The Most Important Thing by Howard Marks is a profound guide to the nuances of successful investment. Marks, renowned for his insightful assessments of market opportunity and risk, shares his wisdom, accumulated over four decades in the investment management profession.

In this book, Marks explains the keys to successful investment and the pitfalls that can destroy capital or ruin a career. Utilizing passages from his memos, he illustrates his ideas and details the development of an investment philosophy that acknowledges the complexities of investing and the perils of the financial world.

Brilliantly applying insight to today's volatile markets, Marks offers a volume that is part memoir, part creed, with numerous takeaways. He expounds on concepts such as second-level thinking, the price/value relationship, patient opportunism, and defensive investing. By frankly assessing his own decisions and occasional missteps, Marks provides valuable lessons for critical thinking, risk assessment, and investment strategy.

Encouraging investors to be contrarian, Marks wisely judges market cycles and achieves returns through aggressive yet measured action. Successful investing requires thoughtful attention to many separate aspects, and each of Marks's subjects proves to be the most important thing.