ECONOMICS BOOK CLUB
Thinking, Fast and Slow. By Daniel Kahneman
In this international bestseller, Daniel Kahneman, the renowned psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The impact of overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning our next vacation―each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems shape our judgments and decisions.
Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives―and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and selected by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2011, Thinking, Fast and Slow is destined to be a classic.
Kahneman's work with Amos Tversky is the subject of Michael Lewis's The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein.
Every day we make choices—about what to buy or eat, about financial investments or our children’s health and education, even about the causes we champion or the planet itself. Unfortunately, we often choose poorly. Nudge is about how we make these choices and how we can make better ones. Using dozens of eye-opening examples and drawing on decades of behavioral science research, Nobel Prize winner Richard H. Thaler and Harvard Law School professor Cass R. Sunstein show that no choice is ever presented to us in a neutral way, and that we are all susceptible to biases that can lead us to make bad decisions. But by knowing how people think, we can use sensible “choice architecture” to nudge people toward the best decisions for ourselves, our families, and our society, without restricting our freedom of choice.
Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics, by Richard Thaler
Nobel laureate Richard H. Thaler has spent his career studying the radical notion that the central agents in the economy are humans―predictable, error-prone individuals. Misbehaving is his arresting, frequently hilarious account of the struggle to bring an academic discipline back down to earth―and change the way we think about economics, ourselves, and our world.
Traditional economics assumes rational actors. Early in his research, Thaler realized these Spock-like automatons were nothing like real people. Whether buying a clock radio, selling basketball tickets, or applying for a mortgage, we all succumb to biases and make decisions that deviate from the standards of rationality assumed by economists. In other words, we misbehave. More importantly, our misbehavior has serious consequences. Dismissed at first by economists as an amusing sideshow, the study of human miscalculations and their effects on markets now drives efforts to make better decisions in our lives, our businesses, and our governments.
Coupling recent discoveries in human psychology with a practical understanding of incentives and market behavior, Thaler enlightens readers about how to make smarter decisions in an increasingly mystifying world. He reveals how behavioral economic analysis opens up new ways to look at everything from household finance to assigning faculty offices in a new building, to TV game shows, the NFL draft, and businesses like Uber.
Laced with antic stories of Thaler’s spirited battles with the bastions of traditional economic thinking, Misbehaving is a singular look into profound human foibles. When economics meets psychology, the implications for individuals, managers, and policy makers are both profound and entertaining.
Shortlisted for the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award
The Undoing Project: A friendship that changed our minds. By Michael Lewis.
A fascinating intellectual biography of the Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, two very different men whose work at the intersection of psychology and economics grows more influential by the year.
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. By Nassim Nicholas Taleb. 2007.
A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra) By Barbara Oakley. 2014.
Engineering professor Barbara Oakley knows firsthand how it feels to struggle with math. She flunked her way through high school math and science courses, before enlisting in the army immediately after graduation. When she saw how her lack of mathematical and technical savvy severely limited her options—both to rise in the military and to explore other careers—she returned to school with a newfound determination to re-tool her brain to master the very subjects that had given her so much trouble throughout her entire life.
In A Mind for Numbers, Dr. Oakley lets us in on the secrets to learning effectively—secrets that even dedicated and successful students wish they’d known earlier. Contrary to popular belief, math requires creative, as well as analytical, thinking. Most people think that there’s only one way to do a problem, when in actuality, there are often a number of different solutions—you just need the creativity to see them. For example, there are more than three hundred different known proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem. In short, studying a problem in a laser-focused way until you reach a solution is not an effective way to learn. Rather, it involves taking the time to step away from a problem and allow the more relaxed and creative part of the brain to take over. The learning strategies in this book apply not only to math and science, but to any subject in which we struggle. We all have what it takes to excel in areas that don't seem to come naturally to us at first, and learning them does not have to be as painful as we might think.
This is the companion book to COURSERA®'s wildly popular massive open online course "Learning How to Learn"
Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty (2012)
Based on years of field research from around the world, the authors revolutionize the whole field of economics of poverty and offer a raw, at times painful, insight into the life on 99 cents a day. Making a world without poverty begins with understanding the daily decisions facing the poor. This is one of those books who teach you not what to think, but how to think.
