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Book recommendations
(Work in progress; I plan to add a short annotation for each entry in the list.)
Here are some great books (mostly on economics and statistics) that I recommend. All are accessible to laypeople — it suffices to have an inquisitive mind. Most are available in the university library.
- Robert Heilbroner (1953). The Worldly Philosophers. Here’s what The Economist (July 16, 2022, p. 73) writes: “The best book for anyone interested in the history of economic ideas—not least because it is short, conversational and can be read in a few hours. First published in 1953, it covers some of the most consequential early economists, from Adam Smith to Thomas Malthus to Karl Marx, explaining what they thought and why”
- Matt Ridley (2020). How Innovation Works [Add a short annotation]
- David Spiegelhalter (2019). The Art of Statistics: Learning from Data. [Add a short annotation]
- Tim Harford (2018). Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy. The accompanying podcast (link) is available in your favorite podcast app.
- Tim Harford (2011). The Undercover Economist. (Here are Tim Harford’s Ten best books for thinking clearly about statistics.)
- Steven Landsburg (2012). The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life. Revised and Updated for the 21st Century. How economic reasoning enlightens.
- Avinash K. Dixit and Barry J. Nalebuff (1991). Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life. Game theory explained without math. Game theory applied to real-world problems.
- Robert H. Frank (2008). The Economic Naturalist: Why Economics Explains Almost Everything.. [Add a short annotation]
- Deirdre N. McCloskey (2019). Economical Writing: Thirty-Five Rules for Clear and Persuasive Prose. University of Chicago Press. Advice for writers in any field (not just economics) by an honorary doctor of the VUB. Also read Greg Mankiw’s very brief blog post on How to Write Well (link)
- Robert Axelrod (1984). The Evolution of Cooperation (or the 2006 Revised Edition). (amazon link). Listen to Steven Levitt in a conversation with Robert Axelrod about the book here.
- Daniel Kahneman (2012). Thinking, Fast and Slow. Nobel laureate’s best-selling popular science book about rational thinking (slow) and using rules of thumb (fast) (amazon link).
- Thomas J. Sargent (2007). University of California at Berkeley graduation speech. Not a book but a list of twelve valuable things that economics teaches (335 words) by a Nobel laureate (link).
- Leonard E. Read (1958). I, Pencil: My Family Tree as Told to Leonard E. Read. Markets co-ordinate activities. No central planner needed. (link).
- Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (200x). Freakonomics. Off-the-beaten-track topics tackled using the tools of empirical microeconomics. Spawned two of my favorite podcasts: Freakonomics Radio and People I (Mostly) Admire (available in your favorite podcast app).
- Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, and Anna Rosling Rönnlund. Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World — and Why Things Are Better Than You Think. Facts (such as data) help understand the world. You can explore such data on the Gapminder web site (link). Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund are honorary doctors of the VUB.
- Milton Friedman and Rose Friedman (xxxx). Free To Choose: A Personal Statement. More about how markets co-ordinate activities by University of Chicago Nobel laureate.
- Gary Becker (1998). The Economics of Life: From Baseball to Affirmative Action to Immigration, How Real-World Issues Affect Our Everyday Life. University of Chicago Nobel laureate.
- N. Gregory Mankiw (any edition). Principles of Economics. Excellent introductory economics text, written in a clear and accessible language. This U.S. edition is much better than the localized European edition (Mankiw and Taylor, Economics). You can buy a hard copy here.
- Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok (any edition). Modern Principles of Economics. Another excellent introductory economics text. Accompanying videos are available for free on the Marginal Revolution University site (link).
- Matthes, E. (2019). Python Crash Course: A Hands-On, Project-Based Introduction to Programming. No Starch Press, San Francisco, 2nd edition. Everything the title promises (link).