Recommended reading

Accounts Demystified by Anthony Rice. An excellent primer on accounting. Explains in simple language how to understand balance sheets, profit and loss accounts and cash flow statements. Also has useful chapters covering important subjects like return on capital employed, gearing, book values and tricks of the trade.

Published by Prentice Hall
3rd edition, published in 2000

Guide to Selecting Shares that Perform by successful UK investor, Richard Koch, has a subtitle 'Ten Ways That Work', which says it all. A helpful guide, outlining the main alternative approaches to investment so that you can choose the one that suits your temperament.

Published by FT Prentice Hall
3rd edition, published in 2000

One Up on Wall Street and Beating the Street by the very successful fund manager Peter Lynch, give clear guidance on the different types of stocks from slow-growers, turnarounds and cyclicals to fast-growers and asset plays. The American backcloth does not impair the books for UK readers - the approach to investment is universal. Lynch is well-known for his theory that intelligent shoppers can see new developments in retailing better than most analysts.

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edward Lefevre, is an entertaining and instructive biography of a legendary stockmarket operator, Jesse Livermore, showing how important it is not to fight the market, but to go with the force.

Published by Marketplace Books
1st edition, published in 1994

The Astute Private Investor by Kevin Goldstein-Jackson. If you've read Kevin Goldstein-Jackson's regular columns in the Financial Times, you will know that he takes a very consumer-minded approach to investment, tending to invest in companies whose products he understands and has personally tested. There's a lot to be said for that approach (though there are also dangers to it) and beginners will find his book both enjoyable and useful.

Published by Elliot Right Way
2nd Revised edition edition, published in 2001

A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel. Ask any well-read investor to name the best books ever written, and A Random Walk Down Wall Street will usually be in the top 10. Malkiel's main proposition is that a blindfolded monkey throwing darts at the FT could pick stocks as well as an expert fund manager - not a popular message in some quarters, as you can imagine.

Published by W.W. Norton & Company
7th edition, published in 2000

The Company of Successful Investors by Terry Bond. Terry Bond probably has more experience of investment clubs than anyone else in the country. As a director of ProShare he has had much to do with the explosive growth in the numbers of clubs, and has helped frame the rules by which they work. He also belongs to three clubs personally. Anyone in a club, or thinking of joining or forming one, will find Terry's book incredibly helpful. It explains the critical factors that distinguish a successful club from a failure, and suggests ways to make sure that the whole experience is not only fun but also profitable.

Published by FT Prentice Hall
1st edition, published in 2002

Multiply Your Money by Nick Louth. An easy-to-follow route through the labyrinth of the world of money, cutting through jargon and showing that controlling your financial destiny is not just rewarding, but easy and fun too!

Published by McGraw-Hill Professional
1st edition, published in 2001