Good Economics for Hard Times (2020) by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo
Model Thinker Reprint Edition
by Scott E. Pa
Why nations fail: the origins of power, prosperity, and poverty.
By Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, 2013.
Economics for the Common Good, by Jean Tirole
Sandhya Venkatachalam (Partner / Social Capital): Very rarely do Nobel Prize-winning economists take the time, nor are they even able, to apply erudite concepts of economics to the key issues we face every day. This is a great book to learn some basic principles of economics and, more important, to apply a really useful framework to better understand today’s big problems.
Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely | Apr 27, 2010 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061353248/ref=ox_sc_act_title_30?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events by Robert J. Shiller | Oct 1, 2019
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691182299/ref=ox_sc_act_title_37?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
by Kindra Hall | Sep 24, 2019
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/140021193X/ref=ox_sc_act_title_38?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care--and How to Fix It by Marty Makary MD | Sep 10, 2019
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1635574110/ref=ox_sc_act_title_39?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
Capital and Ideology by Thomas Piketty, 2020
The epic successor to one of the most important books of the century: at once a retelling of global history, a scathing critique of contemporary politics, and a bold proposal for a new and fairer economic system
Thomas Piketty’s best-selling Capital in the Twenty-First Century galvanized global debate about inequality. In this audacious follow-up, Piketty challenges us to revolutionize how we think about politics, ideology, and history. He exposes the ideas that have sustained inequality for the past millennium, reveals why the shallow politics of right and left are failing us today, and outlines the structure of a fairer economic system.
Our economy, Piketty observes, is not a natural fact. Markets, profits, and capital are all historical constructs that depend on choices. Piketty explores the material and ideological interactions of conflicting social groups that have given us slavery, serfdom, colonialism, communism, and hypercapitalism, shaping the lives of billions. He concludes that the great driver of human progress over the centuries has been the struggle for equality and education, and not, as often argued, the assertion of property rights or the pursuit of stability. The new era of extreme inequality that has derailed that progress since the 1980s, he shows, is partly a reaction against communism, but it is also the fruit of ignorance, intellectual specialization, and our drift toward the dead-end politics of identity.
Once we understand this, we can begin to envision a more balanced approach to economics and politics. Piketty argues for a new “participatory” socialism, a system founded on an ideology of equality, social property, education, and the sharing of knowledge and power. Capital and Ideology is destined to be one of the indispensable books of our time, a work that will not only help us understand the world, but that will change it.
People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent – April 21, 2020 by Joseph E. Stiglitz
“Urgent work, by the foremost champion of ‘progressive capitalism.’ ” ―The New Yorker
An authoritative account of the dangers of unfettered markets and monied politics, People, Power, and Profits shows us an America in crisis. The American people, however, are far from powerless, and Joseph Stiglitz provides an alternative path forward through his vision of progressive capitalism, with a comprehensive set of political and economic changes.
When markets collide: Investment strategies for the age of global economic change by Mohamed El-Erian, 2008.
The only game in town: central banks, instability, and avoiding the next collapse
By Mohamed El-Erian, 2016.
The Money Tree: A Story About Finding the Fortune in Your Own Backyard by Chris Guillebeau, 2020
From best-selling author of The $100 Startup and Side Hustle comes Chris Guillebeau's engaging story about the power you have to create your own financial destiny.
Like financial classics The Latte Factor and The Richest Man in Babylon, The Money Tree uses a compelling story with captivating characters to share its core insight: You are never at the mercy of fortune as long as you have an appetite for hard work and a willingness to step outside your comfort zone.
Jake Aarons is in trouble. He's being evicted from his apartment in less than 30 days, the bill for his $50,000 in overdue student loans is almost due, and the digital marketing agency he works at just implemented a new military-style grading system that might cost him his job. To top it off, Jake's new relationship with Maya was going so well...but with everything else falling down around him, he might lose her, too.
In search of answers, Jake reluctantly attends a weekly group meeting at the invitation of a coworker. Everyone in the group is trying to create a lucrative side hustle with one key requirement: They can only spend up to $500 before earning a profit. Over the course of several weeks, Jake undertakes a series of challenges, first learning how to make $1,000 in a single weekend, and ultimately how to discover the untapped skills he needs to take control of his finances - and his life.
Arguing with Zombies: Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future by Paul Krugman , 2020.
An accessible, compelling introduction to today’s major policy issues from the New York Times columnist, best-selling author, and Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman.
