We don’t reinvent the wheel here. The concepts that we talk about are things we’ve learned from others and have done a good deal of research on. Here are some of our favorite sources of information; it is a list that we will continue adding to as we discover more! We hope you get the opportunity to learn from these authors just like we did!
Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell
If there were a reading list for life, this one would be on it. I learned more about how the world works in the first half of this book than I did in all of my years of formal education. Sowell covers important topics ranging from money and banks to race and politics. I can’t recommend this book enough.
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
This is the book that started it all for Dan and his love affair with economics. This book was the among the first, if not the first, that has shaped people’s minds today of what the study of economics can be applied towards beyond standard finance and policy. It is a very light read on some serious topics: everything from what makes effective parents including the effect of varying names of a child; proving that sumo wrestlers cheat along with teachers who have incentive for their students to perform well on standardized testing; and how a drug organization is managed similarly to any major corporation. Long story short: this book will make you agree with the authors’ first rule of economics: that in every aspect of life, “there is no such thing as a free lunch, and incentives matter.”
1776 by David McCullough
It’s no secret we are patriots and proud to be Americans. David McCullough is one of the top historians and authors of the revolutionary period. This book puts the perilous, and delicate situation that General George Washington faced with a rag-tag military up against the greatest military of the day in an in-depth, easy-to-read, edge-of-your seat account of the beginnings of the American Revolution.
Intellectuals and Society by Thomas Sowell
This isn’t a book about how to make smart savings choices, but it is a thorough discussion of how a small group of people can have an enormous influence on what we’re led to believe. Sowell highlights some of the recent (20th century) rhetoric that has been produced by intellectuals (people who’s end products are ideas) without any proof being provided or even asked for. It’s amazing what we as consumers will believe and accept as truth if someone with a big brain says it.