Business major looking for some help getting started with investing

[MindGamez]

i just finished up my first year of college. im majoring in finance, but the first year of college really doesnt offer any business classes (next year im takin accounting, econ, finance all those type classes) so i dont really have any idea about investing. even tho i dont know anything about investing, im still very interested in the stock market and other ways that i can take calculated risks kinda like a game (i found this site back when i played poker alot)

anyways, could yall experienced guys tell me some books that i need to read and anything else that i could do in order to prepare me for successful investing. i have one book called "take stock" by ellis traub that im about to read, i just need some more classics. the things that interest me most would be the stock market, chicago mercantile exchange (kinda random, but i visited chicago once and it looked cool, lol), and real estate.

[PRE]

Read When Genius Failed. It's about the failure of the then largest hedge fund in the world. A lot of it will be unfamilar to you, such as the way options work and probably even what a hedge fund is for that matter, but that's a good thing since it will get you interested. You'll learn a lot but also be entertained.

[mal_noles]

When Genuis Failed is good, I would also recommend Market WIzards 1&2 by Schrager. Entire book consists of interviews with a bunch of traders across many different markets. Several of the traders in the book traded either on the CME or CBOT. Both of Nassim Talebs books are excellent but probably better once you get down some basic fundamentals.

[SR71]

I reccomend reading the "Investors Business Daily" newspaper. I find it to be more interesting than the WSJ and the founder, William O'neil has several books too. "How to make money in stocks" is a good starting point.
jr