Favorite Nonfiction – Current list (Rated 1-10)

Behave: The Biology of Humans at  Our Best and Worst. Robert M Sapolsky. 2017. Although 7 years old, this book will transform the thinking of scientifically minded economists and others about the biology of  decisionmaking. I loved it on Audiobook and listened to all 26 hours twice! From Amazon: “The result is one of the most dazzling tours d’horizon of the science of human behavior ever attempted, a majestic synthesis that harvests cutting-edge research across a range of disciplines to provide a subtle and nuanced perspective on why we ultimately do the things we do…for good and for ill. Sapolsky builds on this understanding to wrestle with some of our deepest and thorniest questions relating to tribalism and xenophobia, hierarchy and competition, morality and free will, and war and peace.” (12/10 rating= tied for highest ever)

Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them. Joshua Greene. 2013. I am listening to this Behave, which provides further depth on the neuroscience. “A grand synthesis of neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy, Moral Tribes reveals the underlying causes of modern conflict and lights the way forward. Our brains were designed for tribal life, for getting along with a select group of others (Us) and for fighting off everyone else (Them). But modern times have forced the world’s tribes into a shared space, resulting in epic clashes of values along with unprecedented opportunities.” (9/10)

We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland,  Fintan O’Toole. 2023. This history of modern Ireland, focusing on from 1900 to present, provides an excellent overview of how Ireland became the developed but still eclectic country that it is today. (9/10).

Lessons in Chemistry. Bonnie  Garmus. 2022.  This novel centers around Elizabeth Zott: “a gifted research chemist, absurdly self-assured and immune to social convention” in 1960s California whose career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a beloved TV cooking show. It is also an enlightened story of the systemic sexism still embedded in US beliefs. (10/10)

Misbelief: What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things. Dan Ariely 2023. WOW A must read for everyone, whether you are into behavioral economics, politics, history, or understanding why your relatives and friends believe such crazy things. This short book provides a masterful overview of the psychology literature on why people are so willing to believe in falsehoods and why it is so hard to change. (12/10 = highest rating ever)

How to Fight Racism Jemar  Tisby 2021.  This book is a sequel to The Color of Compromise and discusses carefully various actions individuals and groups can take to reduce racism in the US. Although written by a black theologian, and from a Christian perspective, the ideas in the book are relevant to anyone. Resonated with many of the suggestions which are in line with my own personal efforts to make connections with disadvantaged groups. The book is organized into three sections: Awareness, Relationships, and Commitment. I recommend it very highly to everyone (11/10).

The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism Jemar Tisby, 2019. While other books about racism have studied it from the point of view of history, law, Money, Wealth, Schools and more, this one focuses on the role of US churches. While much of the focus is on evangelical, conservative churches, there is much of relevance to every church. (9/10)

Silent Mercies Dennis Lehane 2023 This novel about the forced bussing in Boston in 1974 does a great job at showing sentiments and challenges about using forced bussing to resolve racial segregation. A mystery, it ends with a sad but somewhat hopeful message. I greatly enjoyed it. 9/10

Why Not Better and Cheaper? Healthcare and Innovation.  James and Robert Rebitzer 2023 (Oxford University Press). This extremely up-to-date and thorough book examines and proposes solutions to the the many challenges with designing more effective and cheaper health care systems, with a strong focus on the US system. 10/10.

RISKY BUSINESS: Why Insurance Markets Fail and what to Do about it. Liran Einav, Amy Finkelstein, Ray Fisman. 2022. This very accessible popular book is full of examples from diverse insurance markets (health, life, long term care, divorce, fire, annuities) about why selection problems cause insurance markets to disappear or work poorly. It is excellent reading for anyone teaching about insurance, chock full of real world stories. Unfortunately there is no discussion of risk adjustment or risk sharing, nor any serious discussion about fairness rather than just efficiency as a motivation for government regulation or coverage standardization to avoid the market failures discussed. 8/10

The Stress Prescription. Elissa Eppel, 2022. A wonderful, brief book about how stress is related to longevity, and what you can do about it by the world’s expert on stress. 9/10

Ultra by Rachel Maddow, 2022. Remarkable history of the efforts of Nazi supported ultra rightists to bring down our government during WWII which has remarkable parallels to our current politics. It is more historical than party politics. 10/10 Must listen to.

Bagman by Rachel Maddow 2021. An amazing history of the corruption of Spiro Agnew, which gets overlooked but is the last time our Federal government actually punished a top executive branch leader for his ill deeds and hence is very relevant to today.

The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story Nikole Hannah-Jones 2021. Extraordinary complete integration of a vast literature on racism and slavery in the US, organized around themes.  Illlistened to an 18 hour recording on Audibles. It is worth all 624 pages in print. NYTimes bestseller. 10/10.

