Dear Finance Student,

If you are looking for something to do before you start the program, here are some suggestions.

Maybe it's been a while since you've taken a class. The MBA Survival Kit® software can help you prepare before you start classes. It gives you a chance to review accounting, finance, quantitative skills, and statistics at your own pace. The MBA Survival Kit® includes the following:

• Accounting Interactive®
• Finance Interactive®
• Quantitative Skills Interactive®
• Statistics Interactive®

If you need a new financial calculator, take a look at the Hewlett-Packard 10 B II or the Texas Instruments BA II Plus or Professional.

Here are 10 good, readable popular books.

Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street. This was the first of Peter Bernstein’s readable and interesting books. A 2nd edition is on the way.

Ron Chernow, The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance . The rise of modern finance in the age of the Robber Barons.

Nicholas Dunbar, Inventing Money: The Story of Long-Term Capital Management and the Legends Behind It. A substantial primer on the history of financial theory, and the best book on LTCM.

Tom Harford, The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor and Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car! Amusing applications of microeconomics to everyday life.

Jonathan A. Knee, The Accidental Investment Banker: Inside the Decade that Transformed Wall Street. “The goal was to do deals, generate revenue, and be noticed... whatever the cost, particularly when someone else bore that cost.” Are bankers the “greediest people in the world?” Is an MBA one of the “poorest educational choice?”

Burton G. Malkiel, A Random Walk Down Wall Street: Completely Revised and Updated Edition. Updated edition of an investment classic.

Michael Mauboussin. More Than You Know: Finding Financial Wisdom in Unconventional Places. Short essays describing fascinating scientific findings, then develops and applies them to personal investing.

Perry Mehrling, Fischer Black and the Revolutionary Idea of Finance. The best currently available general history of the revolution in finance that took place between 1960 and 1990: the essential ideas and disputes are explained clearly, with a minimum of mathematics and jargon.

Robert J. Shiller, Irrational Exuberance. 2^nd edition. Bull and bear markets, though often based initially on sound reasoning, feed upon themselves to go beyond what facts justify.

John A. Tracy. How to Read a Financial Report: Wringing Vital Signs Out of the Numbers. Useful for anyone working with financial reports.

Enjoy you reading, and I look forward to meeting you. Do contact me if you have any questions.

Lars Christian Smith