Book List
Here are some books and papers I have read over the past several years. Click on the title if you would like to learn more about the book or order from Amazon.
Here are some books and papers I have read over the past several years. Click on the title if you would like to learn more about the book or order from Amazon.
Economics/Finance
A Random Walk Down Wall Street (Burton Malkiel)
Efficient market theory
Confessions of an Economic Hitman (John Perkins)
A behind-the-scenes look at development aid
The Creature from Jekyll Island (G. Edward Griffin)
A fascinating look at the secret history of the Federal Reserve
The Prize (Daniel Yergin)
A riveting history of the oil industry
When Genius Failed (Roger Lowenstein)
The story behind the collapse of Long Term Capital Management
Globalization and its Discontents (Joseph Stiglitz)
A thorough analysis of globalization's winners and losers
The Age of Turbulence (Alan Greenspan)
Alan Greespan tells his life story, before and during his time as Fed Chairman
In Spite of the Gods - The Rise of Modern India (Edward Luce)
The history of India's rise to the world economic stage
In Fed We Trust (David Wessel)
How the Fed stepped in to save the economy from collapse during the financial crisis of 2007-2009
Predictably Irrational (Dan Ariely)
Why we make the decisions that we do
This Time is Different (Carmen Reinhart, Ken Rogoff)
An 800 year history of financial crises
The Ascent of Money (Niall Ferguson)
A financial history of the world
The New Empire of Debt (William Bonner)
A look into the horrible fiscal shape America finds itself in
The World Bank and the Gods of Lending (Steve Berkman)
An insider's look into the rampant fraud and deception at the World Bank
Lords of Finance (Liaquat Ahamed)
The fascinating history of the actions of the central banks during the 1920s and 1930s and the men behind them
Three Billion New Capitalists (Clyde Prestowitz)
The forces behind three billion new people moving up from subsistence to consumers as the East rises
Small is Beautiful (E.F. Schumacher)
An agrument for the return to simpler living
Models Behaving Badly (Emanuel Derman)
Why models often fail in their predictions
Behavioral Economics for Dummies (Morris Altman)
An introduction to behavioral economics
Red Ink (David Wessel)
A crash course on the federal budget and why we are in such a mess
The Reckoning (Michael Moran)
The challenges facing America in the coming decades
Introductory Econometrics for Finance (Chris Brooks)
An introduction to econometrics for use in financial research, including how to construct, test and use models in Eviews
The Post-American World (Fareed Zakaria)
Taking a look into the future of a multipolar world as the rest of the world catches up to America
Taking a look into the future of a multipolar world as the rest of the world catches up to America
The Signal and the Noise (Nate Silver)
A very interesting book about predictions and probability theory, covers many different topics through the same lens
A very interesting book about predictions and probability theory, covers many different topics through the same lens
Big Data (Viktor Mayer-Schonberger)
A very interesting book about the big data revolution and its impacts on business, consumers and society, both the good and the bad
A very interesting book about the big data revolution and its impacts on business, consumers and society, both the good and the bad
Poverty / Social Change
Leaving Microsoft to Change the World (John Wood)
The story of a man who left a great job to bring books to the poor
The Mystery of Capital (Hernando De Soto)
The role of private property rights in the success or failure of capitalism
Banker to the Poor (Muhammad Yunus)
The man who started it all, the father of microfinance, tells his story!
Creating a World Without Poverty (Muhammad Yunus)
How social businesses can help change the world and reduce poverty
The End of Poverty (Jeffrey Sachs)
Advocating for increased official development assistance and other solutions to break the cycle of poverty
The Economics of Microfinance (Beatriz Armendariz, Jonathan Morduch)
An incredibly detailed and technical look at the economic and psychological theories behind microfinance
Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid (C.K. Prahalad)
How businesses can succeed while serving the vast market of the extremely poor
The Miracles of Barefoot Capitalism (Jim Klobuchar, Susan Cornell Wilkes)
Personal stories of how microcredit has changed lives
The Blue Sweater (Jacqueline Novogratz)
Gripping account from the founder of the Acumen Fund on her experience with microcredit in Africa
Dead Aid (Dambisa Moyo)
How foreign aid can actually be a detriment to poor and developing countries
Three Cups of Tea (Greg Mortenson)
An inspiring story of promoting peace through building schools in Pakistan
Enough (Roger Thurow)
Why people are starving even though there is more than enough food to feed the whole planet
The Challenge for Africa (Wangari Maathai)
Great book on the causes of poverty and solutions to improve the lot of Africans
Unpoverty (Mark Lutz)
Tear-jerking account of how the poor truly live and what can be done to remedy the situation
A Fistful of Rice (Vikram Akula)
The leader of one of the world's largest microfinance institutions tells his story of ending poverty while being very profitable
Confessions of a Microfinance Heretic (Hugh Sinclair)
A revealing behind-the-scenes look at life in the microfinance field
Poor Economics (Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo)
An incredible book about what truly causes people to be poor and what can be done to reduce poverty
Religion
The World's Religions (Huston Smith)
A brief overview of the world's major religions
Money, Possessions and Eternity (Randy Alcorn)
How money is far too overvalued and we should all be preparing for the afterlife
The Purpose Driven Life (Rick Warren)
Finding your calling through service to God
History
The Fall of Rome (Bryan-Ward Perkins)
Archaeological evidence of a less-than-peaceful end to the Roman Empire
Guns, Germs and Steel (Jared Diamond)
An incredible book about why some nations are better off than others, going back thousands of years. This is one of the best books I have ever read!
A History of the American People (Paul Johnson)
An almost stream-of-conscious narrative of America, something new you have never learned on nearly every page
Africa - A Biography of the Continent (John Reader)
An account of the history of Africa starting at the very beginning of life on earth
The Great Migrations (John Haywood)
A pictorial/narrative of some of the greatest migrations in human history
Arabs and Israel for Beginners (Ron David)
A rare look at the conflict going back thousands of years...excellent history!
The Presidents (Neil Hamilton, Ian Friedman)
A brief overview of every American president...fascinating!
The Fate of Africa (Martin Meredith)
An unbelievable history of what has happened in Africa since independence, including hard to believe accounts of government corruption, fraud and violence
An unbelievable history of what has happened in Africa since independence, including hard to believe accounts of government corruption, fraud and violence
Other
The Tipping Point (Malcolm Gladwell)
Interesting book about what causes certain ideas or movements or products to go from unknown to viral, how a message grows from a flame into an inferno
The Truth About Obamacare (Sally Pipes)
A harrowing look at the truth about what's in the Affordable Care Act...it is not pretty
Left To Tell (Immaculee Ilibagiza)
A riveting, heart-pounding story about one woman's razor-thin survival from the Rwandan genocide
Happy (Ian Smith)
A great book about how you can increase your happiness in life, with practical steps to take
Don't Sweat the Small Stuff (Richard Carlson)
Great little book about letting the little things in life go and not bother you so much