Fans pick 100 books like The Origin Of Wealth

By Eric Beinhocker,

Here are 100 books that The Origin Of Wealth fans have personally recommended if you like The Origin Of Wealth. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk

Darius Foroux Author Of The Stoic Path to Wealth: Ancient Wisdom for Enduring Prosperity

From my list on investing for beginner and intermediate investors.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m Darius Foroux (pronounced Dare-eus For-oe), and thanks for exploring my recommendations. As a former mutual funds advisor, I understand the complexity of finance, a lesson driven home when I lost two-thirds of my investment in 2007. Not wanting to repeat my costly mistakes, I earned degrees in business and finance, launched a business, and continuously educated myself on investing. The biggest thing I learned? Investing and wealth-building aren’t logical but emotional. I'm passionate about helping others achieve financial independence and live on their terms. My book empowers you to manage your emotions, build wealth, and enjoy life, regardless of the stock market's ups and downs.

Darius' book list on investing for beginner and intermediate investors

Darius Foroux Why did Darius love this book?

This book taught me a great deal about how managing risk differed between modern and past times. This helped me to spot whether a “prediction” is likely to happen. (In investing, plenty of “experts” often like to predict a crash, a bull market, or a bubble).

Humanity used to rely on oracles and soothsayers to have a clearer vision of what the future would bring. Questions like: What jobs would be in demand in X years? What kind of risks should we prepare for in our lives and careers? Which companies would grow or go bust? With the right mindset and risk management tools, I’ve learned to answer these questions better.

By Peter L. Bernstein,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Against the Gods as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Business Week, New York Times Business, and USA Today Bestseller "Ambitious and readable ...an engaging introduction to the oddsmakers, whom Bernstein regards as true humanists helping to release mankind from the choke holds of superstition and fatalism." -The New York Times "An extraordinarily entertaining and informative book." -The Wall Street Journal "A lively panoramic book ...Against the Gods sets up an ambitious premise and then delivers on it." -Business Week "Deserves to be, and surely will be, widely read." -The Economist "[A] challenging book, one that may change forever the way people think about the world." -Worth "No one…


Book cover of Why Most Things Fail: Evolution, Extinction and Economics

Gerald Ashley Author Of Two Speed World: The impact of explosive and gradual change - its effect on you and everything else

From my list on decisions bloody decisions.

Why am I passionate about this?

With a long background in international banking and finance I am an advisor, writer, and speaker on behavioural risk, disruptive change & decision making. My primary interest is in understanding the decision making and risk taking processes of people and organisations, and how we can make better decisions and take more profitable risks. In addition, much of my research and work concentrates on how to understand emerging trends in business; and how our own biases and behaviours affect the way we either succeed or fail in new environments.

Gerald's book list on decisions bloody decisions

Gerald Ashley Why did Gerald love this book?

A depressing title? No not really.

Ormerod has written an entertaining and informative book on the complexity of systems, organisations, and human behaviour. Using many examples, he shows how even dominant organisations can falter and wither away.

He is particularly interesting about the nature of failure, and whether through small increases in better judgement and decision making, organisations can in fact continue to prosper.

By Paul Ormerod,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Why Most Things Fail as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

With the same originality and astuteness that marked his widely praised Butterfly Economics, Paul Ormerod now examines the “Iron Law of Failure” as it applies to business and government–and explains what can be done about it.

“Failure is all around us,” asserts Ormerod. For every General Electric–still going strong after more than one hundred years–there are dozens of businesses like Central Leather, which was one of the world’s largest companies in 1912 but was liquidated in 1952. Ormerod debunks conventional economic theory–that the world economy ticks along in perfect equilibrium according to the best-laid plans of business and government–and delves…


Book cover of Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences

Martin Sternstein Author Of Barron's AP Statistics

From my list on statistical insights into social issues.

Why am I passionate about this?

I taught for 45 years at Ithaca College broken by two years as Fulbright Professor in West Africa at the University of Liberia. During my years in academia, I developed several new courses including a popular “Math in Africa” class and the first U.S. course for college credit in chess theory. I’ve always had a passion for and continue to have strong interests in (1) national educational and social issues concerning equal access to math education for all and (2) teaching others about the power of mathematics and statistics to help one more deeply understand social issues.

Martin's book list on statistical insights into social issues

Martin Sternstein Why did Martin love this book?

