I read Investing for Dummies as one of the first things I did because I had absolutely no idea about anything. I didn't even know what an IRA was. It was a dark period in my life. The book explains the fundamentals of investing in general - such as retirement planning, emergency funds, tax shelters, tax liabilities, asset allocation, real estate, and basic information about certain types of securities.

If your investing/personal finance know-how is extremely minimal, you'll definitely learn a lot of useful knowledge and terminology.

However, Eric Tyson pretty much reiterates the same low-cost index fund solution that you'll find in most novice investment forums and he really likes to talk down picking individual stocks and sector ETF's.

For example, if I remember correctly, he spent one paragraph talking about derivatives and commodity trading, and then just said "don't bother with it" more or less. For the novice investor, he's absolutely right. But if you're trying to learn as much as possible, you'll have to look elsewhere.

For most people, he's absolutely right. Most people will not beat the overall market, so it's a fools errand for a novice investor to even try. If you're looking to just put your money into a few funds and walk away, and maybe re-allocate your portfolio after several years, then by all means, listen to what he has to say.

If you intend to be more hands-on and are willing to put in the work and diligence to beat the market, then you won't find it in that book.

If you are interested in becoming an active investor, then read up on value investing - which there are plenty of books to read from prominent value investors such as Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffet, etc.