Students sometimes ask me what I think are insightful podcasts or thought-provoking blogs. My answer is almost always the same: those can be good, but consider reading books. With that in mind, I’ve put together a list of books that have influenced me and how I think about the world. The following books are engaging, well-written, and accessible, while steering clear of academic texts (apologies to my academic colleagues; I’ll compile a separate list of my favorite academic books at a future date). Naturally, given my areas of expertise, this list leans toward international politics, political economy, and national security. Apologies for not including amazon links, but consider going to your local bookstore and buying there.
Ten Books to Better Understand The World
(in no particular order)
- The Oligarchs, by David Hoffman
- A deep dive into the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the “ready, fire, aim” emergence of capitalism in Russia. Also worth reading alongside When Genius Failed by Roger Lowenstein.
- The Anarchy, by William Dalrymple
- The history of the joint stock company that reshaped the world.
- Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman
- Although some of us may aspire to be rational expected utility maximizers, we are not. Also worth also reading The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis or some of Richard Thaler’s books.
- Bureaucracy, by James Q. Wilson
- It’s better than it sounds. Somewhat academic, but great for anyone, especially if you are going into government.
- Lords of Finance, by Liaquat Ahamed
- An outstanding discussion of the interplay between politics and economic policy. Not the easiest read: don’t feel bad it you need to google some macroeconomic concepts along the way (I did when I read this in college). Also worth also reading Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin.
- The Looming Tower, by Lawrence Wright
- Bureaucracies matter, especially for counterterrorism. Great for anyone going into national security. Also worth also reading Ghost Wars by Steve Coll.
- The Prize, by Daniel Yergin
- A history of oil. Followed by several other books by Yergin, including The New Map which is pretty good.
- The Dead Hand, by David Hoffman
- A chilling window into weapons of mass destruction, politics, and how they interact. Also worth reading Command and Control by Eric Schlosser.
- The Hot Zone, by Richard Preston
- Not for germaphobes. Also worth also reading Nuclear War: a Scenario by Annie Jacobson.
- Lawrence in Arabia, by Scott Anderson
- Less about the myth, more about the history.
- Lastly, I wish I had an entry here that ties into modern examples of the political economy of development, but I only know of academic books/books by academics who really cover this. That said, two books that remain interesting reads on this topic are Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson (two Nobel prize winners) and Seeds of Stability by Ethan Kapstein.
What did I miss? petervschram[at]gmail.com