In this morning’s Guardian Zoe Williams has a feature explaining why she has given up the confection of fiction for the roughage of non-fiction books about the increasingly apocalyptic state of the economy. Her four top picks for current affairs books to read are:

[amazon_link id=”014104571X” target=”_blank” ]Whoops![/amazon_link] by John Lanchester (explains the Crash brilliantly)

[amazon_link id=”1846142393″ target=”_blank” ]The Return of Depression Economics[/amazon_link] by Paul Krugman (why the government has to sustain demand)

[amazon_link id=”0465051960″ target=”_blank” ]Power and Prosperity [/amazon_link]by Mancur Olson (the interplay between the economy and society)

[amazon_link id=”0857892797″ target=”_blank” ]Back from the Brink [/amazon_link]by Alastair Darling (the former Chancellor’s account of the torrid days of the Crash)

A great selection – the Olson is less well-known but well worth it. I’m a big fan of his work. I would add a few more suggestions

[amazon_link id=”0141003251″ target=”_blank” ]The Morbid Age[/amazon_link] by Richard Overy (cultural history of the 1930s)

[amazon_link id=”1906964440″ target=”_blank” ]When Money Dies[/amazon_link] by Adam Fergusson (the opposite fear to Krugman’s anxiety about what happens if governments don’t opt for deficit financing – what happened when they did, and monetised it; read this to understand the Germans)

[amazon_link id=”158648799X” target=”_blank” ]The Great Depression: A Diary[/amazon_link] by Benjamin Roth (an intelligent midwestern attorney lives through the 1930s week by week)

[amazon_link id=”0691118205″ target=”_blank” ]Essays on The Great Depression[/amazon_link] by Ben Bernanke (how the Fed chairman thinks about the situation – from his academic days)

[amazon_link id=”1846142571″ target=”_blank” ]The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine[/amazon_link]

by Michael Lewis (alongside the Lanchester book, the most readable account of how we got here and why huge reform of finance remains a political necessity)

Interestingly, Richard Overy’s history of the 30s recounts the growing appetite for understanding that Williams expresses in her article. The New Left Book Club was founded and succeeded brilliantly, people read newspapers, joined societies, flocked to libraries and public meetings. We’re seeing the same phenomenon now with blogs and websites proliferating, book clubs turning to non-fiction, lectures packed out with large crowds, enrollments for courses in economics up, massive interest in the business and political news. Serious pursuits for serious times.

Any other book suggestions here are welcome.

[amazon_image id=”0141003251″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The Morbid Age: Britain and the Crisis of Civilisation, 1919 – 1939[/amazon_image]