Amazon.com recently listed more than 200,000 titles under the keyword "investing." Some of those books are useful. Others are a waste of time. And many, designed to exploit our ignorance and greed, are downright dangerous.

How do you approach this slew of investment information without getting overwhelmed? Every month, financial writers and journalists churn out hundreds of articles that aim to explain the financial world to ordinary investors. The financial media is full of investment picks, ideas, strategies and other advice.

Books still play an important role, however, in mastering the art of intelligent investing. Selecting the right tome can be a daunting proposition. The first place to start is with the basics. The best investment books avoid the sleazy manipulation of the get-rich-quick schemes you'll find in many books, magazines and, newsletters. Instead, they seek to impart the hard-won wisdom of the great investors to readers like us.

Which books should you read?

Books can serve to strengthen your fundamental investing knowledge while providing you with an important historical prospective.

In addition to several guides and anthologies that offer timeless advice, a number of books about Warren Buffett's philosophy provide a valuable foundation for any long-term investor.

While Warren Buffett has never penned his own book of investing advice, several stand-out books have

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Warren Buffett's youthful confidence about his business acumen hid a self-doubt about nearly everything else, yet the son of a Nebraska congressman grew into one of the world's greatest investors.

The tale of how the brilliant but needy Buffett built a fortune by investing in undervalued companies is recounted in the first authorized biography of the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The Associated Press obtained an audio version of the book Friday, ahead of its Sept. 29 release.

The book's author, former insurance analyst Alice Schroeder, writes that when Buffett was a newlywed in his early 20s, he relied on his wife Susan to help cut his hair, stock the pantry and help him deal with other people.

"In every area of life except business, Susie was discovering her husband was riddled with self-doubt," Schroeder wrote. "He had never felt love, and she saw, he did not feel lovable."

The new book, "The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life," goes on to explain how Susan Buffett left Warren Buffett in 1977 and moved to San Francisco. But the couple never divorced before her death in 2004, even though he lived with another woman most of those years.

Buffett married his longtime companion, Astrid Menks, in a private ceremony on his 76th birthday in 2006.

Some of the information in Schroeder's book is new, but much of it will seem familiar to Buffett's legions of

Warren Buffett attributes his success to spending the majority of his day reading, hunkered down in the details of company annual reports, business periodicals, and numerous other books. It's little surprise, then, that reading is a common theme when savvy investors make a pilgrimage to attend Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) annual shareholder meeting, also known as Woodstock for Capitalists.

Every year, tucked away in a corner of the vast convention center that Berkshire uses to showcase See's Candies, Fruit of the Loom, and its other businesses, you'll find a booth reserved for the Bookworm Store. This Omaha-based establishment stocks dozens of books and DVDs to help shareholders learn more about Buffett and Charlie Munger, including an inside peek at how their way of doing business has created such phenomenal wealth over the years.

In many instances, the selections have the Berkshire seal of approval. Buffett and Munger specifically mention a number of titles each year, both during the annual meeting and in various interviews throughout the year. Here are three key titles to get you started.

● The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, edited by Lawrence Cunningham

Buffett mentioned this book during this year's meeting. The pitch was somewhat in jest, though, in that he highly recommended the author -- himself. The book offers a compilation of writings and other "gems of wisdom" from the Berkshire Hathaway annual reports that Buffett has written over the years. The new edition of Essays now includes information running through the 2007 annual report, all compiled by

If you have been reading my columns over the past year, you know I am very big on reading business books. September is like the beginning of a new year, because the summer is over and the kids are back in school. Many companies begin their fiscal years in September.

When I look for books to read, I basically stay away from the self-congratulating biographies of Fortune 500 CEOs and focus on books that will provide me with: new business concepts; new businesses; information on businesses I know nothing about; or information on accounting and legal issues that would affect my business.

I believe the following nine books will get your creative juices flowing and increase your knowledge of business.

Finding Foreclosures, by Danielle Babb and Bill Nazur. Although the Federal Reserve is lowering the interest rates, the number of people losing their homes is still growing quickly. There are tremendous opportunities for people who want to own real estate and have a long-term view of the real estate market.

Masters of Sales, by Ivan Misner and Don Morgan. Ivan Misner is the founder of Business Network

Whether you're new to the world of investing, or have years of experience and success, there's always room for you to grow as an investor. One of the best ways to expand your knowledge is by reading great books. If you feel like adding one or a number of these investing classics to your personal library, you can order them from Amazon.com by clicking on the headline or download as it will be available soon for our community registered users.

1) The Intelligent Investor

This is perhaps the most important and influential book ever written about value investing. Originally published in 1934 by Ben Graham, this work has been heralded by such notable investors as Warren Buffett as "the best investing book ever written". In it, Graham presents two types of investing styles - one for every day people who don't want to think about their portfolios ("defensive") and the business man or woman who wants to enjoy maximum returns ("enterprising").