The author shows how our inability to deal rationally with data results in misinformed governmental policies, muddled personal decisions, and a heightened vulnerability to accepting baseless conclusions.

With examples from drug testing and sex discrimination to law and relative risk, and everything in between, the reader is shown how understanding numbers can improve society as a whole as well as better individual lives. I’ve handed out copies of this book to my students, friends, and academic associates.

By John Allen Paulos,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Innumeracy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Why do even well-educated people often understand so little about maths - or take a perverse pride in not being a 'numbers person'?

In his now-classic book Innumeracy, John Allen Paulos answers questions such as: Why is following the stock market exactly like flipping a coin? How big is a trillion? How fast does human hair grow in mph? Can you calculate the chances that a party includes two people who have the same birthday? Paulos shows us that by arming yourself with some simple maths, you don't have to let numbers get the better of you.


Book cover of Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another

Julio Mario Ottino Author Of The Nexus: Augmented Thinking for a Complex World--The New Convergence of Art, Technology, and Science

From my list on the intersection of complexity, art, technology, and science.

Why am I passionate about this?

Art, technology, and science…I have been seamlessly traversing domains all my life. I grew up with twin interests in physical sciences and visual arts, finding beauty in math and art and seeing creativity as being one thing rather than something living in compartments. Art influenced my research in chaos and complexity, and blurring boundaries characterized my work as dean of engineering when creating educational/research initiatives in design, art, entrepreneurship, energy, and sustainability. I also received visible external recognition as a Guggenheim Fellow and member of both the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences, as well as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Julio's book list on the intersection of complexity, art, technology, and science

Julio Mario Ottino Why did Julio love this book?

This book will educate you and show how ideas are connected to each other.

Could there be social science laws? What did social science borrow from physics and math? And, more surprisingly, what physics borrowed from social science when disciplines were just emerging? Complex systems serve as a backdrop for many of the stories. The history of science is far from rectilinear. That’s what makes the story fascinating.

By Philip Ball,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Critical Mass as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Is there a 'physics of society'? Philip Ball's investigation into human nature ranges from Hobbes and Adam Smith to modern work on traffic flow and market trading, across economics, sociology and psychology. Ball shows how much of human behaviour we can understand when we cease trying to predict and analyse the behaviour of individuals and look to the impact of hundreds, thousands or millions of individual human decisions, in circumstances in which human beings both co-operate and conflict, when their aggregate behaviour is constructive and when it is destructive. By perhaps Britain's leading young science writer, this is a deeply…


Book cover of The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an economics professor who believes my profession has important things to contribute to society but has done a poor job. My colleagues spend much of their time writing esoteric articles that 6 other academics will read, and one in a million will actually improve the lives of people. I consider myself a “blue-collar academic”; I am basically a farm kid (still live on a small farm) with a bunch of degrees attempting to bring good economic insights to more people so those ideas can be applied and used by real people living real lives so I am always on the search for others who are doing just that. 

Brian's book list on Economics books that will not bore you like the students in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Brian Baugus Why did Brian love this book?

I believe Landsburg, whom I have met, may be one of the most creative and interesting thinkers in America today.

I love this book because it is his personality on every page: quirky, creative, and entertaining. It asks and answers questions others have never even considered or incorrectly assumed are so obvious as to not be worth the time to explore. I use questions from this book, which is 30+ years old, to stump and pique the curiosity of my students every semester.

By Steven E Landsburg,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Armchair Economist as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The extensively revised and updated edition of Steven Landsburg’s hugely popular book, The Armchair Economist—“a delightful compendium of quotidian examples illustrating important economic and financial theories” (The Journal of Finance).

In this revised and updated edition of Steven Landsburg’s hugely popular book, he applies economic theory to today’s most pressing concerns, answering a diverse range of daring questions, such as:

Why are seat belts deadly?
Why do celebrity endorsements sell products?
Why are failed executives paid so much?
Who should bear the cost of oil spills?
Do government deficits matter?
How is workplace safety bad for workers?
What’s wrong with…


Book cover of Cities and the Wealth of Nations: Principles of Economic Life

Charles L. Marohn Jr. Author Of Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity

From my list on thinking like a Strong Towns advocate.

Why am I passionate about this?

