Field
Money, markets, organizations and leadership.
2 Ideas · 11 Books · 61 questions
Economics studies how people and organizations use limited resources such as money, time, work and attention. This field also covers business and leadership, because much of economic life happens inside companies and teams.
Most of the pieces here are reviews of popular books on money, careers and organizations. Popular books often present one author’s experience as a general rule. The reviews separate what the evidence supports from what is only a good story. They also say who will get the most from each book.
Start with Morgan Housel’s The Psychology of Money. It argues that how you behave with money matters more than how much you know about finance. The after-action review is a simple method from the US Army that teams use to learn from every project. Tally sticks show how money works as a record of debt. Alvin Roth’s book explains markets where price is not enough to match people, such as school places and kidneys for transplant.
The best first reads in this field, in this order.
BookIntro
Why does a janitor die with millions while a top finance executive goes bankrupt? You learn the main ideas of Morgan Housel's bestseller about money and behavior, from luck and compounding to saving and room for error. You also learn where the book is thin and who gets the most from it.
9 min read≈ 1,950 words5 questions
IdeaIntro
Most teams finish a project and move straight on to the next one, and then they repeat the same mistakes. The US Army built a simple habit to stop this, and companies and hospitals later copied it. You learn the four questions at its heart, how to run one after a real project, what the research says it achieves, and why it fails when people fear blame.
6 min read≈ 1,370 words3 questions
IdeaIntro
For more than seven hundred years, the English state kept many of its accounts on sticks of wood. You learn how a notched stick recorded a payment, why it was so hard to cheat and how a receipt could work like money. You also learn why the system ended in a fire that destroyed the old Houses of Parliament.
7 min read≈ 1,460 words3 questions
BookIntro
Some things cannot be bought with money: a place at a popular school, a first job as a doctor, a kidney for transplant. You learn how such markets work, why they often break down, and how Alvin Roth and his colleagues redesigned several of them. You also learn the simple idea behind the algorithm that now matches doctors and pupils.
10 min read≈ 2,210 words5 questions
BookIntro
Why do some teams do far better than the talent of their members would predict, while teams of very talented people often disappoint? You learn the three skills Daniel Coyle found in successful groups, the studies and stories he uses, and where his evidence is thin. You also learn what you can try in your own team.
9 min read≈ 2,060 words5 questions
Dan Ariely's comic about social norms and market norms: the main idea, the research behind it, its evidence problems, and who should read it.
9 min read≈ 1,890 words5 questions
Kiyosaki's model of four ways to earn money explained: employee, self-employed, business owner, investor, plus what the model gets right and wrong.
9 min read≈ 1,890 words5 questions
Mackay's 1841 classic on bubbles, witch hunts and fads: what the book says, which famous stories historians now doubt, and how to read it today.
10 min read≈ 2,170 words5 questions
Ray Dalio's rules for facing reality, learning from mistakes and deciding together, explained, with the critics' view of the culture they built.
9 min read≈ 1,890 words5 questions
What Rich Dad Poor Dad teaches about assets, cash flow and fear, why its rich dad is probably invented, and which of its tips are risky.
9 min read≈ 1,990 words5 questions
Housel argues that you cannot predict events, but you can predict how people behave. The book's key ideas, its limits, and who should read it.
9 min read≈ 1,900 words5 questions
Marshall Goldsmith on the 20 habits that hold successful people back and his method for changing them. What the book argues, its limits, and who it helps.
9 min read≈ 1,970 words5 questions
Kahneman's two systems, loss aversion and the two selves explained, plus which chapters failed to replicate and how to read the book today.
10 min read≈ 2,180 words5 questions
