The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey (2003, Hardcover)

This book is outstanding. I sell apartment buildings for a living and recommend this book for those that ask me how to get started in investing. First things first, you need to get your current financial matters in order before you start to invest in anything. Even though I was never drastically in debt, this book taught be a lot of principles that I still follow today. I learn about Dave Ramsey while flipping through my Sirius Sat radio channel lineup and have been hooked ever since. His show is on Sirius Sat stream 117 between 2pm and 7pm weekdays. Or, you can listen to archieves of his radio show on his website. His radio show is excellent and features many of the principles that he writes about in his book. His book will teach you on how not to worry yourself to tears because of how much debt your in, but to instead take an objective look at where you are, what size of hole (debt) you're in, and what kind of shovel (income) you have, and then formulate a plan of action that involves snowballing the erosion of your debt.