Everyone should be able to live a meaningful life in a place they love, where their day-to-day efforts participating in society result in the community becoming a more prosperous place over time, for themselves, and for those who come next. I founded Strong Towns to help people recognize that they have this opportunity, that they and their neighbors working together have the capacity to make things better, despite everything else going on. Cities are works in progress. It is not our job to finish ours, but we all have a role to play in making it stronger.

Charles' book list on thinking like a Strong Towns advocate

Charles L. Marohn Jr. Why did Charles love this book?

I was introduced to Jane Jacobs as required reading during graduate school. I’m convinced that most urban planners who claim to adore Jacobs have not actually read her, particularly Cities and the Wealth of Nations, which is my favorite. Its thoroughly brutal logic stands in contrast to nearly everything we still do to manage our cities. Jacobs is an insightful genius.

By Jane Jacobs,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Cities and the Wealth of Nations as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this eye-opening work of economic theory, Jane Jacobs argues that it is cities—not nations—that are the drivers of wealth. Challenging centuries of economic orthodoxy, in Cities and the Wealth of Nations the beloved author contends that healthy cities are constantly evolving to replace imported goods with locally-produced alternatives, spurring a cycle of vibrant economic growth. Intelligently argued and drawing on examples from around the world and across the ages, here Jacobs radically changes the way we view our cities—and our entire economy. 


Book cover of What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets

Maurizio Pugno Author Of Well-being and Growth in Advanced Economies: The Need to Prioritise Human Development

From my list on human development in advanced economies.

Why am I passionate about this?

'Human development' indicates an advancement that I would like to find in any kind of progress. Different disciplines define 'human development' in different ways, but my research is to identify the common core in order to link both the individual- with the social dimension, and natural evolution with changes due to personal choices and policies. Through such research, I have been able to take a new perspective on my academic subjects: economic growth and happiness. My belief is that it is possible to make human development, economic growth, and happiness go together. But unfortunately, this is not what is occurring, and understanding why is key.

Maurizio's book list on human development in advanced economies

Maurizio Pugno Why did Maurizio love this book?

This book is one of the most effective attacks against the market tendency to commercialize any good, ending up corroding what is most intrinsically human in social relationships and in people's intimate lives.

The effectiveness of the book lies in the examples, ranging from the sale of kidneys to paying someone to be substituted in the queue.

The most important lesson of the book is that market-driven economic growth has not only transformed the environment to make our lives more comfortable, thus hitting the limit in environmental degradation, but it has also transformed ourselves, because it has made us more consumers and less human.

This silent transformation - the philosopher Sandel teaches us - must be limited.

By Michael J Sandel,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked What Money Can't Buy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In What Money Can't Buy, renowned political philosopher Michael J. Sandel rethinks the role that markets and money should play in our society.

Should we pay children to read books or to get good grades? Should we put a price on human life to decide how much pollution to allow? Is it ethical to pay people to test risky new drugs or to donate their organs? What about hiring mercenaries to fight our wars, outsourcing inmates to for-profit prisons, auctioning admission to elite universities, or selling citizenship to immigrants willing to pay?

In his New York Times bestseller What Money…


Book cover of Prosperity Without Growth: Foundations for the Economy of Tomorrow

Peter A. Victor Author Of Escape from Overshoot: Economics for a Planet in Peril

From my list on how to transition to a post growth society.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have worked all my adult life trying to understand the implications of the insight that the economy depends on the environment for all its materials, energy, and assimilation of all its wastes. What began as academic curiosity developed into concern about the urgency of a transition to a post-growth economy, especially in rich countries. Justice requires that those most responsible for ecological overshoot reduce their demands on nature furthest and fastest so that those least responsible but suffering the worst consequences can also flourish. I hope you find the books I have chosen will help you take informed action to bring about the transition to a post-growth society.

Peter's book list on how to transition to a post growth society

Peter A. Victor Why did Peter love this book?

I loved this book because it helped me expand and deepen my understanding of why and how we should transition to an economy not dependent on economic growth. Tim Jackson is a profound thinker, talented writer, and compassionate human being.

Reading his book led to a friendship and collaboration that I value enormously, and which resulted in our path-breaking work on the transition of rich countries to post-growth. I hope this book will open your eyes as much as it did mine. 

By Tim Jackson,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Prosperity Without Growth as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

What can prosperity possibly mean in a world of environmental and social limits?

