Since we're recommending books, Peter Lynch's "One Up On Wall Street" [1] was a very informative and interesting book.
Peter Lynch ran Fidelity's Magellan fund from 1977 to 1990. He avergaed a return of 29.2%, increasing the value of the fund from $18M in 1977 to $14B in 1990.
His philosophy is to invest in what you know, and that the market misses things that everyday people can notice just from going about their life. I think his advice worked a little better before the age of the internet, but it's still a very solid and easy to read book.
[1] http://www.amazon.com/One-Up-On-Wall-Street/dp/0743200403