A recent Business Week post about b-school summer reading lists got us thinking here at Manhattan GMAT. What other books might provide a good foundation for your first year? We turned to Chris Ryan, our Director of Instructor and Product Development, for some recommendations. His suggestions make good reading for incoming MBA students and curious applicants alike.

1. First and foremost, Chris recommends Larry Gonick’s Cartoon Guide to Statistics, which will give you a jump on the hardest quant class in your first semester, one on which other important classes ” like Finance and Operations ” depend. “If you actually understand the content in this book, you will do better in your stats class ” it’s as simple as that,” Chris tells us. The title might sound silly, but the content is truly useful.

2. A more theoretical start for your reading would be Co-Opetition (Adam M. Brandenburger and Barry J. Nalebuff), which covers game theory and its practical applications for business. The authors argue that to maximize success, companies sometimes have to cooperate with traditional rivals.

3.You should also pick up something about the economic turmoil of recent months. “You’re going to need to have an opinion,” Chris says. Pair your selection with Roger Lowenstein’s When Genius Failed, which covers the rise and fall of Long Term Capital Management, a hedge fund that brought about a late-90s precursor to the current financial crisis.

Plus, for a b-school beach read, try Predictably Irrational (Dan Ariely), a nice introduction to behavioral economics.

For more suggestions, try Business Week’s list.