Here’s what I’ve been reading for the past three months:
- The Art of Worldly Wisdom — Baltsar Gracian was a Spanish priest and philospher in the early 1600s who understood human nature better than most. His Worldy Wisdom offers 300 maxims on fame, fortune, luck, reputation, wisdom, and more. It can be read in bite-sized pieces. (Notes)
- The Lords of Creation — Tells the history of business and finance from the late 1800s to the depths of the Great Depression. You get stories like the creation of U.S. Steel, the fight over the Union Pacific, and the attempt to corner United Copper. It’s a history of power, greed, concentrated wealth, willful irresponsibility, and financial crises. Notes to come.
- The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge – The book contains Abraham Flexner’s timeless essay of the same name and an introduction to the piece. Flexner warns of attempts to control and mold science rather than going wherever curiosity leads. Many discoveries and inventions are the byproduct of what Flexner called “useless knowledge” gained from chasing curiosity. It’s a timely piece. Flexner’s essay can also be found via Google.
- Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences — A fun little book for anyone who likes numbers, or is curious about stories with numbers, and why we are horrible at comprehending big numbers, small numbers, fractions, probabilities, and more. The consequences: we misjudge risk, believe claims easily refuted, and just make poor decisions. It’s similar to Darrell Huffs, How to Lie with Statistics. Notes to come.
Need some other spring reading ideas? Try these book lists:
- Your Winter Reading List for Exploring Parks and U.S. History – A list of books about people and events that impacted U.S. history and national parks.
- Popular Econ Books: What to Read, What Not to Read – The list covers a range of topics from modern economics, history, behavioral, and more, along with a few books to avoid.
Related Reading: