The Economist's Books of the Year
The Economist is surely one of the best, if not the best, weekly publications running. Oddly, though, considering its title, it put only three books in the economics & business category of this year's "page turners"—while there are ten in politics & current affairs and eight in history. I guess that's not too odd, considering this is coming from a magazine that calls itself a newspaper, a newspaper that almost never carries a byline on its articles and essays.
The Economist is surely one of the best, if not the best, weekly publications running. Oddly, though, considering its title, it put only three books in the economics & business category of this year's "page turners"—while there are ten in politics & current affairs and eight in history. I guess that's not too odd, considering this is coming from a magazine that calls itself a newspaper, a newspaper that almost never carries a byline on its articles and essays. But, while The Economist refuses to be boxed in by norms, they sure do know a good book when they read one. The economics & business titles chosen were:
- The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis, W.W. Norton
- More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of the New Elite by Sebastian Mallaby, The Penguin Press
- High Financier: The Lives and Time of Siegmund Warburg by Niall Ferguson, The Penguin Press
I haven't read More Money Than God yet (incidentally, written by "a British journalist who is married to [their] economics editor," a courageous choice there from the editors), but The Big Short and High Financier were two of my favorites of 2010. Also, four of the books in their science & technology category could fit loosely into business. They are:
- Biology is Technology: The Promise, Peril, and New Business of Engineering Life by Rob Carlson, Harvard University Press
- The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves by Matt Ridley, Harper
- Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation by Steven Johnson, Riverhead
- What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly, Viking
You can get The Economist's entire list of page turners from the original post, where you'll find brief descriptions of each book.
You can also find a list of Books by Economist writers in 2010 at the site. They do seem to put out a lot of books over there, possibly because their writers want to put their names on something. (I kid, I kid... I love you The Economist.)
