There are probably too many investment books for anyone to read in a lifetime. Screening them to spend time reading something worthwhile can be a major task. We have read many over the years are suggesting a few to understand basic concepts that affect the economy, the markets and ultimately, your portfolio.

The Great Crash Ahead by Harry S. Dent & Rodney Johnson

The Age of Deleveraging: Investment Strategies for a Decade of Slow Growth and Deflation - Gary Shilling

Endgame: The End of the Debt SuperCycle and How It Changes Everything - John Mauldin 

BUY - DON'T HOLD: Investing with ETFsUsing Relative Strength to Increase Returns with Less Risk - Leslie Masonson

ETF Trend Following Plabybook - Tom Lydon

The Age Curve: How to Profit from the Coming Demographic Storm  by Kenneth Gronbach

The Great Depression Ahead: How to Prosper in the Debt Crisis of 2010 - 2012 by Harry S. Dent

Unexpected Returns: Understanding Secular Stock Market Cycles by Ed Easterling

Point & Figure Charting: The Essential Application for Forecasting and Tracking Market Prices by Thomas J. Dorsey

The Misbehavior of Markets: A Fractal View of Financial Turbulence by BGenoit Mandelbrot & Richard L. Hudson

The Coming Generational Storm: What You Need to Know about America's Economic Future

The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity And What To Do About It by Laurence Kotlikoff

The End of Prosperity: How Higher Taxes Will Doom the Economy--If We Let It Happen by Arthur B Laffer, Ph.D. & Stephen Moore & Peter Tanous