My streak on financial books continued in April. I have more on my to-read list, so I am expecting to continue it for a couple months more.

Here are the books I read/listened in April 2019.

Gujarat Files

by Rana Ayyub

I started reading this book several months back. I got hooked till 75%, then I lost interest, which is why it took me several months to finish.

Gujarat Files is the  account of several month long undercover investigation by journalist Rana Ayyub into the Gujarat riots and fake encounters. Posing as a filmmaker from the US, Rana met bureaucrats and top cops in Gujarat who held pivotal positions in the state between 2001 and 2010.

Transcripts of the interviews in the second half is when I lost interest. But overall it is a must read book and reveals several things when considering the current political situation of India.

Rating: 4/5

Salt Sugar Fat

by Michael Moss

Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter Michael Moss exposes how some of the most recognizable, and profitable companies and brands of the last half  century--including Kraft, Coca-Cola, Lunchables, Kellogg, Nestlé, Oreos,  Cargill, Capri Sun influenced your eating habits.

He details how food scientists use cutting-edge technology to calculate the "bliss point" of sugary beverages or enhance the "mouth feel" of fat by manipulating its chemical structure.

The book also provides a detailed history of food conglomerates over the past century, and what they have done to increase their production and sales.

Rating: 5/5

Bad Blood

by John Carreyrou

An investigative reporting on the breathtaking rise and collapse of a multibillion-dollar startup, Theranos and their CEO Elizabeth Holmes.

Theranos by misleading investors, magazines/news outlets, public and client companies, reached a valuation of $9 billion at their peak. Carreyrou, working at The Wall Street Journal, got a tip from a former Theranos employee and started investigating.

Rating 4/5

You Can Be Rich Too With Goal Based Investing

by PV Subramanian, M Pattabiraman

I started following Prof Pattabiraman (Pattu) about a year back when I came across his blog, freefincal.com. I came to know about this book there and bought the paperback version.

If you are in the  process of creating wealth – irrespective of whether you are a beginner, midway through your journey or almost there – you can find nuggets of simple, practical wisdom in the pages of this book.

Rating: 3/5

The Richest Engineer

by Abhishek  Kumar

This is an India focused financial book I came across last month and decided to read it immediately. Abhishek Kumar wrote this book, like a novel, having characters explain things to others, which is something I have seen before in Rich Dad Poor Dad.

Read this, if you are from India, a beginner in the personal finance arena and looking for an easy to approach the book. I found a couple ill advises. So keep in mind, don't blindly follow all the concepts and ideas mentioned in this book.

Rating: 2.5/5

The Education of a Value Investor

by Guy Spier

Good reviews and mentions of this book in several places lead me to this book.

This book about Guy's personal journey from a Wall Street investment banker to a real value investor and his obsession with Warren Buffett. It is more of a career story rather than a value investment book.

Rating: 2.5/5