This list will get updated periodically:

You should read…

1) 1984 by George Orwell for obvious reasons of noble political intent.

2) Governing the Markets by Robert Wade for getting to the truth of why some countries can go from poor to rich, and no, it is not the doings of unadulterated free markets.

3) The Big Short by Michael Lewis for providing the most interesting take on the financial trickeries that caused the Great Recession and the near collapse of the world economy.

4) Letters from a Stoic by Seneca for, as much as the contents of its teachings, as for proving that insights on life can be received from someone other than Oprah, and from a source other than the self-help varieties that have the words “how to” somewhere in its title or sub-subtitle. Practical advice on life could be obtained from more elegant and classical sources.

5) On The Road by Jack Kerouac for detailing the thoughts of thinking youth that transcends time from his era to mine.

6) Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse for making sure that the madness we experience in modern life is never comfortably forgotten.

7) The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Campbell for painstakingly researching this informed, but borderline conspiratorial, piece of leftwing polemic. One of the best in recent years.