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Summer Reads


sonicskat

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Hi Everyone,

First off, good luck to all of those taking there prelims/core exams over the course of the summer. Mine are next week, and I am nervous and anxious all at once.

 

Anyways, with summer nearing, I was curious if anybody knew of any good economics related books. Here's a couple that I've read over the past:

  • Knowledge and the wealth of nations-- Well written story behind endogenous growth theory. Written by a journalist, the writing keep you into the material, while the author's deep knowledge of economic theory provided a nice level of expertise
  • Making an economist, Redux-- Good book for those thinking about econ grad school. Consists of interviews and surveys from top grad programs. Provides some interesting information about the attitudes of top students and departments
  • Inside the Economist's Mind-- Book of collected interviews with reknowned, older, economists. Includes interviews with Leontif, Sargent, Cass, and many others. Is ok for a quick does of inspiratoin, but I was rather disappointed by how much insight there is on how they preform their research. You can probably look most of the interviews up from the journals they were pulled from.

Feel free to drop any good reads you guys have found, I would enjoy finding some good books to read over the summer.

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I have had the time to read some good books this summer. Some of them are probably not as intimately tied to economics as the books that you mention but nevertheless ought to be of interest to would-be economists:

 

1) The Road to Serfdom: Fredrich Von Hayek - a book on political economy and how socialism and totalitarianism share inherently similar characteristics

 

2) Guns, Germs & Steel: Jared Diamond- All time classic; truly expansive in scope; tries to explain why some civilizations ended up succeeding and colonizing over the others; explains the curious interplay of luck and geography in shaping the evolution of the human civilizations.

 

3) The Mystery of Capital: Hernando de Soto: A book emphasizing the importance of property rights and attempting to explain why the poverty of the masses in the Third World can be directly linked to the lack of property rights and associated institutions.

 

4) (Most recent read) The Elusive Quest for Growth: Bill Easterly- Attempts of a World Bank economist trying to explain why the several solutions that have been attempted by donor governments, the World Bank and IMF to reduce poverty in the Third World has failed so miserably. Has a great theme that keeps coming up again and again (and which I am sure readers of this forum will agree with) "Incentives matter; the rest is commentary."

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I would recommend that you read Acemoglu with a grain of salt. It is an impressive book. However, unless you are well read in political economy, you will not understand how little that book has to do with reality and how much it borrows from other people's work. In many ways, its a formalization of Marx in game theoretic language.
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I second The Making of an Economist, Redux, and The Road to Serfdom. I would also recommend Krugman's The Accidental Theorist, from back when he was at least making a pretense at writing economics instead of writing politics. Then, obviously Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom. Naked Economics is a good book to give people if you want them to have some idea what your life is about. My reading plan for the summer, however, contains no economics:

 

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

Jacques Ellul - The Meaning of the City

Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov

William Faulkner - Absalom, Absalom!

Richard Wright - Native Son

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It's not really an economics book, but it sure is interesting.

 

How I Became A Quant - Emmanuel Derman

 

Along the same lines I would recommend the biography of Fisher Black. I haven't read but it seems to be quite interesting. There's also Market Wizards, a collection of interviews with top traders.

 

And on the side, I really recommend Bukowski, Ham on Rye.

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For people interested in real world economic development, this is an excellent book:

 

The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time - by Jeffrey D. Sachs

 

From my own experience, and having a few fruitful conversations with faculty, I would recommend Stiglitz and Easterly over Sachs for the "best-seller development" genre.

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From my own experience, and having a few fruitful conversations with faculty, I would recommend Stiglitz and Easterly over Sachs for the "best-seller development" genre.

 

Or Collier's 'The Bottom Billion'. Short, interesting, lucidly written and, in my opinion, more balanced than Easterly or Sachs - it was the most enjoyable economics book I read last year. I haven't read any of Stiglitz's books.

 

I shall be reading a lot of fiction while I have the time.

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Which book are you referring to?

 

This or this

 

I read the second one and it was great. It really is a wounderful book and quite relevant for people about to start a PhD because Derman begins his story talking about his days as an international physics grad student in Columbia. The first part of the book is a warning about how dangerous academics can be to your ego. Realizing our own limitations can be a devastating blow.

 

So be prepared ;)

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I'm rereading all the Harry Potter books. I do it every summer.

 

I'm also reading Godel, Escher, Bach, and Walter Isaacson's biography of Einstein. Both are very good, though there are parts in GEB that I have to read a couple of times before I understand completely...:)

 

If you're looking for a laugh, definitely check out America (The Book), and Apathy and Other Small Victories. The latter is without question the funniest book I have ever read.

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I'm rereading all the Harry Potter books. I do it every summer.

 

I'm also reading Godel, Escher, Bach, and Walter Isaacson's biography of Einstein. Both are very good, though there are parts in GEB that I have to read a couple of times before I understand completely...:)

 

If you're looking for a laugh, definitely check out America (The Book), and Apathy and Other Small Victories. The latter is without question the funniest book I have ever read.

 

Michio Kaku's "Beyond Einstein" is a great book on the subject.

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I'm reading the inspirational "Rocket Boys" by Homer Hickam. After that I'll turn to Barack Obama's "The Audacity of Hope." I still haven't ready Harry Potter 7, so I guess that's on tap at some point. I just passed my comps, so that means no economics for me till September!
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