Reddit mentions of Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (Incerto)

I'll also be a little more charitable. You need to read this book and stop selling things based on your spurious views of biology: http://www.amazon.com/Antifragile-Things-That-Gain-Disorder/dp/1400067820

either that or realize that you are a massive charlatan and take proper action: http://www.technovelgy.com/graphics/content08/suicide-booth.jpg

Based on your questions and lack of knowledge, keep your money in a savings account. Spend a couple of months learning about investing, how to read financial reports, how to decipher an 8k and 10k report. I don't mean this to be condescending, but if you start investing now or in six months, there will be almost no difference in your earnings, but there could be a huge difference in your losses unless you take some time to learn about the various investing methods, theories, and the actual hows and whys.

Start reading Peter Lynch's One Up on Wall Street, Beating the Street and Learn to Earn.
Each brings different things to the table. Again, please take no offense, but Learn to Earn is probably where you should start. It's aimed at teens/young adults learning about investing for the first time.

I'd recommend hitting up the library for these. When you get to the library, you'll find shelves of books on how to invest. Some are useless and others really good. Read a few chapters in each. If you have questions, run it by this board. There are plenty of people here who are more than happy to share their mainly educated opinions. And the good thing about reddit is that if one of us says something wrong, others are quick to correct or offer their two cents.

I'd also recommend The Millionaire Next Door, The Black Swan and the Richest Man in Babylon. while these last ones aren't how to invest, they are books about why and how we invest.

I'm a Taleb groupie and read everything by the man. I loved Black Swan, and also loved Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorderso you may want to try that one when your reading pile dwindles.

Keep saving, but take your time investing. Learn the basics, stick your toe in and then take the plunge.

I was reading the book Antifragile.

There was a part where the author describes the major shock he had when first introduced into the forex trading pit. He describes the sheer cognitive dissonance watching traders who could barely write their names and appeared to have an education of a high school level trading so much money. He came from quant like style of trading and was expecting sharp traders. The reality was that these traders knew next to nothing about countries and generally not bright. However, these below average intelligence people were making money hand-over-fist in the currency market. It was such an entertaining part of the book to hear how he describe the reality of large traders.

His take away message is, theory and practice are two very different thing. Practitioners are the ones who wins, not the academics with fancy forumlas.

My uncle recommended a few Buddhist-based books to me:

Only Don't Know: Selected Teaching Letters of Zen Master Seung Sahn (http://www.amazon.com/Only-Dont-Know-Selected-Teaching/dp/1570624321)

A Zen Wave: Basho's Haiku and Zen (http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Wave-Bashos-Haiku/dp/083480137X)

My uncle is a really smart guy who identifies as atheist. He also recommended the following as books that helped him in his journey:

Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder (http://www.amazon.com/Antifragile-Things-That-Gain-Disorder/dp/1400067820)

From Dawn to Decadence (http://www.amazon.com/From-Dawn-Decadence-Western-Cultural/dp/0060928832)

Beowulf, Seamus Heaney translation (http://www.amazon.com/Beowulf-Verse-Translation-Bilingual-Edition/dp/0393320979)

The Iliad, Robert Fagles translation (http://www.amazon.com/Iliad-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe-Edition/dp/0140275363/)

The Odyssey, Robert Fagles translation (http://www.amazon.com/The-Odyssey-Homer/dp/0140268863)

While we're making book recommendations, you should try this, this, or this. Or maybe these, or this, or hell, this if my summary of the current situation of the state as universal malefactor and the alternatives as looking better every day are unconvincing to you.

As for some misguided belief that the people will "rise up" in some faux revolution with onward marching and people's councils and all that kind of jazz; not at all, generally speaking, people are stupid. For example those that think that it's a paranoid fantasy the state operates in its own interests first despite the cacophony of evidence supporting this fact all over the world and the simple fact that it has always been so. But people also don't like being fucked over, and they're not stupid enough that they won't take whatever actions are necessary to directly counteract being fucked over as those actions become clearer and easier for them to take.