Ed Kashmarek - The Everyday Economist
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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.

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

The Signal and the Noise (Nate Silver)
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

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

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
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