The Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Money & Investing initiates you into the mysteries of the financial pages -- buying stocks, bonds, mutual funds, futures and options, spotting trends and evaluating companies. For those who are curious but intimidated by everyday financial jargon, this guide offers a literate, forthright and lively alternative.

Kenneth M. Morris is the chairman and CEO of Lightbulb Press, a print and Internet publishing company he founded in 1990. As one of the nation's leading experts in simplified communications, he pioneered the use of plain language, developing the first easy-to-read documents for the brokerage, banking and telecommunications industries and several government agencies. He has also been a leading force in creating the content and design for several innovative financial sites on the World Wide Web.

Dr. Morris is the author of The Wall Street Journal Guide to Personal Finance, The Wall Street Journal Guide to Planning Your Financial Future, A Woman's Guide to Investing, A User's Guide to the Information Age and American Dreams: One Hundred Years of Business Ideas. He publishes regularly on information design and the uses of information technology, and serves on the editorial boards of Information Design Journal and Visible Language. A graduate of Cornell University, he holds a Ph.D. in English from Columbia University.