By Tom Bradley

If this month is like previous years, the content in the business publications and industry research will get less and less relevant as we move towards the New Year. Around Christmas the papers and on-line sources will be peppered with fluffy year-end pieces (including my own) and undoubtedly this year there will plenty of decade-ending themes.

In recognition of this content vacuum, December is a good time to make an adjustment to your investment reading habits. I would suggest you substitute time with the business section or on-line and use it to read an investment book that focuses on long-term investment principles. We have a number of recommendations:

• Unconventional Success (David Swensen)
  
• The Four Pillars of Investing (William Bernstein)
  
• Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist (Roger Lowenstein)
  
• Winning the Loser's Game (Charles Ellis)
  

You may also want to check out some of our other must-reads, from a blog I posted a while back.  If you’ve read all of these already, you might want to go back and re-read one. After the markets we’ve experienced, a dose of religion is not a bad thing.

Happy reading.