Good Books to Read to Become Economically/Financially Literate?

College Majors Business Majors
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<p>What are some good books to read in order to become economically and financially literate.
I’ve developed a sudden interest for these fields, but when I try to read materials (mostly news articles) and such I find that there are lots of terms and concepts that I am not familiar with. For the gurus out there please help me improve on this =D</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

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<p>Ric Edelman’s “The Truth About Money”</p>

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<p>To become “literate” in Economics requires more that one can think in a certain way than knowing a load of jargon (although that helps as well).
Some books that might open you up to that mode of thinking are:

  1. Steven Levitt’s Freakonomics
  2. Jeffery Sach’s The End of Poverty (this would be an especially good read if you’re interested in the state of the Third World).
  3. Milton Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom (this one isn’t as light of a read as the others; therefore, I would read it later in the cycle.)
  4. Political Economy for Beginners by Millicent Garrett Fawcett (helps you better understand the concept of wealth after a you read some of the more formal introductions to economics).
  5. For mathematical economics (if you would ever need to know about it) I suggest Michael Klein’s Mathematical Methods for Economics.
  6. If you can find it, the Oxford Dictionary of Economics does a really thorough job of covering a number of terms in economics (in case you need to decipher the jargon).
    Greg Mankiw (Harvard Economics Professor) also makes a few suggestions: </p>

<h1>Robert Heilbroner, The Worldly Philosophers</h1>

<h1>Paul Krugman, Peddling Prosperity</h1>

<h1>Steven Landsburg, The Armchair Economist</h1>

<h1>P.J. O’Rourke, Eat the Rich</h1>

<h1>Burton Malkiel, A Random Walk Down Wall Street</h1>

<h1>Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff, Thinking Strategically</h1>

<h1>John McMillan, Reinventing the Bazaar</h1>

<h1>William Breit and Barry T. Hirsch, Lives of the Laureates</h1>

<p>As for Finance,
I personally have enjoyed
James Cramer’s Confessions of a Street Addict
The Little Blue Book that Beats the Market would help you learn some terms as well (and the advice is mostly good if you plan on becoming a “long-term” investor).
I have also heard that Liar’s Poker is another solid read. </p>

<p>Honestly, one of the best ways to find books worth reading is to go to your local big-box bookstore and grab a handful of seemingly interesting books in the economics/finance section. Read through them a little, and see which ones are actually entertaining to read. Hope this helps.</p>

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<p>Damn, that’s waaaay too much reading :(</p>

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<p>One wouldn’t have to read all of those books. Just a few to become “literate.”
If I had to seriously narrow it down to three, these would be it:

  1. Freakonomics.
  2. The Oxford Dictionary of Economics
  3. A Greg Mankiw Introductory textbook</p>
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<p>I too would direct you to Mankiw, only because he’s a New Keynesian, a school of thought I identify with.</p>

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<p>I tend to believe that the only way to truly be financially literate is to actually sit down and learn some financial analysis.</p>

<p>I’ve only used the finance books I’ve had for grad, but I’m sure you can pick one up cheap on Half.com. It’s not exciting stuff, but it’s sure good to know.</p>

<p>Also, learn Excel. It’s a good foundation to build on.</p>

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<p>What kind of books do you recommend to be “well versed” ?
I basically want to become a whiz at economics/finance.
I want to know things about APEC, IMF, IBanking, etc. and enter essay competitions and such. any resources would be highly appreciated</p>

<p>Yours Truly,</p>

<p>A science geek that would like to widen his perspective.</p>

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<p>amazon book lists</p>

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<p>Don’t forget to read business, financial and economics columns of papers like WSJ, NYT and magazines like the economist.</p>

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<p>The Economist should be added to any list, in my opinion.</p>

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<p>that magazine is boring at time though :(</p>

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<p>I personally find The Economist a better read than most newspapers. You just gotta live for the occasional dry wit that it provides.</p>

<p>I especially enjoy the titles of articles when they’re punny.</p>

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<p>Freakonomics</p>

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<p>You’ll also learn a considerable bit about international politics by reading the economist (if that sort of thing fits your fancy).</p>

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<p>^ Yes it does =D</p>

<p>Thanks for all of your recommendations. They are highly apprecaited!</p>

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<p>There is a good documentary by PBC that you should consider. Its name is “Commanding Heights” and it compares the theory of free market economy and planned economy. It’s a very good for beginners.</p>

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<p>If you are interested in financial analysis, you should read books from the accounting perspective. An interesting read would be, “The Financial Numbers Game: Detecting Creative Accounting Practices,” by Charles Mulford. It’s a good book to learn about how to detect fraud and predict downfalls by reading financial statements. I highly recommand it.</p>

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<p>Random Walk Down Wall St.-Malkeil</p>

<p>great book for very general finance/investment info. i hate finance and i dont invest in anything and i am certainly not very bright, but i loved this book.</p>

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<p>@MrTrojanMan</p>

<p>Random Walk, while a classic, has some… less than realistic views on the market. Malkiel is a great mind, but a market manipulated by humans with human goals, theoretically, can never really be entirely random. As far as beginning investment books go for laymen, The Four Pillars of Investing by Bernstein is the only book I feel comfortable recommending to absolutely everyone. It’s a bit of a dry read, but if there’s only one book someone could own on the topic of finance that would probably be the one.</p>

<p>For the OP, who’s more interested in advanced topics as well as the ‘industry’, my recommendations are:
My Life as a Quant by Emanuel Derman
Security Analysis by Benjamin Graam (the “bible”, while I don’t think it’s a must-read for the average investor anymore if you intend to work in the industry you must read this- try to get the second and third editions)
The Intelligent Asset Allocator by William Bernstein (today’s bible on asset management as far as I’m concerned)
Financial Shenanigans by Howard Schilit (you’d be fine with the Numbers Game by Mulford recommended above- if you want to become an analyst it’s important that you really take the time to understand accounting)
Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets by John Murphy (even if you do not believe in it you must understand it)
Super Crunchers by Ian Ayres (you may not think it’s relevant, but it is)
Devil Take the Hindmost by Edward Chancellor (ignore history at your own peril)
The Only Three Questions That Count by Ken Fisher (I expected this book to be horrible- it wasn’t. better than anything Cramer’s ever written, though I think Fisher is a little too positive on using debt as leverage)</p>

<p>I didn’t recommend any books that specifically focus on economics because I’m assuming that’s what you’re getting into in college. The Economist is the Wall Street Journal of Europe (and people aren’t exaggerating when they say everyone reads the Journal), so I’d recommend you at least pick up a few copies of both to familiarize yourself with them and read them as often as time permits. I think my recommendations will give you a solid foundation in the basics of a multitude of topics, but any advanced study should really wait until you specifically know what you want to do.</p>