"A Random Walk Down Wall Street" by Burton G. Malkiel

On the one hand, I think this book is too long; on the other hand, I think it couldn't be shorter because of how much data it contains.

The gist of it is the following:

• It's so improbable to beat the markets, any important savings are better off staying in low maintenance cost index funds
• Some % of the savings (e.g. 5%) can be allocated towards gambling (which is what stock picking, etc, is, after all)
• There are some people and funds that beat the markets (return better % than boring index funds); but most of their results are due to chance, luck, and are not sustainable in the long term

This is it; besides lengthy and detailed explanation of how markets work and what financial products exist to be utilized by traders (including a good portion on futures). Is it a bad book? No. Is it a good book? No. It is one of these books that are so obvious, their summary is all you need; but also it is very educational to read the whole book to be aware of numerous examples that support the main thesis.