darwin: Pulak Prasad Good to Great: Jim Collins The Compounders: Kjetil Nyland The 5 Types of Wealth: Sahil Bloom Turning the Flywheel: Jim Collins Everything in life compounds Team Compounding Quality Book: Order your copy of The Art of Quality Investing here Used sources Interactive Brokers: Portfolio data and executing all transactions Fiscal.ai: Financial data