When it rains you should read up on finances
I always have very ambitious winter reading lists. There’s so much I want to read, and winter seems like such a good time to get your teeth into some solid classics or philosophy.
After all, how often do you have a patch of cold and drizzley weather to warrant you to hide inside?
You can fully dedicate yourself to the writings of Tolstoy, or the year’s subscription of Times that you never got around to reading. Inevitably, I end up reading Marian Keyes or reacquainting myself with Angels and Demons.
This year is going to be different. I’m going to get learned this winter. On my reading list is the greatest and most influential of finance writers, here’s who I would be checking out (should I manage to turn The O.C Season 1 off).
The classics
I’m not quite delusional enough to believe I would sit down and read Adam Smith, though I suspect it would be very impressive at dinner parties to reel off quotes about the invisible hand. I find Marx pretty dense, so I’m keeping him off my reading list this winter to avert immediate failure. To get a general introduction to his work, Francis Whelan’s biography was so good, I would read it again. Easy to read and concise in its explanation of Marx’s theories, it’s well worth a winter squiz.
In a similar vein, Robert Skidelsky’s biography of John Maynard Keynes makes one of the more important economic figures of the 20th century approachable. I find it easier to understand theories when contextualized into a life, so biographies are a perfect way for me to begin with the Big Theories. You don’t have to agree with him, but it’s not a bad idea to get some Milton Friedman on your books. Capitalism and Freedom will be the place I’m starting.
The Moderns
My favourite modern economics author is Amartya Sen. Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny is wonderful, though On Economic Inequality or it’s updated version, Inequality Reexamined contain some of his most interesting work. For a modern economics match made in heaven, I plan to read The Quality of Life written by the power duo of Sen and Martha Nussbaum.
Paul Krugman is a Nobel-laureate and a head turner is modern economics. To get myself up to speed, I like the look of Do We Need to Know About the International Monetary System? and The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008.
There is an ideological debate as to whether to follow Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman, both influential finance writers. Ramsey’s Priceless: Straight-Shooting, No-Frills Financial Wisdom and Orman’s The Money Book for the Young Fabulous and Broke would feature on my reading list. I love to debate, so I should probably bone up before I throw myself into the fray.
The Journos
Newspapers aren’t usually a feature of a winter reading list, but in case I fell behind, I would make sure to read Linda Sterne’s back catalogue and double check I hadn’t missed any of Ross Gittins over the course of a year.
What books can you recommend for my winter reading?
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