There is no better guide than Paul Krugman to basic economics, the ideas that animate much of our public policy. Likewise, there is no stronger foe of zombie economics, the misunderstandings that just won’t die.
In Arguing with Zombies, Krugman tackles many of these misunderstandings, taking stock of where the United States has come from and where it’s headed in a series of concise, digestible chapters. Drawn mainly from his popular New York Times column, they cover a wide range of issues, organized thematically and framed in the context of a wider debate. Explaining the complexities of health care, housing bubbles, tax reform, Social Security, and so much more with unrivaled clarity and precision, Arguing with Zombies is Krugman at the height of his powers.
Arguing with Zombies puts Krugman at the front of the debate in the 2020 election year and is an indispensable guide to two decades’ worth of political and economic discourse in the United States and around the globe. Krugman turns his listeners into intelligent consumers of the daily news and hands them the keys to unlock the concepts behind the greatest economic policy issues of our time. In doing so, he delivers an instant classic that can serve as a reference point for this and future generations.
Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Tim Ferriss, 2020
The latest groundbreaking tome from Tim Ferriss, the number-one New York Times best-selling author of The 4-Hour Workweek.
From the author: “For the last two years, I’ve interviewed more than 200 world-class performers for my podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show. The guests range from super celebs (Jamie Foxx, Arnold Schwarzenegger, etc.) and athletes (icons of powerlifting, gymnastics, surfing, etc.) to legendary Special Operations commanders and black-market biochemists. For most of my guests, it’s the first time they’ve agreed to a two-to-three-hour interview. This unusual depth has helped make The Tim Ferriss Show the first business/interview podcast to pass 100 million downloads.
“This book contains the distilled tools, tactics, and ‘inside baseball’ you won’t find anywhere else. It also includes new tips from past guests, and life lessons from new ‘guests’ you haven’t met.
“What makes the show different is a relentless focus on actionable details. This is reflected in the questions. For example: What do these people do in the first 60 minutes of each morning? What do their workout routines look like, and why? What books have they gifted most to other people? What are the biggest wastes of time for novices in their field? What supplements do they take on a daily basis?
“I don’t view myself as an interviewer. I view myself as an experimenter. If I can’t test something and replicate results in the messy reality of everyday life, I’m not interested.
“Everything [in this audiobook] has been vetted, explored, and applied to my own life in some fashion. I’ve used dozens of the tactics and philosophies in high-stakes negotiations, high-risk environments, or large business dealings. The lessons have made me millions of dollars and saved me years of wasted effort and frustration.
“I created this book, my ultimate notebook of high-leverage tools, for myself. It’s changed my life, and I hope the same for you.”
Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception by George A. Akerlof and Robert J. Shiller, 2020
Ever since Adam Smith, the central teaching of economics has been that free markets provide us with material well-being, as if by an invisible hand. In Phishing for Phools, Nobel Prize-winning economists George Akerlof and Robert Shiller deliver a fundamental challenge to this insight, arguing that markets harm as well as help us.
As long as there is profit to be made, sellers will systematically exploit our psychological weaknesses and our ignorance through manipulation and deception. Rather than being essentially benign and always creating the greater good, markets are inherently filled with tricks and traps and will "phish" us as "phools".
Phishing for Phools therefore strikes a radically new direction in economics based on the intuitive idea that markets both give and take away. Akerlof and Shiller bring this idea to life through dozens of stories that show how phishing affects everyone in almost every walk of life. We spend our money up to the limit and then worry about how to pay the next month's bills. The financial system soars then crashes. We are attracted, more than we know, by advertising. Our political system is distorted by money. We pay too much for gym memberships, cars, houses, and credit cards. Drug companies ingeniously market pharmaceuticals that do us little good and sometimes are downright dangerous.
Phishing for Phools explores the central role of manipulation and deception in fascinating detail in each of these areas and many more. It thereby explains a paradox: why, at a time when we are better off than ever before in history, all too many of us are leading lives of quiet desperation. At the same time, the book tells stories of individuals who have stood against economic trickery - and how it can be reduced through greater knowledge, reform, and regulation.
Extreme Ownership, by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. 2017.
The ultimate leadership test: “When you are the leader, everything is your fault”
https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Ownership-U-S-Navy-SEALs/dp/1250183863/
When markets collide: Investment strategies for the age of global economic change by Mohamed El-Erian, 2008.