Be Well, a guide to better mental health for all. Jessica Clemens, 2022. Audiobook only. Excellent 5 hour summary of the different major mental illnesses (anxiety, ADHD, depression, PTSD, Bipolar, Schizophrenia, substance abuse…) and their treatments in a very accessible, non-threatening narrative. I learned a lot, such as that OCD is mostly an anxiety disorder, and that it and depression are often curable, while PTSD and SA others are harder to cure but amenable to improvement. Great read for anyone to be better informed. 9/10.

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. Richard Rothstein 2017. WOW. This important, carefully researched review of the many facets of discrimination facing African-Americans in the US recent past covers restrictive housing and zoning, income and wealth taxes, labor law, union policy, law enforcement, income discrimination, property tax assessments, education, and more. 11/10.

Four Hundred Souls. Ibram X Kendi and Keisha N. Blain. 2021. Voices of 90 distinguished African Americans provide glimpses of slavery and African American existence in the US, ordered chronologically by five year increments from 1619-2019. Very powerful. I later listened to and enjoyed the 1619 Project slightly more, but the two are very congruent.  9/10.

Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains. Kerri Arsenault . 2020. This autobiography and history of the small city of Rumford Maine discusses our governments and public blindness to major factory risks of cancer as well as the remarkable discrimination against French-speaking Acadians. 8/10

Our Time is Now. Stacey Abrams. 2020. WOW!  Abrams has generated an amazing insightful and carefully documented book about the many different ways in which democracy and in particular elections are biased against minorities and especially blacks. It is exciting to learn about her methods and successes in doing so much in Georgia and other southern states. Her summary of how authoritarian populism is sweeping the world and endangering the US in Chapter 9 is the best overview I have read. I recommend this book to everyone. 11/10.

The Warmth of Other Suns. Isabel Wilkerson, 2011. Excited by the rich historical detail in Caste written in 2020, I listened twice to Wilkerson’s earlier 2011 tome on the African-Amercan great migration from the south to the north, as captures in rich detail in histories of three families who migrated to New York City, Chicago/Milwaukee, and California. Another masterpiece deserving of a close read. 9/10

The Whiteness of Wealth. Dorothy Brown. 2020. I greatly enjoyed the careful attention to tax and income statistics in this factual yet full of personal insight about the biases of the US tax code written by an MBA in accounting. 8/10.

Bagman: The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover Up and Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen Crook in the White House.  Rachel Maddow and Michael Yarvitz. 2020. This book is all about Spiro Agnew, who not only left in disgrace, but was a horrible person. Read or better yet listen to the podcast (as I did) about this important event. I only wish that we were in such a noble era today, where evil behavior was punished by both parties. 7/10

Fevers, Feuds and Diamonds, Paul Farmer, 2020. I have cherished and admired Paul’s earlier masterpiece “Mountains Beyond Mountains” (2003) which is about post-earthquake health care by Partners in Health in Haiti, but introduces his mission trips. This book is primarily about the Ebola epidemic of 2014, which was centered in the medical desert around Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, but also about the history of slavery in Africa, Europe, and the East Indies, colonialism and imperialism, and the horrible behavior of western countries toward Sierra Leone and other African countries. It ends with a strong criticism of Doctors without Borders, and their slowness to move from containment to care for Ebola victims. Interesting parallels to the COVID-19 pandemic.  8/10.

Caste: The Origins of our Discontents, Isabel Wilkerson, 2020. This brilliant, original, incredibly well-written book examines the similarities between the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany. It is a mind-opening book that everyone should read. Here is an extract from the Book of the Month Club summary:

“Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people—including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball’s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others—she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their out-cast of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics.” 11/10

This is my favorite book of all time on Audibles.com, which I  listened to a second time while commuting. I would be happy to gift it to anyone who sends me an email request, since the first book on Audibles is free.  Just click here. It is also available for a few dollars on Kindle or as an electronic book, or about $15 for a new or used paper copy.

