April 2008 booklist

[jennymae.livejournal.com]

Hi everyone!  Here is my April reading list (just now getting to posting it!).  Unfortunately this month isn't a very...appealing-to-the-general-public...list.  LOL  I really do read "normal" books sometimes. ;-)

I look forward to reading all of your book lists, too.  Don't forget to post them!  Several of my friends do which I enjoy, so it'll be cool to read a bunch more!

The Historic Preservation Movement in California 1940-1970 by Dr. Nadine Hata
When I told one of the state historians that I was thinking about writing my thesis on the historic preservation movement, she said I had to read this book.  So I did.  And it was bad.  Haha!  No, the book's full of useful information, but it's full of rather boring information.  Hata focuses on the administrative side of historic preservation (versus the social), so there's  lot of stuff about legislation, rulings, etc.  Kinda blah, if you ask me.  However, I foresee that I'm going to be using this book a lot in the future.  And the bibliography looks like it's going to be crazy useful!

Rule #1: The Simple Strategy for Successful Investing in Only 15 Minutes a Week! by Phil Town
I'm still into reading financial books.  I have a whole list of them to read...but I had to cut back on reading them in favor of school-related books.  This was my first real "investing" book that I've read...and I'm definitely intrigued!  LOL  Town has figured out ways to choose companies to invest in before the "big guys" find these companies and also invest in them.  He's also figured out how to "get out" before the "big guys" do...so that you don't (supposedly) lose money.  I highly doubt I'll start investing in stocks, but I think I would like to try using Town's methods using "paper money" (i.e.: on paper, without using money) this summer.  We'll see if I actually do it!  Another interesting thing that Town insists on is investing in one company only--or at least putting a lot in one company.  I mean, if you have millions like Buffet then you wouldn't invest in one company.  But mainly, he's not into mutual funds/indexes or diversifying.  I find that to be very interesting because just about every other money-advisement book I've read strongly suggests diversifying.  If you're interested in investing, then I would suggest reading this book because he seems to explain things pretty well.  Whether or not it works, I cannot personally testify. :-)

State Parks of California, from 1864 to the Present by Joseph H. Engbeck
This is the book that began it all.  I started reading this months ago when I just wanted to learn a little bit about the history of California State Parks.  It was chock full of information that I had no idea about.  It was also where I even learned that the "historic preservation movement" even existed.  Though I recommend it and found it to be very interesting....unless you work for California State Parks, I don't think you'll find it as intriguing.

Comments

[hestergray.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I wonder how to get started in investing, because I have absolutely no clue about financial planning. I'll have to look for that book! It sounds helpful.

[jennymae.livejournal.com]

Yeah, definitely check it out. If nothing else, you'll learn a little bit about it--or at least one guy's way of investing. Now, he doesn't go into debt, personal finances, retirement, 401(k)s, Roth IRAs, IRAs, etc. If you haven't read about that, you might want to start with that since it's probably wise to get started with that before jumping into investing. Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, and Mary Hunt are excellent personal finance people. :-) If you read any other finance-related books, let me know! I'm always on the lookout for new authors. :-)