Recommendations based on The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the Worldby Niall Ferguson

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

    by Jared Diamond
    Tracing the origins of human civilizations through the lens of geography, technology, and biology.

    "Diamond has written a book of remarkable scope ... one of the most important and readable works on the human past published in recent years." Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a national bestseller: ... (Goodreads)

  2. The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

    by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
    A study of the role of randomness in life, and how it can lead to unexpected events.

    A black swan is a highly improbable event with three principal characteristics: It is unpredictable; it carries a massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an explanation that makes it appear ... (Goodreads)

  3. When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management

    by Roger Lowenstein
    The story of the hedge fund that almost brought down the financial system in 1998, and the hubris and greed that led to its downfall.

    With a new Afterword addressing today’s financial crisis A BUSINESS WEEK BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR In this business classic—now with a new Afterword in which the author draws parallels to the recent ... (Goodreads)

  4. Thinking, Fast and Slow

    by Daniel Kahneman
    An exploration of the two systems of the mind, and how they influence decision-making.

    In the highly anticipated Thinking, Fast and Slow , Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and ... (Goodreads)

  5. Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

    by Daron Acemoğlu
    Examination of the economic and political forces that shape the success and failure of nations.

    Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail, answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health ... (Goodreads)

  6. The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail—But Some Don't

    by Nate Silver
    An exploration of the art and science of prediction, examining why some predictions succeed while others fail.

    Nate Silver built an innovative system for predicting baseball performance, predicted the 2008 election within a hair's breadth. He solidified his standing as the nation's foremost political ... (Goodreads)

  7. Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets

    by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
    A critical examination of the impact of randomness/chance in life and financial markets.

    Fooled by Randomness, is a standalone book in Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s landmark Incerto series, an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human error, risk, and decision-making in a ... (Goodreads)

  8. Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

    by Dan Ariely
    An exploration of why humans make irrational decisions, and how to overcome them.

    Why do our headaches persist after taking a one-cent aspirin but disappear when we take a 50-cent aspirin? Why does recalling the Ten Commandments reduce our tendency to lie, even when we couldn't ... (Goodreads)

  9. Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

    by Edwin Lefèvre
    A classic financial story, recounting the life and trading success of a Wall Street stock market master.

    The book can be divided into three parts: , In his 2008 book,, The Age of Turbulence, , Alan Greenspan called the book "a font of investing wisdom" and noted that quotes from the book such as "bulls ... (Wikipedia)

  10. Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System from Crisis — and Themselves

    by Andrew Ross Sorkin
    An examination of the 2008 financial crisis, how it was caused, and how it was dealt with.

    The book provides an overview of the financial crisis of 2007–08 from the beginning of 2008 to the decision to create the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The book tells the story from the ... (Wikipedia)

  11. Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk

    by Peter L. Bernstein
    A history of risk, uncovering the science and mathematics behind decision making.

    With the stock market breaking records almost daily, leaving longtime market analysts shaking their heads and revising their forecasts, a study of the concept of risk seems quite timely. Peter ... (Goodreads)

  12. Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World

    by Liaquat Ahamed
    An exploration of the economic decisions of four central bankers that changed the course of history.

    The book discusses the personal histories of the four heads of the Central Banks of the United States, Great Britain, France, and Germany, and their efforts to steer the world economy from the period ... (Wikipedia)

  13. Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction

    by Philip E. Tetlock
    An exploration of the science behind prediction and its potential to improve decision making.

    Everyone would benefit from seeing further into the future, whether buying stocks, crafting policy, launching a new product, or simply planning the week’s meals. Unfortunately, people tend to be ... (Goodreads)

  14. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

    by Michael Lewis
    How an unconventional approach to baseball changed the competitive landscape.

    Billy Beane, general manager of MLB's Oakland A's and protagonist of Michael Lewis's Moneyball , had a problem: how to win in the Major Leagues with a budget that's smaller than that of nearly every ... (Goodreads)

  15. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

    by Doris Kearns Goodwin
    A comprehensive study of the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, and the unique cabinet he assembled.

    Winner of the Lincoln Prize Acclaimed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin illuminates Lincoln's political genius in this highly original work, as the one-term congressman and prairie lawyer rises from ... (Goodreads)

  16. The Intelligent Investor

    by Benjamin Graham
    An in-depth guide to investing, providing strategies to become a successful investor.

