Many bloggers have long lists of recommended reading, or music, or something else.
You may have noticed a single lonely book recommendation over on my right rail.
It's not that I don't read a lot of books (I do), it's just that it's the rare one that I'd recommend to people in this industry as "hey, this is worth your time".
And I've just added another one.
Always Good Books Out There
As you know, there's always a bevy of pop business books to go read, e.g. "Blink", "The Tipping Point", "The World Is Flat", "Wikinomics" et. al.
All good books, but I guess you've probably encountered them already.
And, unfortunately, each of them usually has a single main idea that they elaborate on for a while. I rarely make it to the end, suffering attention deficit disorder somewhere in the middle.
I really like books that make me look at an old problem differently, and give me a rich, explanative framework for tying together lots of interesting stuff.
Well, folks, "The Undercover Economist" did it for me.
Why I Like Economics
I did an economics degree along with my CS degree back in school. I always thought it interesting trying to figure out who gets what in life, and why.
Explaining the difference between M1 and M2 money supplies, well, not so interesting, but I was always intrigued with the ability of economics to explain much of what we see around us.
And, of course, who isn't interested in money at some level?
Why I Like This Book
Economics, like any other field, has progressed since the twenty-plus years I've been in school.
I found this book to be a quick, approachable refresher in modern economic thinking for the layperson.
While the ideas are powerful, they're approachable, couched in everyday experiences we all share, and can immediately be put to use in a variety of contexts.
Tim Hartford can quickly explain why the dot com bust happened in a way that's starkly logical in retrospect. Or why competitive markets (like storage) means that no vendor can overcharge.
Or why the notion of "asymmetric information" really drives relationships between vendors and customers. And why you'll usually pay more than you'd like for your next cup of Starbuck's coffee.
Sure, there are a few technical concepts here, and a few data sets to go look at, but nothing too dense. And it's all entertaining and often humorous.
The book makes reference to "Freakonomics", which was an entertaining read, but not too useful in the real world. This book goes further by being both entertaining and useful on a number of levels.
And, once you read it, you'll realize why half the blather you read about our industry really doesn't make logical sense through the lens of modern economics.
Hope you find it as interesting and useful as I did!
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