Understanding finance is not easy; if it was, we’d be millionaires by now. So when a handful of interesting and enlightening finance books come out, we at the Next Big Idea Club sit up and take note.
In fact, we’ve analyzed the data to determine which finance books are most loved by our tens of thousands of app users. (Our curators Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Daniel Pink and Adam Grant only pick the two official selections each season.)
16. The price of time: the real story of interest
By Edward Chancellor
A comprehensive and deeply relevant story of interest from one of the world’s leading financial writers, The price of time explains our current overall financial situation and how we got here. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Edward Chancellor, in the Next Big Idea app
15. Tragic Science: How Economists Cause Harm (Even As They Aspire to Do Good)
By George F. DeMartino
A University of Denver economist details the complicated nature of economic harm, explores the frequent failure of economists to recognize it, and makes a sobering case for professional humility and genuine respect for those harmed by the practice of economists. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author George F. DeMartino, on the Next Big Idea app
14. For a Dollar and a Dream: State Lotteries in Modern America
By Jonathan D. Cohen
This first comprehensive history of America’s lottery obsession explores the spread of state lotteries and how players and policymakers became hooked on the yearning dreams of an elusive jackpot. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Jonathan D. Cohen, on the Next Big Idea app
13. Free market: the story of an idea
By Jacob Soll
Tracing the intellectual evolution of the free market from Cicero to Milton Friedman, MacArthur’s “Genius” argues that we need to return to the origins of free market ideology to truly understand it and develop new economic concepts to meet today’s challenges. . Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Jacob Soll, in the Next Big Idea app
12. The law of power: risk capital and the creation of the new future
By Sebastian Mallaby
From the best-selling author of More money than God comes the astonishingly frank and intimate story of Silicon Valley’s dominant venture capital firms, and how their strategies and destinies shaped the path of innovation and the global economy. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Sebastian Mallaby, on the Next Big Idea app
11. Cloudmoney: cash, cards, cryptography and the war for our wallets
By Brett Scott
An economic anthropologist takes us to the front lines of a war for our wallets that also has to do with our freedom, from marketing strategies against cash to the weaponization of COVID-19 to power fintech platforms, and from there to the rise of cryptocurrency rebels. marginal groups that fall back. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Brett Scott, on the Next Big Idea app
10. There’s nothing micro about a billion women: Making finance work for women
By Mary Ellen Iskenderian
Microfinance has been hailed as an economic lifeline for women in developing countries, but as the CEO of Women’s World Banking shows, it takes more than microcredit to empower women and promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth. Listen to our Book Bite roundup, read by author Mary Ellen Iskenderian, on the Next Big Idea app
9. The investor oasis: contrary treasures in the desert of capital markets
By JT Mason
A roadmap of portfolio management concepts and contrarian tactics that can turn bad behavior, undue risk, and short-term bets into long-term strengths. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author JT Mason, in the Next Big Idea app
8. Direct: The rise of the intermediary economy and the power to go to the source
By Kathryn Judge
A financial expert, law professor, and overwhelmed consumer investigates the surprising ways middlemen have taken control of the economy at the expense of the rest of us, and offers practical guidance on how to take back control, find more meaning, and contribute to a more sustainable economy. Listen to our Book Bite roundup, read by author Kathryn Judge, on the Next Big Idea app
7. Money, Magic and How to Dismantle a Financial Bomb: Quantum Economics for the Real World
By David Orrell
In this colorful journey through the history, philosophy and mathematics of money, an applied mathematician shows how everything makes a lot more sense when we replace our classical economic models with ones based on quantum probability. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author David Orrell, on the Next Big Idea app
6. The revolution that wasn’t: GameStop, Reddit and small investors
By Spencer Jakab
In January 2021, a motley crew of retail traders on Reddit’s r/wallstreetbets forum appeared to bring some of Wall Street’s biggest and richest players to their knees. The revolution that was not is the fascinating story of how meme pressure and the real architects (and winners) of the GameStop rally unfolded. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Spencer Jakab, in the Next Big Idea app
5. The Cryptopians: idealism, greed, lies and the creation of the first great cryptocurrency craze
By Laura Shin
The recent growth of crypto would have been impossible if it weren’t for a brilliant young man named Vitalik Buterin and his creation: Ethereum. In this book, a tech journalist takes readers inside the foundation of this new cryptocurrency network. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Laura Shin, on the Next Big Idea app
4. Price Wars: How Commodity Markets Made Our World Chaotic
By Rupert Russell
A fascinating and innovative exposition of how commodity traders in New York and London destabilized societies around the world, leaving the most vulnerable at the mercy of hunger, chaos and war. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Rupert Russell, on the Next Big Idea app
3. Two and twenty: as the masters of private capital always win
By Sachin Khajuria
Private equity has been almost stealthy, until now. In Two and twenty, a former Apollo partner offers readers unprecedented insight into this opaque global economic engine, which plays a key role in our retirement systems. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Sachin Khajuria, on the Next Big Idea app
2. The Truth About Crypto: A Practical and Easy-to-Understand Guide to Bitcoin, Blockchain, NFTs and Other Digital Assets
By Ric Edelman
Featuring the prescient insights you’d expect from such an acclaimed financial advisor, The Truth About Crypto it’s fun to read and easy to understand, and most importantly, it gives readers the practical, solid advice we all need to succeed with this new asset class. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Ric Edelman, in the Next Big Idea app
1. Money Magic: An Economist’s Secrets to More Money, Less Risk, and a Better Life
By Laurence Kotlikoff
One of our nation’s leading personal finance experts harnesses the power of economics and advanced computing to deliver a series of captivating yet simple money magic tricks that will transform your financial future. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Laurence Kotlikoff, in the Next Big Idea app
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