How the South Won the Civil War. Heather Cox Richardson. 2020. This book is best read in light of the other excellent work by Wilkerson and Kendi, with abundant facts about how the Southern politicians were able for form an alliance with the newly created western states in the reconstruction period that continues to this day, built on images of cowboys and freedom over government involvement. I does a better job than some others on racism and caste in its coverage of the suppression of native Americans, Chinese, non-evangelical Christians, and anyone who believes in government supported redistribution as part of the Southern coalition.   (8.5/10)

How To Be An Antiracist. Ibram X. Kendi 2019. (Boston University professor and director of BU Center for Antiracist Research). This extraordinarily well written and researched book should be required reading for anyone trying to understand systemic racism in the US and around the world. I listened to it in the Audiobook version. It is a more powerful critique than the book by Ijeaomo Oluo mentionned below and will make you uncomfortable. . It did an excellent job arguing against some of my own doubts and racist thoughts. I have a copy that I would be willing to lend you if you wish. 10/10

Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know. Malcolm Gladwell. 2019. Just as I have loved Blink, Outliers and The Tipping Point, I really like this book. Gladwell makes his discussion so vivid with lots of concrete examples. I have actually been enjoying the free Audiobook version, which is free to you if you have not yet downloaded the Audible app. The audiobook has recordings from actual police stops and court proceedings that make it incredibly interesting. Along the way you will appreciate differences by race, sex, foreigners, law officials, liars, cheaters, and above all understand people and make better decisions. 10/10

So you want to talk about race. Ijeaoma Oluo. 2018. I was inspired to read this book on systematic racism in the US by Austin Frakt’s Incidental Economist blogs about it. I was delighted with the Audiobook reading of it which was both deep and easy to follow. It will make you feel uncomfortable, particularly if like me you are a white, high-income male of privilege. I feel like I learned a lot, even if it is hard to change even a little. The image of blacks walking around and getting a constant series of “punch in the arms” from systemic racism is something that will stick with me and perhaps help me pause to try to recognize and minimize the many “mini-aggressions” that she documents so well. Low-cost paper copies are here. I rate it 9.5/10

Break Shot, James Taylor. 2019, is only available as an audible book, is an autobiography of his first 21 years of this folk/rock singer’s life, which features stories about his struggle with addictions and depression, six months in McLean psychiatric hospital, the origins and meanings of favorite songs, and how the Beatles and Apple records befriended him to give him the Break Shot of his life, giving him a wonderful opportunity after a childhood of challenges. At only 1:30, it is a quick listen. It is a wonderful audiobook with his singing and his own voice. I rate it 8/10.

Caffeine: How coffee and tea created the modern world. Michael Pollan: 2019. This fascinating overview of the history and uses of coffee and tea is light listening. I learned a lot from it, including that England was once more addicted to coffee than tea, and made the switch to tea because it was less expensive. More importantly, it highlights the role of caffeine in furthering the industrial revolution! Only on audiobook, and only 2 hours long. 7/10

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone. Lori Gottlieb. 2019. I loved this book! It is written by a woman who started out as a scriptwriter for Grey’s Anatomy, who started shadowing an MD in the emergency room to better write script, who went to medical school but then dropped out when she realized she really liked the personal interaction which is rare in our health care system, who then became a psychological therapist. The book blends her own therapy with discussions of many of her clients. I liked the insights about therapy and what it is trying to achieve. It will capture you and is a good one to recommend and discuss at a book group. 8/10

Educated. Tara Westover. 2018. This memoir written by a lifelong Mormon growing up in Idaho under unimaginable living conditions who overcomes it to become a PhD success was voted the Amazon Editors’ #1 Pick for the Best Book of 2018. I need not say anything more. 10/10

Becoming. Michelle Obama. 2018. I am probably the last person among my book reading friends to finally read this book. Fascinating. I really like Michelle and think she is not yet done having a big impact on the US. 8/10

The Moral Economy: Why Good Incentives Are No Substitute for Good Citizens, by Samuel Bowles. 2017. I have not read this book yet but Rachel Kranton’s review in the March 2019 Journal of Economic Literature was excellent, and I am looking forward to reading it. Its main thesis can be summarized as: Since economists know that policies can change beliefs and expectations, and these beliefs can affect outcomes, then when designing or studying policies we should spend more time analyzing the changes in beliefs they may cause, and designing policies to reinforce socially desirable outcomes rather than assuming that only incentives matter. 7/10

Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics. Richard Thaler. 2015. This overview of Behavioral Economics (BE) by Nobel price winner Richard Thaler (U. Chicago) Who also wrote the wonderful book Nudge, is for me the best overview of not only BE, but also documentation of why it has so often been unsuccessful at being widely adopted. The points he makes in chapter 3 The Gauntlet summarizes the critiques of BE and how to rebut them and should be essential reading for anyone trying to do their own research in BE since you will face them whenever you try to present or publish your work. The entire book is devoted to dismissing the gauntlet arguments and gives a tremendously easy-to-read synthesis of the literature. 9/10

The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds Michael Lewis Dec 6, 2016 This remarkable and easy to read book is written as a biography of two Israelis, Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, but along the way covers a long list of their remarkable insights and experiments. I highly recommend it to people who tried to read the original, dense book Thinking, Fast and Slow (see below) by these pioneers of behavioral economics. 9/10

Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work. Chip Heath and Dan Heath, Mar 26, 2013. This is more of a how-to book for business managers and anyone about ways of overcoming biases in how decisions are made, but along the way has a nice overview of the many biases and irrationalities in our thought process. First example: when asked to choose between A and B, don’t. Instead, figure out how to do A+B or something even better. 8/10

After finishing Ten masterpieces you have to read before you die, I am now listening to 12 Masterpieces to Have to Read Read Before You Die. on Audibles. Only 89 hours! I am currently only through Tom Sawyer but the full list is below so that I can comment on them efficiently.

