What are some good Introductory Business books?

A small part of my job is taking minutes at meetings for some of our subsidiary companies and I need some help understanding what goes on in them. Specifically, something about financial statements (statutory and GAAP) and anything about investments (conventional and alternative) may be helpful. I'm looking for a really basic book or books, to increase my own understanding. Any ideas?

I have basically no understanding of business or financial statements. I need the most basic, beginner level information.

Not sure where you are financially (literacy-wise) or how much you want to learn, but I suspect something along the lines of
accounting for non-accountants
would work. I suggest stopping by the library and looking around the
657 section
as you'd find accounting books there. Feel free to ask the librarians if you need more help.
This would allow you to look the book over as well, so no regrets if it's not quite what you want.
My basic accounting days are so long ago nothing would be current.

As to investments, again not sure what level you're looking to go from.

Somewhere near the
332.6 section
should get you what you're looking for. If you mean more generalized investments, then 332 in general is a good area to browse.

You would have to read up on several books over time. I would start with the "dummies" series of books (ie: business for dummies, account for dummies") etc. They are fairly simple and will help to build up your understanding of things like GAAP and so on.

You should probably try to read one business book per month, and maybe consider a small business magazine. Your local library should have all of these available.