Freakonomics. Well, that's the only economics book I know, besides my old college textbooks.

Freakonomics?

Tim Harford: The Undercover Economist (http://timharford.com/books/undercovereconomist/)

Basic Economics Thomas Sowell I found to be a good read.

There was a book by Gladwell I liked something about little things.

Hmm, it's pretty old now but how about The Theory of the Leisure Class by Veblen?

The classics, Das Kapital, Macchiavelli ..

Karl Marx - "Kapital" (eng: "Capital")

Not totally an economics book, but "Predictably Irrational" is about the irrational psychology of humans and a lot of it is how these predictable actions are used against us in marketing.

Wow.. When I "read" the title the first time I've read "Looking for boobs..." :/

Didn't expect anyone would search for books here. I'm sorry.

The Space Merchants - published in 1953. I know its a fiction novel but its one of those haunting ones that accurately predicted the future of the business world and where we might be headed if we don't change something. At least read the synopsis before you shoot it down.

First of all if you have access to JSTOR, there is plenty of interesting publications there,

second i would recommend checking out various unis from various countries reading lists for given classes, i found hundreds of awesome books this way on various subjects. ( i read a looot )

I do not have access to my personal books right now so i cannot give you any titles. But most of my stuff is heavy dry academic stuff anyway.

If you want something easier to read, i'd go for the "alternatives", anti-capitalists, anarchists etc...and those that are completely opposed to the very concept of money ( or even of civilization as we know it such as Jensen ). Of course the best ones are still very heavy going but at least they tend to have passion in them.

Naomie Klein for example might be a horrible repetitive read in her shock doctrine, but as a journalist instead of an academic its not an issue if you have flown too quick over a sentence, and i think she is a necessary read to have more than one point of view, even if i disagree with her. Chomsky has some stuff on the subject too.

To buy the books, try bookfinder.

I tend personally to prefer some concrete stuff to generalities, for example an economic and social history of the ottoman empire ( 2 volumes ) is more telling imho than most classics. Books such as The Nordic Model Of Welfare are also interesting to me. Against the tide is more about the history of ideas than the ideas themselves but its an easy read. Also there was a very good short book about the american financial crash of black friday.

I am presently finishing Fire in The Lake about the vietnam war ( mostly the cultural side of it ) and the few sentences it has here and there are more telling i think in their whole context than 1000 pages of pure economical theory.

Sorry i cannot give you exactly what you want but i hope that this is still gonna be of use.

Good luck with your finds.

If you want to be really, really depressed and horrified, you can pick up Late Victorian Holocausts and read an account of how economic policies in late colonialism combined with El Niño patterns compounded natural disasters to previously unforseen levels of destruction/famine/horribleness.

You're welcome.

Twilight

I didn't think that I would see this many replies when I wake up.

Thank you very much for all of your suggestions!

So far you proposed:

• Steven Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner Freakonomics, A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
• Tim Harford, The Undercover Economist
• Thomas Sowell, Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy
• Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
• Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success
• ThoarsteinVeblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class

Behavioral books:

• Dan Ariely , Predictably Irrational
• Dan Ariely, The Upside of Irrationality.

Other books:

• Frederik Pohl, Cyril M. Kornbluth: The Space Merchants
• Mike Davis: Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World

I will need to check my bookstore again and compare what I want and what I can afford at the moment. Feel free to suggest more interesting books.

I'd also recommend books by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (particularly The Black Swan and Fooled By Randomness) and Michael Lewis (particularly Moneyball and The Big Short).