The only game in town: central banks, instability, and avoiding the next collapse
By Mohamed El-Erian, 2016.
Straight talk on trade: ideas for a sane world economy, by Dani Rodick, 2017.
Vitor Constancio (Vice president / European Central Bank ): In 1997, Rodick warned about a possible backlash against the excesses of globalization. His new book is a great guide for the necessary policy corrections to respond to populism and preserve what’s beneficial in open trade. He admirably explains why economic models cannot be of universal application withoiut considering the role of institutions, which can vary significantly across successful market economies. This book is a great example of sane economics.
When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management, by Roger Lowenstein.
LTCM began trading in 1994, after completing a road show that, despite the Ph.D.-touting partners' lack of social skills and their disdainful condescension of potential investors who couldn't rise to their intellectual level, netted a whopping $1.25 billion. The fund would seek to earn a tiny spread on thousands of trades, "as if it were vacuuming nickels that others couldn't see," in the words of one of its Nobel laureate partners, Myron Scholes. And nickels it found. In its first two years, LTCM earned $1.6 billion, profits that exceeded 40 percent even after the partners' hefty cuts. By the spring of 1996, it was holding $140 billion in assets. But the end was soon in sight, and Lowenstein's detailed account of each successively worse month of 1998, culminating in a disastrous August and the partners' subsequent panicked moves, is riveting.
Blockchain: An Essential Beginner’s Guide to Understanding Blockchain Technology, Cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and the Future of Money Kindle Edition, by Herbert Jones
Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are
by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, 2017,
Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life by Nir Eyal
"Indistractable provides a framework that will deliver the focus you need to get results.” —James Clear, author of Atomic Habits
"If you value your time, your focus, or your relationships, this book is essential reading. I’m putting these ideas into practice." —Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous Mind
National Bestseller
Winner of the Outstanding Works of Literature (OWL) Award
Included in the Top 5 Best Personal Development Books of the Year by Audible
Included in the Top 20 Best Business and Leadership Books of the Year by Amazon
Featured in The Amazon Book Review Newsletter, January 2020
Goodreads Best Science & Technology of 2019 Finalist
You sit down at your desk to work on an important project, but a notification on your phone interrupts your morning. Later, as you’re about to get back to work, a colleague taps you on the shoulder to chat. At home, screens get in the way of quality time with your family. Another day goes by, and once again, your most important personal and professional goals are put on hold.
What would be possible if you followed through on your best intentions? What could you accomplish if you could stay focused? What if you had the power to become “indistractable?”
International bestselling author, former Stanford lecturer, and behavioral design expert, Nir Eyal, wrote Silicon Valley’s handbook for making technology habit-forming. Five years after publishing Hooked, Eyal reveals distraction’s Achilles’ heel in his groundbreaking new book.
In Indistractable, Eyal reveals the hidden psychology driving us to distraction. He describes why solving the problem is not as simple as swearing off our devices: Abstinence is impractical and often makes us want more. Eyal lays bare the secret of finally doing what you say you will do with a four-step, research-backed model. Indistractable reveals the key to getting the best out of technology, without letting it get the best of us. Inside, Eyal overturns conventional wisdom and reveals:
Why distraction at work is a symptom of a dysfunctional company culture—and how to fix it
What really drives human behavior and why “time management is pain management”
Why your relationships (and your sex life) depend on you becoming indistractable
How to raise indistractable children in an increasingly distracting world
Empowering and optimistic, Indistractable provides practical, novel techniques to control your time and attention—helping you live the life you really want.
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones – by James Clear
The #1 New York Times bestseller. Over 2 million copies sold!
Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results
No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.
If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.
Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.
Learn how to:
• make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);
• overcome a lack of motivation and willpower;
• design your environment to make success easier;
• get back on track when you fall off course;
...and much more.
Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.
Adaptive Markets: Financial Evolution at the Speed of Thought, by Andrew W. Lo, 2017.
Mohamed El-Erian (chief economic adviser to Allianz): This powerful book brings together insights from many fields to advance our understanding of markets and investor behavior in doing so, he provides one of the most compelling accompaniments to the theory of market efficiency, which, due to its narrow focus, has failed to explain satisfactorily too mnay periods of market instability, the reaction of investors, and the emergence of improbable outcomes. Containing pratical examples, the book brilliantly provides a robust foundation for Andrew and others to build on – including, critically, by complementing economic and financial analyses with insights from AI, biology, neuroscience, and psychology.
