William Bernstein -- what an awesome guy!

It's official: I have a man-crush on William Bernstein. It's not his fuzzy beard; it's not his astonishingly learned and well-written books; it's not even his great website EfficientFrontier.com.

No -- it's his relentless campaign to help retail investors (that's small fry like you and me) get a fair deal. His books are mostly dedicated to educating investors about the hazards of Wall Street and how to use smart diversification to build wealth.

William Bernstein's books are awesome. For a sample of his genius check out this video.

For more, check out his books. They're learned, witty, entertaining and necessary:

The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio

The Investor's Manifesto: Preparing for Prosperity, Armageddon, and Everything in Between

The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created