Can someone suggest a book that will teach me what company I should buy stock from?

For awhile I read a lot of such books and found most didn't cut it. I simply taught myself a good deal--from reading those books, magazines (like Forbes, Money, Fortune, Smart Money, Fast Company, etc.), listening to shows such as the Saturday morning Fox block--The Cost of Freedom--which is 4 half-hour shows back-to-back. (BTW, my favourite for investment advice is Wayne Rogers. Seriously.) I also just did it. Turns out I had a knack for it, but it involves a lot of work.

Anyway, I still read some books, and I liked Mary Buffet's The New Buffettology. In an interview I saw with Warren Buffett (and I prefer results to degrees, so I am happy with his results), he said he doesn't read any of the books about him. However, as that's a former daughter-in-law I think she had the inside track.
BTW, Buffett puts some interesting stuff on his site:
http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/
You will do worse than to read that.

You also need to understand, especially now as things are particularly wild, that you do NOT invest money you can not afford to lose. You don't go in with a negative attitude, but no one has any business borrowing money to invest in the market. If you're that good at it, you'll run up value from savvy trades and dividends; if you're not that good, you're going to default.

I highly recommend Scottrade when you decide you're ready to open an account. I think people should be able to manage their own affairs. I've known too many people who handed their money to "experts" who messed up. The experts were paid, the person whose money was lost was SOL. Personally I get better returns on my investments than most of the fund managers I hear about, but not as good as Buffett :( And NO I am not soliciting to do any advising for free or for a fee because I'm not appropriately licensed for that. I manage my father's pittance and get him more in dividends per month than his pension. I advise my brother and recouped the quarter-million plus his "experts" lost for him. My main income is dividend income. I could do more if I'd get more sophisticated and do options and such but I don't have the energy for that (I'm ill. I use my time as best I can and sometimes I do something completely different--like these answers--to try to distract myself from pain OR to not get into a rut on my financial thinking. THIS is a "break" activity for me.)

You should be sure to understand things like basics:
difference between market and limit orders

stop-losses

what an ETF is

Personally I don't like mutual funds--had a couple in the early days, but I do better on my own.

You need to decide how much risk and volatility you can handle.

You need to decide if you're going to value DIVIDENDS or not. I do. Not only is that my main source of income, BUT it is harder to cook the books and pay regular dividends. Capital appreciation of dividend paying stock does NOT suffer either. I see NO downside to dividends.

You also have to decide if you're an investor or a trader. Traders can literally sit there for hours buying and selling to catch a profit. I did a little of that for my father as he started with an investment of $2K. I don't waste my time and energy on that now. I am an investor--in it for the long-term (which also tends to be good for tax purposes as well. And I don't give tax advice other than to say to FILE and if you need help, hire a pro.)

Stock market investing is interesting and can make you rich or poor--it will take time to learn what you NEED to give yourself a decent chance of making this an investment instead of a gamble.