Robert Shiller (Professor / Yale): The efficient markets hypothesis was a half-step forward, for it is a half-truth. Yes, indeed, there are signs of market efficiency, but there are also signs of market change and transition that can’t be reconciled with it. We have needed a new name for this half-truth, and Andrew Lo has the name: the adaptive markets hypothesis. This book sets out the evidence and implications in a broad, readable framework.
https://www.amazon.com/Adaptive-Markets-Financial-Evolution-Thought/dp/0691135142
The Best Investment Writing, Volume 1: Selected Writing From Leading Investors. By Meb Faber (editor), Jason Zweig (contributor), Patrick O’Shaughnessy (contributor), Morgan Housel (contributor), Corey Hoffstein (contributor), Barry Ritholtz (contributor).
Meb Faber (Co-founder / Cambria Investment Management): The Best Investment Writing is the ultimate stocking stuffer for investment-minded people like myself. It’s a compilation of 32 of the most insightful investment research pieces from 2017, written by some of the brightest, most respected people in the industry. Plus, since each chapter is relatively short and offers its own standalone value, it’s easy to pick up and put down. Taken together, it reads like a master’s course in investing.
Small Great Things, by Jodi Picoult
Arthur Levitt (Former chairman / U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission): Not only is it a page turner—it also questions fundamental beliefs about race and tells those of us who are not black what racism feels like.
https://www.amazon.com/Small-Great-Things-Jodi-Picoult/dp/0345544951
Shoe Dog, by Phil Knight
Gene Munster (Managing partner / Loup Ventures): It’s a reminder that success doesn’t happen overnight. Building a business is a test of willpower. Nike almost died time and time again, but Knight found ways to keep it alive for years before it took off. An inspiration as we build Loup Ventures.
Vlad Tenev (Co-founder / Robinhood Financial): Nike is one of the largest companies and most recognizable brands in the world, and it took almost 10 years to release its first shoe. Phil Knight shows that the path to building a global behemoth is not straight and narrow, and he delivers a raw portrayal of how his team of misfits bumbled along and nearly failed year after year before figuring out how to run a company.
Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction, by Derek Thompson
Blockchain revolution : how the technology behind bitcoin is changing money, business, and the world. By Don Tapscott, Alex Tapscott. 2016.
Hedge Funds: An Analytic Perspective (Advances in Financial Engineering). By Andrew W. Lo. 2010.
Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins. By Garry Kasparov.
Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life Hardcover . By Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
The Woman Who Smashed Codes, by Jason Fagone
Eric Ries (CEO and founder / Long-Term Stock Exchange): This is the story of a true Wonder Woman, who until this point had been erased from history. Elizebeth Friedman achieved the impossible, catching gangsters and cracking code by hand to hunt Nazi spies during World War II alongside her husband (and future NSA founder), William Friedman. She invented modern cryptology and is instrumental to all mathematical and computing accomplishments today.
Attitude: Develop a Winning Mindset on and off the Court, by Jay Wright
Tom Naratil (President, Wealth Management Americas / UBS Group): The book’s lessons on leadership and teamwork apply to sports, business, and one’s personal life. Set against the backdrop of the Villanova Wildcats’ memorable 2016 national championship run, Attitude explores many of the dynamics necessary to build a winning team: clearly established core values, selflessness, and (above all else) a positive, team-first attitude. Citing examples of both his successes and his failures, Coach Wright illustrates invaluable strategies that are vital to any organization’s success.
The Euro and the Battle of Ideas, by Markus K. Brunnermeier, Harold James, Jean-Pierre Landau
Ewald Nowotny (Governor / Austrian central bank): This book is the best guide to understand and evaluate the new political constellations in France and Germany. Let us hope that the German-language edition, which came out in summer 2017, has some impact on economic and political thinking in Germany!
The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century (The Princeton Economic History of the Western World). By Walter Scheide
Are mass violence and catastrophes the only forces that can seriously decrease economic inequality? To judge by thousands of years of history, the answer is yes. Tracing the global history of inequality from the Stone Age to today, Walter Scheidel shows that inequality never dies peacefully. Inequality declines when carnage and disaster strike and increases when peace and stability return. The Great Leveler is the first book to chart the crucial role of violent shocks in reducing inequality over the full sweep of human history around the world.
