The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger (2006)
Business / History
Author(s): Marc Levinson
My favorite book about globalization. It explains with great detail how the container helped reshape the world economy making it viable to transport products across the world and change the supply chain as we know it.
The Taking of Getty Oil (1987)
Business History
Author(s): Steve Coll
The battle to take over Getty Oil and everyone involved including the children of Jean Paul Getty Jr, the board of the company, Pennzoil, Texaco, many banks, and a long trial.
The Man Who Knew (2016)
Biography
Author(s): Sebastian Mallaby
One of the best books about modern central bank policy history through the eyes of Alan Greenspan. It also features the policies of the Fed chairmen before him, his entire tenure and how he also affected white house policy, not only in financial subjects.
The Great Leveler (2017)
Economics / History
Author(s): Walter Scheidel
Very dense book but in my opinion the best about economic inequality because it uses no conjectures or hypotheses, just a look at history and facts of how destruction has been the strongest force to reduce economic inequality in a drastic way.
Lucifer's Banker (2016)
Finance / History
Author(s): Bradley Birkenfeld
Autobiographical book that describes the importance of the swiss bank secrecy and how the author after working in the industry for years became a whistleblower and ended it.
The Spider Network (2017)
Finance / History
Author(s): David Enrich
The creation of LIBOR, how it became the most important interest rate in the world, and the rigging by traders in the worldwide largest banks.
Hack Attack (2014)
Journalism
Author(s): Nick Davies
The full story of the scandal where Rupert Murdoch's News Of The World was found guilty of listening to thousands of private voicemails including movie starts, the royalty and all the effort to cover it up.
GDP: A Brief But Affectionate History (2014)
Business History
Author(s): Diane Coyle
How is GDP, one of the most important numbers for each country in the world, measured? How was it measured in the past? Why is it important to include or exclude certain services or products? This short book tries to answer this questions.
Black Edge (2017)
Business History
Author(s): Sheelah Kolhatkar
The book explores Wall Street's approach to insider trading and in the middle of it is Steven Cohen and his hedge fund S.A.C Capital.
The Quest (2011)
Industry History
Author(s): Daniel Yergin
Another gem by Daniel Yergin. This one does not talk only but oil, it also includes the rise of electricity, the shale gas revolution, climate change policies and biofuels development.
Commodity Trade and Finance (2007)
Business / Commodities
Author(s): Michael Tamvakis
Analysis of the fundamental variables like supply/demand, transportation and pricing, that affect different commodities (energy, agriculture and metals).
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller (1998)
Biography
Author(s): Ron Chernow
Best book about Rockefeller and Standard Oil in my opinion. The story starts with the life of Rockefeller and the building of the company, how it gained power thanks to its size, the break up, and the last years of Rockefeller as a philanthropist.
Conspiracy of Fools (2005)
Business History
Author(s): Kurt Eichenwald
The rise and fall of Enron. The book features a lot of details about the grow of enron, their corporate policies, how they approached projects, the financial tricks and their slow and painful crash.
Computational Finance with R (2014)
Finance / Programming
Author(s): Argimiro Arratia
Financial methods in R including time series analysis, monte carlo simulations, technical trading and portfolio optimization.
Private Empire: ExxonMobil (2012)
Business History
Author(s): Steve Coll
History of ExxonMobil including the merger between the two companies, the exxon valdez incident, their power inside the white house, the fight against climate change evidence and much more.
