Recommended reading for readers who know little or nothing about Finance

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For Readers Who Know Little or Nothing About Finance

Ben-Horim, Moshe and Haim Levy. Statistics Decisions and Applications in Business and Economics, 2nd ed. New York: Random House Business Division. [1984].
Basic Business Statistics text with lots of nice finance examples. Perhaps the best elementary statistics book for undergraduate and MBA students concentrating in finance.

Amazon.com: Statistics: Decisions and Applications in Business and Economics (9780075554653): Moshe Ben-Horim, Haim Levy: Books

Bernstein, Peter L. Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk, New York: John Wiley.
[1996].
A very readable non-technical book describing the history of risk, risk management and gambling.

Amazon.com: Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk (0723812295630):

Bernstein, Peter L. Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street. New York: Free Press. [1992].
This is a nice non-technical book which focuses on the academic minds and personalities of those responsible for creating tools and technique that prevail on Wall Street.

Amazon.com: Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street (9780471731740): Peter L. Bernstein: Books

Brealey, Richard A., Stewart C. Myers and Alan J. Marcus. Fundamentals of Corporate Finance, New York: McGraw-Hill. [1995].
One of the easiest and best introductory financial management textbooks.

Amazon.com: Fundamentals of Corporate Finance + Standard

Brealey, Richard A. and Stewart C. Myers. Principles of Corporate Finance, 5th ed., New York: McGraw-Hill. [1996].
An excellent and readable corporate finance textbook for readers with somewhat stronger analytical abilities.

Amazon.com: Principles of Corporate Finance with SP bind-in card (9780073368696): Richard Brealey, Stewart Myers, Franklin Allen: Books

Engle, Louis and Henry Hecht. How to Buy Stocks. Little, Brown and Company. [1994].
This classic stock primer was first published almost 50 years ago and, with its numerous updates, remains an excellent and highly-readable first book on investments.

Amazon.com: How to Buy Stocks: Louis Henry R./Engel Hecht: Books

Heller, Joseph. Catch-22. New York: Dell Publishing Company. [1955].
No, this book isn’t about WWII pilots. Or about war, finance or any other narrow issue. It’s what our lives really are when our eyes are open and our brains switched on.

Amazon.com: Catch-22 (9780684833392): Joseph Heller: Books

Lewis, Michael. Liar’s Poker. New York: W.W. Norton and Company. [1989].
A fun, comical and readable description of the author’s experiences and onservations as a trader with Salomon.

Amazon.com: Liars Poker (9780393338690): Michael Lewis: Books

Malkiel, Burton G. A Random Walk Down Wall Street. New York: W.W. Norton and Company. [1973].
This may be the single best book for those ready to start investing and those who think they are good at investing. It has been updated several times since 1973 and remains an outstanding and highly-readable book.

Amazon.com: A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing (Revised and Updated)

Ross, Stephan A., Randolph W. Westerfield and Bradford D. Jordan (2001). Essentials of Corporate Finance, 3rd ed., Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
An excellent introductory corporate finance textbook.

Amazon.com: Essentials of Corporate Finance (The Mcgraw-Hill/Irwin Series in Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate) (9780073382463): Stephen Ross, Randolph Westerfield, Bradford Jordan: Books

Tobias, Andrew G. The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need: Expanded and Updated. Harvest Books. [1999].
An excellent, fairly comprehensive and highly readable primer on investing. An excellent book to start with. Maybe the only book that some investors will need.

Amazon.com: The Only Investment Guide Youll Ever Need (9780156029636): Andrew Tobias: Books
 
I hope this compilation is of some help for the ones who keep asking for suggestions on few basic books on finance.
 
I agree with Andy - these are typical undergrad finance type books. If one is feeling particularly inclined and truly wants to "learn" finance there's nothing better a good financial economics book along with John Cochrane's masterpiece, Asset Pricing.
 
Sanket, I agree with you and Andy. These books are very very general and are for those who have ample amount of time. For those who do not have enough time, the books you suggested and the books from the Master Reading List would very much suffice.

However, this list would be helpful for those who just thought about Financial Engineering or for those who are still in their undergrad. Even CFA books give a good refresher for finance and economics before one starts off with the Financial Engineering program.
 
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