What are good books for a new stock investor?

Also do any of these software programs I see on infomercials work?

Check out RULE#1 by Phil Town.

Any of Frank Partnoy's books. They expose many of the bad sides of some investments and financial services which any investor should be aware of. Also, I just happened to catch Jim Cramer's radio show and he was giving his ten commandments on trading/investing and I found they are just about 100% true.

I don't know what the software is you are talking about.

jim cramer real money-watch his show mad money on cnbc mon-fri 6-9pm 12am

Here are a couple great books on investing:

Intelligent Investor - Benjamin Graham. A classic, but quite a tome.
One Up on Wall Street - Peter Lynch. My first stock book. A bit dated, but his energy / enthusiasm and philosophy on sticking with what you know still makes sense.
Liars Poker - Michael Lewis. Okay, not an investing book, but one hell of a good read about the bond trading business.

These are some good sources to learn about the market and the key individual sectors.

http://winners-and-losers.com/

http://biotech-news.org/

http://energy-markets.org/

http://gold-news.org/

http://mining-profits.org/

http://ethanol.v33.org/

http://tech-stocks.org/

http://airlines.v33.org/

The books recommended so far are good. Cramer gives an excellent overview of the business cycle, which I have not seen explained as well in other books on stocks.

I take a more technical approach to stocks and I like ' How to Make Money in Stocks' by William O'Neil. This book explains a strategy of combining fundamental and technical criteria to pick stocks. It ties in to the Investor Business Dilly Newspaper, but you do not need to get the paper to learn from it.

I had a customer who retired at 35 years old.
He was a pit trader in Chicago until that point. After that he traded stock from home. He was never a 'day trader', tying to make quarters and what not on stocks in very short time, he was an investor. These are the 3 books he told me to read when I was just starting out.
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator - its an old book (1920's)...and it was litterally impossible to find when he reccomended it to me. With the day trading boom in the 90's it resurfaced and is now easy to find. Try Amazon. You need to read this if you're going to be a trader.
Market Wizzards - I believe there are several sequels at this point - again...amazon.
Of Permanent Value - Warren Buffets story - if you're going to be an investor there is no better book than this. Buffet has made Billions in the market, and he doesn't day trade. Cramer's book is all fine and dandy but trust me Buffet has made more $ investing that Cramer will ever see.

Check this book out first
Stock Traders Almanac by JEFF HIRSCH, it is a must read book

The software on infomercial is not working, if it is working, why they sell it to you, they could sell it to the big firm on wallstreet for bbig bucks, why they sell it to you for

Yes you could learn invest by yourself. it is your money, you should know how to do with it. for starter check this site out.

http://www.pathtoinvesting.org/index_fla...
http://www.stockcharts.com
http://www.streettalklive.com section university. a lot amount of information. It will serve you well
I accumulate in good amount in 401k at the young age.I could share with you. when consider invest in stock market. you should consider basic 3 things:

fundamental analysis==(economic data,finincial health, management, business model, competetion)>>what to buy

technical analysis==(chart+indicator)>> when to buy

Sentiment/schycho analysis==>>mood of investor, Contrarian point of view.
Market cycle===>> check out book Trader Almanac by jeff hirsch will give you inside stuff
When you combine 3 thing, It is one of the powerful knowledge goinh with you for the rest of your live

At the age of 32. my 401k is amassed 74,000.00 and 30000.00 in taxble account. by follow simple rule