Great Book Suggestions

With this post, I thought I'd list some of the best business and investing books I've found lately.

One of the best on "investments systems" is the "The Richest Man in Babylon" by George S. Clason. It dispenses timeless investment principals and sage wisdom, not the latest investment fad. I'll admit that it isn't the easiest of books to read because of the proverb-style text though.

A great book to prepare for any interviewing situation is "101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions" by Ron Fry. The title pretty much describes what it is about and how it is written, so just pick up a copy for a lot of superb advice. It's also a great gift for high school and college graduates -- or that seemingly forever unemployed family member that's just holding out for management.

"The Magic of Thinking Big" by David J Schwartz, PhD was written sometime back, and some parts are obviously dated when you start to read it, such as what he considers a wonderful salary for a top-notch salesman. Nonetheless, it's a great book with a very positive attitude, essentially telling its readers that sometimes the only person holding us back is ourselves. There's a lot more to it than that though, and it's such an easy read that you should be able to fly through it in one evening.

One book I like because I can actually put names and faces to the descriptions in this book is "The Cashflow Quadrant" by Robert T. Kiyosaki. In it he describes four different quadrants and who is in each one. I'll warn you that Kiyosaki tends to be wordy and somewhat vague in his series of Rich Dad, Poor Dad books as a whole, but I believe this is one of the best in his series.

Although I don't care for his on-air TV antics, which basically makes it just stupid to watch, Jim Cramer did write a very good book called "Confessions of a Street Addict" about five years ago. I find his intensity is very entertaining, while he gives his readers the real story of how people make money on Wall Street. Before he started pushing noise-making buttons on his show, Mad Money, he was a very successful hedge fund manager with let's call it "psychotic anger management issues".

There you have it: five great books!