Freakonomics is a random and interesting look at the world through the eyes of a freak economist. I don’t mean freak in a bad way, just not “normal.” That’s the part that can take a potentially boring subject like economics and make it something that I would want to read.

The book is more a collection of random, well documented research, than a sequential stream of information building towards one unifying point. The takeaway is that looking at complex economical situations from new perspectives often shows the flaws in conventional wisdom and the results you expect the data to show. Each chapter is basically an example application of that theory.

Exploring seemingly meaningless questions like “Why do drug dealers still live with their moms” and

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I finished reading The Long Tail over the weekend. The name of the book comes from the increasing importance of the sum of products and services that sell in small numbers. It makes the case that because there are so many of them, adding up these little sales actually makes them more valuable then the small number of products that sell in huge numbers, i.e. the biggest hit is the sum of the non-hits.

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Below are the books I’m either currently reading or have recently completed.

The recent volatility in the stock market, along with what appears to be a sagging economy, has led a lot of people to believe that the crash of 87 is an event likely to repeat. Of course, given a flimsy economic stimulus package and one day of positive gains on the stock market, many people are already saying this crisis has been averted.

Short term predictions are mainly a guessing game. There are just too many variables to accurately say what the stock market may do in the next days or weeks. Longer term trends are easier to read and thus make more accurate predictions.

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Jim Cramer, and his Mad Money TV show, were heavily criticized by in a recent article by Paul B. Farrell of Marketwatch. Cramer responded well and pointed out the major downfall of Farrells arguments: he assessed Cramer after watching one episode of his show.

Jim Cramer’s book, Real Money, is on my required reading list, so you you’d be correct to assume that I am very much pro-Cramer. Here’s why I like him:

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One of the most important things I learned from the book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, is that our traditional education system is severely lacking in the area of financial education. As a result, even people highly educated in the traditional sense often lack basic financial literacy. That thought has caused me to start a reading rampage on the topic of money, wealth, and of course investing and the stock market. Included below are the four best books that I have read in this subject area.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Jim Cramer’s Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World

The Millionaire Next Door : The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5,Live Anywhere,and Join the New Rich

I would consider these the foundation of my financial education and mindset. In addition, I highly recommend other books in the Rich Dad series. Some other interesting books that I’ve read on the subject of money and investing are “The Little Book that Beats the Market”, “Stock Market Miracles”, and William O’Neil’s classic “How to Make Money in Stocks.” I also read Jim Cramer’s autobiography, “Confessions of a Street Addict” just because I find him interesting.

The point is, the more that I read, the more that I learn. Take “Stock Market Miracles”, for instance. It reads like it was written by an illiterate moron. But if you can get past the poor English and awful grammar, there are actually some good ideas in there. It just goes to show you that having good investment ideas does not mean that you are able to write well about them. So at times even poorly written books are still good books, if they generate ideas that can make you money.

I recently relocated and cannot stress enough the value of a good library. If you don’t live near a quality library, it’s worth the drive to one. My old local library has a handful of books on the subjects of investment and wealth, and most had copyrights from the Sixties. My new library has thousand of books on the subjects, and seems to get more every time I go. I’ve been reading twice as many books as I used to since I’m no longer shelling out twenty bucks every time a new one comes along.