    More than one million hardcovers sold Now available for the first time in paperback! The Classic Text Annotated to Update Graham's Timeless Wisdom for Today's Market Conditions The greatest ... (Goodreads)

  17. Liar's Poker

    by Michael Lewis
    A Wall Street insider's look at the culture of high finance and the dynamics of the markets.

    The time was the 1980s. The place was Wall Street. The game was called Liar’s Poker. Michael Lewis was fresh out of Princeton and the London School of Economics when he landed a job at Salomon ... (Goodreads)

  18. The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century

    by Thomas L. Friedman
    An exploration of the rapid globalization of the world, and the implications of this shift.

    When scholars write the history of the world twenty years from now, and they come to the chapter Y2K to March 2004 , what will they say was the most crucial development? The attacks on the World ... (Goodreads)

  19. A Little History of the World

    by E.H. Gombrich
    A concise and engaging history of the world, from prehistoric times to the present day, written for young readers but enjoyable for all ages.

    In 1935, with a doctorate in art history and no prospect of a job, the 26-year-old Ernst Gombrich was invited by a publishing acquaintance to attempt a history of the world for younger readers. ... (Goodreads)

  20. Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time

    by Dava Sobel
    Story of a man's determination to solve the complex problem of determining longitude at sea.

    Anyone alive in the eighteenth century would have known that "the longitude problem" was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day—and had been for centuries. Lacking the ability to measure their ... (Goodreads)

  21. The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon

    by Brad Stone
    The story of Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos, from its humble beginnings to becoming one of the world's largest companies.

    The definitive story of Amazon.com, one of the most successful companies in the world, and of its driven, brilliant founder, Jeff Bezos. Amazon.com started off delivering books through the mail. But ... (Goodreads)

  22. Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics

    by Tim Marshall
    Geopolitical exploration of global events and the impact of geography on politics.

    In the bestselling tradition of Why Nations Fail and The Revenge of Geography , an award-winning journalist uses ten maps of crucial regions to explain the geo-political strategies of the world ... (Goodreads)

  23. A Short History of Nearly Everything

    by Bill Bryson
    A captivating overview of the natural sciences, spanning the history of the universe.

    In Bryson's biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand—and, if possible, answer—the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory ... (Goodreads)

  24. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

    by Thomas S. Kuhn
    An analysis of how scientific progress is made, and the role of paradigms and paradigmatic shifts.

    A good book may have the power to change the way we see the world, but a great book actually becomes part of our daily consciousness, pervading our thinking to the point that we take it for granted, ... (Goodreads)

  25. Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco

    by Bryan Burrough
    The story of the highly competitive bidding war for RJR Nabisco, one of the biggest corporate takeovers in history.

    A #1 New York Times bestseller and arguably the best business narrative ever written, Barbarians at the Gate is the classic account of the fall of RJR Nabisco. An enduring masterpiece of ... (Goodreads)

  26. The Road to Serfdom

    by Friedrich A. Hayek
    Warning against the dangers of collectivism and the power of bureaucracy.

    A classic work in political philosophy, intellectual and cultural history, and economics, The Road to Serfdom has inspired and infuriated politicians, scholars, and general readers for half a ... (Goodreads)

  27. Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World

    by Michael Lewis
    A journey through the economic crisis in Europe and the United States, and its global implications.

    The tsunami of cheap credit that rolled across the planet between 2002 and 2008 was more than a simple financial phenomenon: it was temptation, offering entire societies the chance to reveal aspects ... (Goodreads)

  28. Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

    by Peter Thiel
    A guide to launching a startup, exploring the power of entrepreneurship.

    If you want to build a better future, you must believe in secrets. The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, ... (Goodreads)

  29. Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow

    by Yuval Noah Harari
    An exploration of humanity's future, and the potential paths of our species.

    Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed, New York Times, bestseller and international phenomenon, Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning ... (Goodreads)

  30. Business Adventures

    by John Brooks
    Classic stories of the inner workings of some of America's most influential companies.

    This business classic written by longtime New Yorker contributor John Brooks is an insightful and engaging look into corporate and financial life in America. What do the $350 million Ford Motor ... (Goodreads)