Even though I've barely made a dent in the pile, let me share a bit about each book so you'll know why I want to read them and whether you might, too.
In alphabetical order:
Richard Behar, Madoff: The Final Word Rich Behar is an old colleague of mine and one of the most dogged reporters I've ever met. He spent years exchanging emails, letters and phone calls with the late Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, along with three long interviews in prison. I've only dipped in a toe so far, but if you want a deep dive into an epic fraud, jump in.
Max Bennett, A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains
At a memorial for the great psychologist Daniel Kahneman earlier this year, attendees were buzzing about this book. It's beautifully written and full of startlingly original and creative insights -- but, shame on me, because I want to savor it by reading when I have no interruptions, I'm still on Chapter 1 😬.
Alex Edmans, May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics, and Studies Exploit Our Biases -- and What We Can Do About It
Edmans, a finance professor at London Business School, has written a practical handbook for analyzing and interpreting data in a world full of misinformation. Entertaining, thorough and full of current examples, it's a great companion to one of my favorite older books, Darrell Huff's How to Lie with Statistics. I'm about halfway through 😳, and it's excellent.
Jaime Lester, Pause to Think: Using Mental Models to Learn and Decide
The venture capitalist Josh Wolfe says this "might be the most useful book I've ever read." This short book by a veteran hedge-fund manager is about principles and frameworks that can help you clarify your thinking and improve your decisions. I haven't read it, but it looks good.
Michael Morris, Tribal: How the Cultural Instincts That Divide Us Can Help Bring Us Together
Wouldn't you like to judge ideas by their merit instead of by who else happens to believe them? Morris, a leading social psychologist, offers evidence that we can bridge the us-versus-them thinking that poisons our politics and muddies our minds. I've only read a little, but I'm excited to learn more.
Arnaud Orain, The Politics of Utopia: A New History of John Law's System, 1695-1795
I'm a sucker for any book about the history of financial bubbles, and the Mississippi Bubble of 1719-20 was the granddaddy of them all. This book argues that the first market mania was much bigger than John Law, who is traditionally portrayed as the sole creator and twisted genius behind it. For financial-history fans only.
Shane Parrish, Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results
The founder of the great website Farnam Street contends that improving the quality of your decisions can improve the quality of your life. Most of us, argues Parrish, "live unconsciously rather than deliberately." Only by becoming more mindful about your choices can you realize how often you go astray. I've read the whole thing, and it's excellent.
Saul Perlmutter, John Campbell and Robert MacCoun, Third Millennium Thinking: Creating Sense in a World of Nonsense
This collaboration between a physicist, a philosopher and a psychologist is another book about evaluating evidence, confronting uncertainty and accepting the limits of your own knowledge. I haven't gotten going yet, but it looks great.
Jamil Zaki, Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness
As a card-carrying cynic, I knew I had to read this book. Zaki, a behavioral scientist at Stanford University, argues that cynicism is physiologically bad for you and often an inaccurate view of the world. Other people are better than you think! What I've read so far is making me feel better about the world.
If you read any of these books, send me a note to tell me what you think.
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