The Undercover Economist

• The Revolt of the Public: No book has done a better job of describing the current moment in history • Masters of Doom: Reminded me what it means to care about work and have fun doing it • Team of Rivals: A remarkable work of history and portrait of a man • The Undercover Economist • Fooled by Randomness • The Prize

Up the organization https://www.amazon.co.uk/Up-Organization-Corporation-Stiflin... (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Up-Organization-Corporation-Stifling-Strangling/dp/0787987751) The complete Yes Minister https://www.amazon.co.uk/Yes-Minister-Prime-Complete-Collect... (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Yes-Minister-Prime-Complete-Collection/dp/B000HXDM0U) The undercover economist and it's follow up https://www.amazon.co.uk/Undercover-Economist-Tim-Harford/dp... (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Undercover-Economist-Tim-Harford/dp/0349119856) I would struggle to encapsulate it all except "people and organizations can be vicious and complex but we all innately want them to be simple, fair and if we can find someone believable we can turn around any hideous situation"

Some titles I've recently read or at least have placed on my reading list. -------------------- Philosohpy Letters from a Stoic: Epistulae Morales Ad Lucilium - Seneca Meditations - Marcus Aurelius (must read) The Republic - Plato -------------------- History Five Chimneys - Olga Lengyel The Gulag Archipelago - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (must read) The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank -------------------- Fiction (particularly dystopian) 1984, Brave New World, Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451 (crime/action) Child 44, The Secret Speech, Agent 6 - Tom Rob Smith -------------------- Economics Capital in the Twenty-First Century - Thomas Piketty Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty - Banerjee, Duflo Why Nations Fail - Robinson -------------------- Economics/Decision making/Psychology Undercover Economist, Freakonomics, Nudge, Thinking Fast and Slow -------------------- Random titles The Selfish Gene, Self-Reliance, The Elements of Style (about writing), Slaughterhouse-Five -------------------- Some links to inspire your reading (though you may want to checkout the websites first to get an idea of the topics they cover) http://www.gatesnotes.com/Books…

Other books that I've found helpful are the many socioeconomics books out there: Malcolm Gladwell - Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers Tim Harford - The Undercover Economist Nassim Taleb - The Black Swan I enjoyed the Steve Jobs book too, I liked the fact that he believed in what he was working on (no matter how crazy or disruptive) and saw so much beauty in perfection. There's a lot we can learn from his persistence and attitude towards persevering in the face of failure. And for entertainment, I like profound books: The Alchemist, The Little Prince

I agree, it lays out many economic concepts in easily understandable form for persons new to the subject.

The Undercover Economist is quite a fun read and very accessible to the layperson: http://www.amazon.com/Undercover-Economist-Exposing-Poor-Dec... (http://www.amazon.com/Undercover-Economist-Exposing-Poor-Decent/dp/0195189779)

Tim Harford's http://www.amazon.co.uk/Undercover-Economist-Tim-Harford/dp/... (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Undercover-Economist-Tim-Harford/dp/0349119856/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209888755&sr=1-1)"Undercover Economist and http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logic-Life-Uncovering-Economics-Ever... (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logic-Life-Uncovering-Economics-Everything/dp/0316027561/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209888990&sr=1-1) Logic of Life are both excellent at drawing out serious economic principles from everyday experiences. Philip Coggan's http://www.amazon.co.uk/Money-Machine-Penguin-Business-Libra... (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Money-Machine-Penguin-Business-Library/dp/0141009306/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209888653&sr=8-1) Money Machine is not directly an economics book, but details the movement of money through the global economy (but focused on London, specifically) and is an excellent overview of fiscal policy.

I enjoyed The Undercover Economist. I especially recommend it if you liked Freakonomics.