• Father Goriot – Honoré de Balzac. Convoluted because it was written as a series in pieces that don’t fit together especially well. But an interesting historical glimpse of life in 1819 France.  Stilted. All the same social issues as today! 6/10
• The Hound of the Baskervilles – Arthur Conan Doyle. Fun. Remarkable plot twists. 6/10
• The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson 4/10 wierd
• Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson 9/10 I listened to this again since I really like the adventure story and missed parts.
• Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë. Very topical today, but still dated. Fantasy, idealistic ending. 8/10
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain. I liked The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn more. 7/10
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain This was already part of the earlier volume! I did not listen to it again. It features issues of racism much more clearly. 9/10
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll 5/10
• Through the Looking-Glass – Lewis Carroll 5/10
• The Late Mattia Pascal – Luigi Pirandello 3/10 I did not finish listening to it.
• Call of the Wild – Jack London
• Around the World in Eighty Days Jules Verne
  • Based on the movie, I always thought that Phinneas Fogg had traveled for some of this epic journey by balloon. But that story was from a previous book titled Five Weeks in a Balloon by Jules Verne, which the movie combined into one trip! 10/10

American Girl, Wendy Walker (2022) interesting who done it murder mystery by a teenager gives insights into the mind of a teenage girl with autism spectrum disorders. I listened to it on Audibles. 9/10 for its genre.

Consider the Fork, Bee Wilson (2013) “provides a wonderful and witty tour of the evolution of cooking around the world, revealing the hidden history of everyday objects we often take for granted. Knives—perhaps our most important gastronomic tool—predate the discovery of fire, whereas the fork endured centuries of ridicule before gaining widespread acceptance; pots and pans have been around for millennia, while plates are a relatively recent invention.” Even sections on rice cookers and popcorn makers.  8/10 (actually nonfiction, but it is an escape book so I put it in here.)

War and Peace. Leon Tolstoy. I started listening to this on Audibles but gave up on chapter 2. Too many long names to keep track of for commuting reader. 3/10.

Grapes of Wrath. Jon Steinbeck. 1939. This classic story of a white family that left the dustbowl of Oklahoma in the Great Depression and the discrimination and challenges as “Okies”  they faced even in California is also a precursor of the discrimination that minorities still face even today. 8/10

The Things they Carried. Tim Obrien, 2015. I am not yet done with this on Audibles, but I really like it the author claims that much of it is fiction, but others say most of it is true. Either way, it gives you a clear view of life and death in the Vietnam War. 8/10

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. I did not expect to like this as much as I did, which is about a disfunctional family whose father buys a mansion that drives many of the bad outcome in the rest of his life. Set in Pennsylvania and New York City 7/10

I purchased “Ten Masterpieces You Have to Read before you Die” as an Audiobook, which has 102 hours of classic books recorded. I finished all of them. Here they are ranked from favorite to least favorite.

“The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” L Frank Baum. I never realized how much the movie differs from the book. Great fun.
“Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain  – Remarkably clever yarns.
“Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson – thoroughly enjoyed
“The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Lots of fun, but you have to pay attention to every detail, which was hard while commuting.
“Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott – surprisingly interesting as a period piece.
“The Innocence of Father Brown” by G.K.Chesterton – entirely new, and like Sherlock Holmes, with always surprising twists.I had never heard of this series.
“Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austin – I did not get into this as much as some others.
“The Odyssey” by Homer – dry, but I am glad I heard it. Sort of.
“Tales of Two Cities” Charles Dickens (I did not finish because the recording was of poor quality)

Alex Michaelides. The Silent Patient. This bestseller is a psychological thriller about art, psychology, and murder. It is rich in details about love, betrayal, evil, and the ills of psychiatric hospitals. You will be both happy and sad as you listen. I think the book is probably almost as good as the audiobook, although I really liked the voices and emotions of the audiobook. The audio is 8 hours long, but it flies by. I rate it 9/10, leaving me room to have other books above it.

Twilight Trilogy Stephenie Meyer. 2005. (OK, so my daughter was reading them first…)

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. 1997.