The Daily Telegraph has a list of books President Obama – a voracious reader – is known to have read in recent years. As the article notes, the range of his interests is impressively wide. Also impressive, given the anti-intellectualism of modern politics, is the fact that he’s not ashamed to be known as a reader. (One has to wonder what the Republican candidates say when asked about their reading. If admitting to speaking a foreign language is an election negative, they must be tempted to hide any evidence of literary taste or intellectual aspiration.)
There are some terrific books on his list. [amazon_link id=”0141043725″ target=”_blank” ]Team of Rivals[/amazon_link] by Doris Kearns Goodwin is marvellous. Political biography features prominently, not surprisingly.
However, there are not many economics books there. Jeff Sachs makes it with [amazon_link id=”0141026154″ target=”_blank” ]Common Wealth [/amazon_link]and I suppose one can (reluctantly) include Thomas Friedman’s [amazon_link id=”0141036664″ target=”_blank” ]Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution—and How It Can Renew America. [/amazon_link]But clearly the President needs to read more books about economics.
I nominate as essential:
[amazon_link id=”0691142165″ target=”_blank” ]This Time is Different[/amazon_link] by Carmen Reinhardt and Ken Rogoff
[amazon_link id=”1846140552″ target=”_blank” ]Thinking, Fast and Slow[/amazon_link] by Daniel Kahneman
[amazon_link id=”0674057759″ target=”_blank” ]Capitalist Revolutionary: John Maynard Keynes[/amazon_link] by Roger Backhouse and Bradley Bateman
[amazon_link id=”B005WTR4ZI” target=”_blank” ]Race against the Machine[/amazon_link] by Brynjolfssion and McAfee and [amazon_link id=”0525952713″ target=”_blank” ]The Great Stagnation[/amazon_link] by Tyler Cowen
as relevant recent reads. Other suggestions please!
An update: by serendipity, I just came across this article (pdf) by Australian MP Andrew Leigh about what top Australian politicos read. He expresses the importance of considered reading beautifully:
“[W]hen it comes to our leaders, the need for an inner life, so often fostered and nourished through reading, is not some elitist private matter of little concern to the wider public. Deep and considered reading furnishes the mind with standards, gives wing to the moral imagination, maps the expanses of the individual and national character and dusts off the detritus of political life. It can teach our leaders how we might do things better, not just in terms of policy, but in terms of the responsibility, measure and humility we need within our own lives and within the country at large.”
Oh, and the answers ranged from Potter (Harry) to Plutarch.
The evidence is Obama is _not_ a “voracious reader”, and especially as compared to other Presidents, i.e. Bush II, Clinton, Nixon, Reagan, Carter, etc.
Evidence — Obama has been repeatedly photographed carrying around the same book for weeks.
At least he’s not embarrassed to be seen with a book. I want to see the pics of other leading politicians carrying one…. Besides, you haven’t answered the question – what should a well-read president be reading about the economy?
Exorbitant Priviledge by Barry Eichengreen
The Economics of Enough?
If you or he want contemporary, I’d start him with “Poor Economics” Banerjee and Duflo and then say read “”The Wisdom of Whores” by Elizabeth Pisani. Both will tell you one thing: interventionists need to be cautious. If he wants something inspiring read “John Stuart Mill -Victorian Firebrand” – how really great men aren’t always legislators.
But most of all just read: the best books are worth spending less time with advisors for. Anything that appears on other politicians’ lists avoid without hesitation: I haven’t heard Cameron or Miliband ever reference a book before…