The Spider Network: The Wild Story of a Math Genius, a Gang of Backstabbing Bankers, and One of the Greatest Scams in Financial History. By David Enrich
Short-listed for the financial times business book of the year
The Wall Street Journal's award-winning business reporter unveils the bizarre and sinister story of how a math genius named Tom Hayes, a handful of outrageous confederates, and a deeply corrupt banking system ignited one of the greatest financial scandals in history.
In 2006, an oddball group of bankers, traders and brokers from some of the world’s largest financial institutions made a startling realization: Libor—the London interbank offered rate, which determines interest rates on trillions in loans worldwide—was set daily by a small group of easily manipulated functionaries. Tom Hayes, a brilliant but troubled mathematician, became the lynchpin of shadowy team that used hook and crook to take over the process and set rates that made them a fortune, no matter the cost to others. Among the motley crew was a French trader nicknamed “Gollum”; the broker “Abbo,” who liked to publicly strip naked when drinking; a Kazakh chicken farmer turned something short of financial whiz kid; an executive called “Clumpy” because of his patchwork hair loss; and a broker uncreatively nicknamed “Big Nose.” Eventually known as the “Spider Network,” Hayes’s circle generated untold riches —until it all unraveled in spectacularly vicious, backstabbing fashion.
Praised as reading “like a fast-paced John le Carré thriller” (New York Times), “compelling” (Washington Post) and “jaw-dropping” (Financial Times), The Spider Network is not only a rollicking account of the scam, but a provocative examination of a financial system that was warped and shady throughout.
Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change. By Ellen Pao.
Satya Patel (Partner / Homebrew): A truly eye-opening book for anyone who cares about treating others equitably and being conscious of how others experience interacting with their environments. Ellen’s story was already important, but it seems even more so given the numerous cases of harassment that are being revealed to us every day. Reset reminds us all that diversity and inclusion need to be both topics of conversation and reasons for action.
Bellevue. By David Oshinsky
Jed Rakoff (Senior judge / U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York): This fascinating, and at times necessarily morbid, history of New York City’s hospital of last resort describes occasional brilliant breakthroughs set against a daily routine of dedicated, exhausted doctors and nurses seeking to minister to the minds and bodies of the miserable. Oshinsky is first and foremost an historian, so this is not an overtly political work. But it serves to remind us of two painful realities: first, that good health is a basic prerequisite to everyday human happiness; and, second, that we nonetheless treat poor people’s access to good medical care as a matter of economic arrangements or collective charity. When will we recognize it as a matter of simple justice?
Thank You for Being Late. By Thomas Friedman
Brad Smith (CEO / Intuit): This book offers an amazingly insightful look into the profound and accelerated change we’re going through as a society. Friedman shares the three greatest forces shaping today’s environment and how they are combining to reshape the world. It teaches us that the best way to deal with this hurricane-like velocity is to be centered on ethics, community, and culture. It makes you pause and reflect on today’s world, and I’d recommend it to anyone.
Hit Refresh. By Satya Nadella
Jes Staley (CEO / Barclays): Hit Refresh covers a lot of ground: “mixed reality,” quantum computing, and AI; the story of Satya’s journey to lead Microsoft; reflections on his childhood in India and on his own family—wife Anu, son Zain, who was born with cerebral palsy, and their two daughters. Satya brings these strands together with a powerful exploration of the impact of empathy, as well as his take on partnership, leadership, trust, and renewal. Thoughtful and open in the moment, unfailingly honest in retrospect, the book beautifully captures the experience of leading through change and positively maps the challenges of a future transformed by technology.
Supernormal. By Meg Jay
Ron Suber (President emeritus and senior adviser / Prosper Marketplace): She addresses living with and responding to adversity, being resilient, drawing strength from hardship, coping with stress, facing challenges, and moving on in life.
The Inevitable, by Kevin Kelly
Alexa von Tobel (Chief digital officer / Northwestern Mutual): The Inevitable offers the most interesting view into what the world could look like in the next 10 years. Kelly covers 12 areas of technological trends that, he believes, will inevitably transform our world. Not only is this book incredibly well-written, but the depth of Kelly’s thinking is both insightful and compelling.
