Books tagged "economics"

Sherpa - Cover Find on Bookshop.org
September 17, 2023
by Ankit Babu Adhikari, Pradeep Bashyal

I learned a lot from this book. I quite enjoyed how it covered a variety of experiences of people from the Sherpa community, and it seems to me that it did a pretty fair job. It's certainly interesting to see how the Sherpa's view climbing. Worth a read for the stories and if you're interested in climbing culture and how and why the Sherpa's participate.

economics, history, informative
Regenesis - Cover Find on Bookshop.org
May 21, 2023
by George Monbiot

Amazing reading, ideas, and suggested actions for wildly revising how food is produced. I found this book particularly relevant because I have just started a new job that is in this space; but even otherwise it is a great, non-judgemental, and surprisingly inspiring, book about the climate crisis. It may even inspire you to start gardening :)

climate, economics, informative, non-fiction
Banzeiro Òkòtó - Cover Find on Bookshop.org
May 14, 2023
by Eliane Brum, Diane Grosklaus Whitty

Absolutely extraordinary book. Extremely informative, powerful, emotional, inspiring, and poetic. I was struck at first by the amazing writing (which comes across really well in translation, I think, not that I've read the original ...), but stayed for the amazing story-telling and information about various illegal practices in Brazil.

It's really an impressive piece of work, I can highly recommend it, but do note that it is also, in parts, quite traumatic. Still; one of those books that you feel sad when it ends; well worth reading!

activism, climate, economics, feminism, informative, language, long-read, non-fiction, personal, philosophical, poetry, politics, quirky, racism, traumatic, travel
The Value of a Whale - Cover Find on Bookshop.org
August 28, 2022
by Adrienne Buller

A truly exceptional piece of work. This book provided words and research behind the overall unease that I, and many others, feel towards so-called "green capitalism"; i.e. the idea that it's possible to make money in a growing economy while also "solving" the climate crisis. A must read for anyone interested in working in the climate space, in my view. Amazing.

climate, economics, politics
Against Borders - Cover Find on Bookshop.org
August 14, 2022
by Gracie Mae Bradley, Luke de Noronha

This is an nice introduction to the topic of abolition of borders. Maybe you're already familiar with the idea of defunding the police, or similar, but this work extends that to the idea of borders themselves. It's quite interesting to see this idea brought there; and moreover it's quite nice to see a challenging discussion about the damaging impact of deporting or otherwise removing citizenship of people on visas; i.e. how can we care about people even when they do something bad. Lots of good ideas in this book!

economics, history, informative, non-fiction, philosophical, politics
The Employees - Cover Find on Bookshop.org
August 7, 2022
by Olga Ravn, Martin Aitken

I've been trying to read more translated books recently, and this was one I picked up in Hay-on-Wye. I loved it; it's quite quirky and funny, but it's an interesting take on what work might ultimately mean, and at what cost we would pursue it. It's a quick read, but nevertheless is certainly worth picking up :)

economics, philosophical, quirky
Post Growth - Cover Find on Bookshop.org
May 29, 2022
by Tim Jackson

Not bad. This book attempts to give some arguments about why we might want to consider a "post growth" world; i.e. one not ruled by standard capitalism; by driving for more business growth, more money, etc, etc. I think, sadly, it lacked a bit of detail and technical arguments. Perhaps as an entry point into the post growth literature it's pretty good; but you don't come away with lots of good arguments, or even many practical tips. I certainly don't regret reading it; and I'm sure I've got something out of it, but I wouldn't suggest you drop everything and read it now.

climate, economics, philosophical
Bullshit Jobs - Cover Find on Bookshop.org
March 6, 2022
by David Graeber

I don't quite know why it took me so long to pick this book up, but I regret not doing it earlier. I love David Graeber's books; having read and really enjoyed Debt a few years ago. This is really a very thoughtful discussion about jobs and the point of work; and in particular the kinds of busywork we can end up doing and participating in. It made me be a bit more thoughtful about the things that I do, and what might be the reason that I do it. I really enjoyed it; but it's not the worlds most motivating book.

economics, informative, non-fiction, philosophical
Ending Fossil Fuels - Cover Find on Bookshop.org
January 2, 2022
by Holly Jean Buck

This gives a good selection of arguments and positions about why, naturally, it's not simply enough for policy makers and activists to focus on "net-zero" policies for carbon, but in fact we need to totally abolish fossil fuels. It makes a very strong argument, and is really quite good reading. Highly recommended!

activism, climate, economics
Basic Income - Cover Find on Bookshop.org
November 28, 2021
by Philippe van Parijs, Yannick Vanderborght

This is the first book I've read on basic income, so I learned some quite interesting things. The most interesting, to my mind, was the history, and present, philosophical justification for a universal basic income. The justification they give is at first a Christian one; i.e. God gave the land to us all, so we should profit from it. I found this rough justification quite problematic really. I did find most of the way they presented their argument mostly pretty good; but I certainly found other parts of the book moderately problematic, especially some parts discussing immigration. Overall, I think it's a nice entrypoint into the theory and field; but I think we have a long way to go yet.

economics, non-fiction, philosophical
The Mushroom at the End of the World - Cover Find on Bookshop.org
November 7, 2021
by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing

Definitely a new favourite book. This one has a really nice, poetic, personal, engaging style and explores topics in economics through a very interesting lens: the mushroom. It presents lots of interesting conceptual discussions around commercial boundaries, what makes a product into something that can be sold, and has a nice journey into particular mushroom markets and what meaning they have for capitalism and communities in general. I wish more economics books were written in such a style! Certainly well worth reading if you're into challenging thoughts in this space!

economics, non-fiction, quirky
Capital and Ideology - Cover Find on Bookshop.org
September 17, 2020
by Thomas Piketty

An incredibly detailed journey through various political regimes through the lens of understanding how they were structured and how that structure affects social inequality. Concludes with some very strong and interesting ideas about how we can move towards a global social democracy, and how to finance a substantial social state.

democracy, economics, long-read
Altruism - Cover Find on Bookshop.org
September 1, 2020
by Matthieu Ricard

An exploration into compassion, kindness, empathy, innate goodness and how these concepts relate to the idea of being altruistic. Comes from a Buddhist point of view, but has a very broad approach and generally-applicable advice and thoughts. Particularly good comments around the idea of emotional burn-out and (Buddhist) techniques for managing it.

buddhism, compassion, economics, empathy, ethics, long-read

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