So my dad gave me some investing books

[Clayton]

Instead of making my thread a more-drawn out personal version relating to adsman's travels, I'll leave my opening writings fairly concise. I am about to end my 2nd year at college studying in a degree I will never use (classical culture, and political science is one I can easily change to). I fit the mold of many 2+2'ers here, passionately drawn into poker and not much else. It has cost me in terms of my academic performance, as my GPA has been going down little by little each semester.

Reading adsman's thread gave me some time to really rethink my approach. As a result, I am planning on transferring to a school out west to learn business (something that is no longer an opportunity at my current university) and also take on some internships in either real estate or investing. I want to take some go-getter jobs to really understand what I want to be doing for a living when the time comes, as something my Dad has stressed to me is that business isn't something you just learn overnight. My family has a history of obsessive-compulsive people, and my hope is that I take my obsessive behavior (now geared towards poker) and apply it towards something productive that I really enjoy such that I can be successful in the future with whatever business-oriented profession I do.

Now that that's out of the way, a few things I am currently pondering that I ask of you to hopefully add advice on:

- I just signed a new apartment lease a couple of weeks ago to live with some other really great friends at a great apartment complex near campus. The lease goes through summer of 2008, and will start in August. The one thing my dad disagrees with me on is that he thinks it would be foolish to stay away from college for a year living near college, and I should either go out west immediately after this summer or maybe take a semester off from school (as a result signing a lease with a place which wouldnt commit me for a year). My first question is, is staying away from school for a year to focus on poker and read up on some investing related material and taking an internship over the summers something feasible to do? The worry is that I won't want to go back to school, I disagree but I know my Dad knows what he's talking about. I will happily elaborate on any more specific questions regarding this. My rationale for my plan is to take a break from schooling but at the same time I'm not sure I'm ready to change my life instantaneously, as I still have a bunch of great friends around me and to make such a serious decision and leaving everything behind ala adsman seems... scary. But can I ever be ready?

Secondly, after discussing this with my dad he gave me some books to go through, and I'm looking for everyone's opinion on them.

First he suggested some easier readings:

-Jim Cramers Real Money
-Robert Hagstrom's "The Warren Buffett Way"
-Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich"

Then when done with those, to read:

-Burton Malkiel's "A Random Walk Down Wall Street"
-John Train's "The Money Masters"
-Peter Lynch's "One Up on Wall Street"

Then some more advanced texts:
-Banjamin Graham's "The Intelligent Investor" (my dad says this is the most important book by far)
-Gitman & Joehnk's "Fundamentals of Investing" (textbook)

I would appreciate some thoughts as well as advice on maybe other books to read or other things go about in regards to learning more about general investing. I have a high IQ and got 1500 on the SAT, and am obsessive compulsive, so I would like to think if I apply myself correctly (which I plan to) and enjoy what I do, I can be really successful.

Of course, this requires changing everything that I find familiar. I don't want to live near my college, as taking business classes at a different university that is lower I would find to be associated with "failure" by my peers, so I'm going to the west coast likely. I was planning on the West Coast regardless, but as much as I hate to admit it this reason will contribute, although many would advocate that I should care less what other people think. Also, another reason to move west is the LA and LV poker scene that will be available when I turn 21 in November. I am doing very well on the year thus far in middle stakes NL and am confident, worst case scenario, I could do something similar to what Jonas (riverboatking) does, and be happy with life.

I'm sorry if this post comes off as rambling, I'm going to be incredibly selective in regards to making new threads in this forum, but I felt that this was a topic possibly worth addressing when considering threads of the past like JaredL's and adsman's. Essentially, I will have to be like adsman, except I will have money in the bank thanks to poker and a desire to succeed with money.

Also of note: Poker is a possibility as a side-source of income. I currently have 25k to my name this year before taxes, and ample more opportunity to make money both online and in live poker games when I turn 21 this November.

sparknotes:
1) should i cancel the lease and move after summer?
2) how long can I stay away from academia, assuming I am intent on getting a degree (as everyone tells me to)?
3) how are these books for starters?
4) anyone else that has made a similar transition from a field they disliked to a field they desired yet required moving across the country, please contribute

thank you for reading