It’s What I Do, by Lynsey Addario
Melissa Waters (Vice president of marketing / Lyft): Lynsey is a war photographer who captures the strength, resilience, and fragility of the human experience during times of conflict. She grows as a person—a wife, a mother—all the while documenting some of the most intense moments in recent human history. She has an admirable resolve about her chosen profession; it’s a calling, not a job. When I think I’ve had a hard day juggling the trials of modern working parenthood, I think of Lynsey and put it all in perspective.
The Good Daughter, by Karin Slaughter
Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg (Co-founders / the Skimm): We love a good thriller, and Karin Slaughter doesn’t disappoint. This one’s about a school shooting and a family tragedy that comes back to haunt a small town in Georgia. It gave us a Law & Order: SVU fix, in book form.
Capital in the Twenty-First Century, by Thomas Piketty
Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine. By Anne Applebaum.
A meticulously researched analysis proving that the famine in Soviet Ukraine in the 1930s was part of a deliberate campaign by Joseph Stalin and the Bolshevik leadership to crush Ukrainian political aspirations by starving the actual or potential nationalists into submission to the Soviet order.
The Unwomanly Face of War. By Svetlana Alexievich.
Alexievich is one of the most gifted writers of her generation, 2015 Nobel Prize winner. She presents an oral history, first published in 1985 and only now translated into English, as told by women who enlisted in the Soviet army straight from school, learning to kill and lie before they learned to live or give life.
Steve Jobs. By Walter Isaacson.
Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.
At a time when America is seeking ways to sustain its innovative edge, and when societies around the world are trying to build digital-age economies, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology. He built a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering.
Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing off-limits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted.
Driven by demons, Jobs could drive those around him to fury and despair. But his personality and products were interrelated, just as Apple’s hardware and software tended to be, as if part of an integrated system. His tale is instructive and cautionary, filled with lessons about innovation, character, leadership, and values.
Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie, or Die. By Eric Siegel. 2016. https://www.amazon.com/Predictive-Analytics-Power-Predict-Click/dp/1119145678/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1543188247&sr=8-3&keywords=predictive+analytics
Scrum. The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time. By: Jeff Sutherland, JJ Sutherland. 2014. https://www.amazon.com/Scrum-Doing-Twice-Work-Half/dp/038534645X
Barking up the Wrong Tree. The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong. By: Eric Barker. 2017
Influence. Science and Practice, 5th Edition. By: Robert B. Cialdini. 2008
Developing the Leader Within You 2.0. By: John C. Maxwell. 2018. https://www.amazon.com/Developing-Leader-Within-You-2-0/dp/B0786ZNL3D/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543182890&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=Developing+the+Leader+Within+You+2.0.+By%3A+John+C.+Maxwell
Find Your Why. A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team. By: Simon Sinek, David Mead, Peter Docker. 2017 https://www.amazon.com/Find-Your-Why-Practical-Discovering/dp/0143111728/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1543182932&sr=1-1
Total Focus. Making Better Decisions Under Pressure. By: Brandon Webb, John David Mann. 2017. https://www.amazon.com/Total-Focus-Better-Decisions-Pressure/dp/0735214514/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1543182973&sr=1-1
Drive. The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. By: Daniel H. Pink. 2011. https://www.amazon.com/Drive-Surprising-Truth-About-Motivates/dp/1594484805/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1543183003&sr=1-3&keywords=Drive.+The+Surprising+Truth+About+What+Motivates+Us
Python for Everybody: Exploring Data in Python 3. By Charles Severance. 2016. https://www.amazon.com/Python-Everybody-Exploring-Data-ebook/dp/B01IA5VIFM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543188674&sr=8-1&keywords=severance+python
Saving capitalism from the capitalists : unleashing the power of financial markets to create wealth and spread opportunity / Raghuram G. Rajan & Luigi Zingales , 2003
The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist's Guide to Success in Business and Life
by Avinash K. Dixit and Barry J. Nalebuff | Sep 17, 2008
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393062430/ref=ox_sc_act_title_25?smid=A1MF5ECQQ0ATX9&psc=1
Behavioral Economics
Financial Economics
Econometrics
Self-Help/Productivity/Time Management
Political Economics
Biographies, memoires
Development Economics, Poverty
Leadership