The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio is my favorite financial book. Because it covered the topics so well, most of the books I have read since have paled in comparison.

I think you should head over to fool.com, it is by far the best financial info site for people just starting out (IMHO). They have information on everything but don’t get caught up in the newsletters and financial sales (this is unfortunately their undoing for me as I think I have outgrown them). There you have the ability to cheaply get a very broad brush stroke of color and from their you can see where you will need to get a finer brush. I will say also that their message boards while it costs $$$ to post have some of the smartest and best conversations I have seen on the net. Search the message boards (to read is free just no post) for beginner books and I’m 100% positive you’ll get more than you bargained for.

While not a book, Vanguard’s podcast; Plain Talk on Investing offers an ongoing easy to understand education on a wide range of investment subjects.

I would also suggest John Bogle’s The Little Book of Common Sense Investing.

The reality is that many make investing way, way too complex. With that complexity comes increasing costs, often lower returns and frustration as we often throw our hands in the air and give up and seek professional (albeit often expensive and/or less than impartial) advice.

I applaud you for wanting to learn. You can and will succeed.

I thought The Four Pillars of Investing was difficult to understand for someone without a solid academic background in finance and economics. I wouldn’t recommend it for a beginner, though it’s a great book for those who want to spend more time and energy on investing.

The two books that did me the most good were The Secrets of Wealth by Fabio Marciano and The Only Investing Guide You’ll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias.

1. The total money makeover by Dave Ramsey

2. Life or Debt by Stacy Johnson

3. The Treasure Principal by Randy Alcorn

Read all three of these, apply them and say hello to worry free personal finance.

The Wealthy Barber - An easy read

All Your Worth - Elizabeth Warren An easy read

Your Money or Your Life - Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin

The Only Investment Book You’ll Ever Need - Andrew Tobias

Rich Dad Poor Dad - Robert Kirosaki

Total Money Makeover - Dave Ramsey

Debt Proof Living Mary Hunt

Your Money or Your Life - saved my life.

One Up on Wall St. - Peter Lynch

Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds - Just read the first part on bubbles–gives you a good grounding in crowd behavior.

The Motley Fool Personal Finance Workbook

Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits - Philip Fisher

It’s hard to suggest books that don’t deal with investing, per se, but Joe Domingues’ book Your Money or Your Life and the Motley Fool Workbook are good for anybody who needs to learn how to handle and save money to begin with. I’m sure there are other good ones, but I haven’t read them.

The Millionaire Next Door is my favorite. It’s not a how-to bok, but it helped me see how those who are financially successful think.