The publication of Prosperity without Growth was a landmark in the sustainability debate. Tim Jackson's piercing challenge to conventional economics openly questioned the most highly prized goal of politicians and economists alike: the continued pursuit of exponential economic growth. Its findings provoked controversy, inspired debate and led to a new wave of research building on its arguments and conclusions.

This substantially revised and re-written edition updates those arguments and considerably expands upon them. Jackson demonstrates that building a 'post-growth' economy is a precise, definable and meaningful task.…


Book cover of Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet

Mark A. Maslin Author Of How To Save Our Planet: The Facts

From my list on helping you save our beautiful precious planet.

Why am I passionate about this?

The world around us is an amazing and beautiful place and for me science adds another layer of appreciation. I am a Professor of Earth System Science at University College London - which means I am lucky enough to research climate change in the past, the present, and the future. I study everything from early human evolution in Africa to the future impacts of anthropogenic climate change.  I have published over 190 papers in top science journals. I have written 10 books, over 100 popular articles and I regularly appear on radio and television. My blogs on the 'Conversation' have been read over 5.5 million times and you might want to check them out!

Mark's book list on helping you save our beautiful precious planet

Mark A. Maslin Why did Mark love this book?

Let us be realistic, we all know that our economic system is broken. We cannot go on making stuff and throwing it away on a finite planet.

There are now 8 billion people on Earth all wanting to have a good life. So what is the alternative to economic growth? Well, Tim wonderfully shows us how the economy of tomorrow could protect employment, facilitate social investment, reduce inequality, and deliver both ecological and financial stability.

When this book was first published it was seen as a radical and dangerous text. Now with the rise of environmental and ecological economics it is the fundamental book that kicked off the revolution in the way we see the future.

By Tim Jackson,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Prosperity without Growth as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Is more economic growth the solution? Will it deliver prosperity and well-being for a global population projected to reach nine billion? In this explosive book, Tim Jackson - a top sustainability adviser to the UK government - makes a compelling case against continued economic growth in developed nations.

No one denies that development is essential for poorer nations. But in the advanced economies there is mounting evidence that ever-increasing consumption adds little to human happiness and may even impede it. More urgently, it is now clear that the ecosystems that sustain our economies are collapsing under the impacts of rising…


Book cover of We Should All Be Millionaires: A Woman's Guide to Earning More, Building Wealth, and Gaining Economic Power

Mahlena-Rae Johnson Author Of Speak Anyway: A Public Speaking Guide for Introverted CEOs with Stage Fright

From my list on books for introverted leaders who need to get out of their own way.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a writer. That is the simplest way to condense the comedic, entrepreneurial, megalomaniacal human who appears in this form. And yes, I am an introvert, but one of the few who lacks stage fright. Additionally, I have met four of the five authors on this list. I am hoping the fifth one invites me to speak on her new journey to Unlock Your Big Energy. In conclusion, I 💜choco chip cookies, Murder, She Wrote, and BTS, in that order. Thank you for reading. 🙂

Mahlena-Rae's book list on books for introverted leaders who need to get out of their own way

Mahlena-Rae Johnson Why did Mahlena-Rae love this book?

Isn’t six figures enough? No, it’s not.” - Rachel Rodgers.

Since 2017, I have told anyone who will listen that I want to be a Billionaire Mum. Only $1B to go. I rarely got pushback, but I also rarely met anyone who had actual dreams, goals, or plans to become a millionaire, much less a billionaire. Then, in 2021, Rachel wrote the book that showed me why making millions of dollars in profit is necessary to make my dreams come true.

My biggest dream is to create a community of fellow ethical billionaires, host Mahlena's Davos–an alternative to the yearly World Economic Forumand make the Earth a more equitable place. What is yours?

By Rachel Rodgers,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked We Should All Be Millionaires as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Are you ready to fill your life with more peace, power, and joy?

We Should All Be Millionaires details a realistic, achievable, step-by-step path to creating the support, confidence, and plan you need to own your success and become the millionaire the world needs you to be.

Only 10 percent of the world's millionaires are women, making it difficult for women to wield the economic power that will create lasting equality. Whatever is stopping you from having seven figures in the bank-whether it's shaky confidence, knowledge gaps when it comes to wealth building tactics, imposter syndrome, a janky mindset about…


Book cover of Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk
Book cover of Why Most Things Fail: Evolution, Extinction and Economics
Book cover of Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences

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