Here are some books that might be worth a look. Please note that this is not intended to be a comprehensive list!
- The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates
by Peter Leeson.
- The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
or Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
- Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
by Dan Ariely.
- Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy
by Shapiro and Varian. (Varian is Google’s chief economist.)
- The Soulful Science: What Economists Really Do and Why It Matters
or Sex, Drugs and Economics: An Unconventional Introduction to Economics
by Diane Coyle.
- Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism
by Akerlof and Shiller.
- An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations: A Selected Edition (Oxford World’s Classics)
by Adam Smith. (Old school! But surprisingly readable :)
- Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (P.S.)
or (coming in late October) SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance
by Levitt and Dubner.
- Anything by Tim Harford
, who writes the “Dear Economist” advice column in the Financial Times; Steven Landsburg
- Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
by Thaler and Sunstein.
- New Ideas from Dead Economists: An Introduction to Modern Economic Thought
by Todd Buchholz.
- Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science
by Charles Wheelan.
- Free to Choose: A Personal Statement
by Milton and Rose Friedman.
- Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life
by David D Friedman (son of Milton and Rose :).
- The Anatomy of Racial Inequality (The W. E. B. Du Bois Lectures)
by Glenn Loury.
- Development as Freedom
by Amartya Sen.
