We had a damp end to the weekend, but that just meant more time inside where I could read/listen to books for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was "Mastering Private Equity" by Claudia Zeisberger, Bowen White, and Michael Prahl. This is a great, process-focused examination of nearly every face of the Private Equity industry, from fund raising to fund wind down. Importantly, there's also time spent on topics from an LP perspective, as well as common issues that can occur throughout a fund's lifecycle. This is very much a book about what PE is, not necessarily how to do it well or the quantitative performance of the industry overall. There's some coverage here, but the chapters on portco operations are extremely simplistic, and there is little examination of the magnitude of different problems that may arise. That being said, as a one stop entry to the field, you'd be hard pressed to do better. Highly recommend https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9781666669350-mastering-private-equity

Last was "Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street" by Karen Ho. This book shines in its ethnographic sections, detailing the ineffective and reverse work and management culture that dominated financial firms from the 1980s to the dawn of the financial crisis. The lack of reflection about how to measure performance and multiple levels is unsurprising by striking, as is the acceptance of job precarity in this admittedly extremely well compensated sector. Ho also puts forward the compelling hypothesis that many of the poor, short term management practices that have proliferated across large companies are in large part a reflection of finance's practices. I would've liked more quantitative backing for the sweeping historical statements made throughout the book and to validate the case studies that are discussed here. As a partially insider qualitative dive into finance culture, however, this is a thought-provoking work. Highly recommend https://dukeupress.edu/liquidated