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By James Royal, Ph.D., Bankrate

As you’re learning how to invest, one of the best strategies for advancing quickly is to learn from the masters. Rather than repeating the same old mistakes of new investors, it’s useful — and it saves money — to gain the insight and wisdom of the experts. For the cost of a book, you could save thousands of dollars by making smart investing decisions and avoiding dumb ones.

Below are some of the best investing books. Some are deep dives that have stood the test of time and continue to reward new readers with the wisdom of investing masters. Some are lighter reads that tell more recent stories from other voices and offer different perspectives.

Deep dives: Investing books that zoom in

1. “The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing”

“The Intelligent Investor” by Benjamin Graham is like a shorter, more readable version of Graham’s other famous book, “Security Analysis” (co-authored with David Dodd). Graham is considered the father of value investing, an investing style where practitioners are looking to buy $1 for $0.75 or less, and he was a key mentor for legendary investor Warren Buffett, who contributed to a later edition. Here Graham shows you how to think sensibly about investing and how to avoid the mistakes of so many inexperienced investors. read more

By JOSH FUNK

The spate of recent aviation disasters and close calls have people worried about the safety of flying.

The midair collision that killed 67 near Washington, the fiery plane crash in Philadelphia and now a missing plane in Alaska are only the most high-profile disasters. There was also a Japan Airlines plane that clipped a parked Delta plane while it was taxiing at the Seattle airport earlier this week and a United Airlines plane caught fire during takeoff at the Houston airport Sunday after an engine problem sparked a fire on the wing.

That’s not even to mention the security concerns that arose after stowaways were found dead inside the wheel wells of two planes and aboard two other flights. And don’t forget about the time that a passenger opened an emergency exit door on a plane while it was taxiing for takeoff in Boston.

So of course people are wondering whether their flight is safe?

What happened in the worst incidents?

The Jan. 29 collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army helicopter killed everyone aboard both aircraft. It was the deadliest plane crash in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five on the ground. There hadn’t even been a deadly crash of any kind involving a U.S. airliner since February 2009. read more

By Michelle Marchante, Miami Herald

Elon Musk wants to merge humans with AI. And his goal of achieving “symbiosis” with artificial intelligence starts with a brain chip.

Neuralink, a company Musk co-founded, is testing linking brains to computers and has recently recruited the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine for help.

Clinical trials are underway for Telepathy, a Neuralink brain chip that could give people who are paralyzed the ability to use the mind to wirelessly control computers, smartphones and other electronic devices. Miami is the second site in the U.S. selected to test the safety and effectiveness of the experimental device, which has already shown promise.

“It’s like using the Force” on a computer cursor, according to Noland Arbaugh, referencing the Star Wars energy field. Arbaugh is a quadriplegic and the first person to get the Neuralink brain chip implant in January 2024 at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix.

Arbaugh and another trial participant have used the mind to control a computer mouse, play online chess and video games since getting the implant, according to the company. Earlier in January, Musk announced a third person had received the implant. read more

The annual watchdog report tasked to gauge NASA safety commended the agency’s handling of last year’s beleaguered Boeing’s Starliner mission, but revealed yet another issue found during the flight and questioned the agency’s needs for the spacecraft in the future.

The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), which was formed in 1968, released its assessment of NASA mission safety from 2024 paying specific attention to human risk, especially at the International Space Station and from Commercial Crew Program providers SpaceX and Boeing.

The headliner was Boeing’s first crewed flight of its long-delayed CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, which suffered helium leaks and thruster failures on its propulsion system on its way up to the ISS. That led to a monthslong saga that ultimately saw Starliner leave its two NASA astronauts behind on the station because of the risk of flying them home.

The ASAP report commended NASA’s call to favor astronaut safety, but as an observer during the sundry meetings leading up to the decision, it warned the agency needs to better define who’s in charge. read more

By SETH BORENSTEIN and ALEXA ST. JOHN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Saving the planet is so 2024. Clean energy leaders across the globe are now tailoring their messages to emphasize the greener side of green: wealth-building. It’s an idea that sells far better in the new world of nationalism and tycoon leaders.

Messaging from the U.S. renewable energy industry and the United Nations on climate change has typically focused on the urgent need to cut greenhouse gas emissions for the sake of environmental and human health. To bolster the argument, they cite record-shattering heat around the world, the frequent climate disasters costing billions of dollars and the human toll of it all.

But a sharper emphasis on profit potential has become evident as President Donald Trump stormed into office with a flurry of rollbacks to clean energy initiatives and an emphatic declaration of plans to “unleash” oil, gas and mining. In a lobbying blitz in Washington this week, solar, wind, hydropower and other clean-energy interests touted their role in a “robust American energy and manufacturing economy” and sported lapel pins that said “American energy dominance” — a favorite Trump phrase. read more