If you are wont to read all of this, you might buy the Volume 1 of the CFA exam books instead.
After having been through an economics degree beforehand, I was impressed at comprehensiveness and conciseness. They're written to be read, unlike a lot of academic textbooks that are written to be references for lectures.
There are several thousands of pages in Volume I, but that's because they cover so much ground. If you're looking for a holistic understanding, and would otherwise pick up a dozen different paperbacks from some online blog list, you might do well instead to pick up the official introduction for finance by and for the financial industry.
For a general understanding of macroeconomics, I'd recommend just Cassidy's 'How Markets Fail' and you're set.
If you don't care about the designation then the most cost effective thing to do is just get the books from a previous year from somewhere like Craigslist or ebay. The official syllabus is published by the CFA Institute. Schweser have a cliff notes-style abbreviated version of the syllabus. It's faster and more direct but it doesn't go into as much detail. Level 1 is roughly equivalent to a bachelors in finance. After level 2 you'll roughly have the same level of understanding of finance, econ and accounting that an MBA would give you. Level 3 is more esoteric and deals more with portfolio management than other fields.
After having been through an economics degree beforehand, I was impressed at comprehensiveness and conciseness. They're written to be read, unlike a lot of academic textbooks that are written to be references for lectures.
There are several thousands of pages in Volume I, but that's because they cover so much ground. If you're looking for a holistic understanding, and would otherwise pick up a dozen different paperbacks from some online blog list, you might do well instead to pick up the official introduction for finance by and for the financial industry.
For a general understanding of macroeconomics, I'd recommend just Cassidy's 'How Markets Fail' and you're set.