Amid the warp-speed rush of information these days, there’s nothing like a relaxing read to distract from the gloomy headlines — or at least put them into perspective. To help you unwind over the holidays or fill your last-minute gift list, we asked our editors and writers for their favorite books of 2008. Some selections, like the popular “Discover Your Inner Economist,” speak directly to investing and personal finance. But we’ve also rounded out the list with choices that are useful in other ways — or just plain make for good reading.
We’d like to hear about your favorites from 2008, too. Please tell us what you enjoyed reading this year by writing in the comments section below.
Here are our staff picks for 2008:
Panic! The Story of Modern Financial Insanity
Editor: Michael Lewis
Picked by: Diana Ransom / Reporter, SmartMoney.com
If you haven’t quite understood the latest financial crisis that’s been confounding investors for the past 16 months -- and we don’t blame you -- then get this book. Michael Lewis, author of the 1989 memoir “Liar’s Poker,” which self-deprecatingly chronicled his unlikely rise and fall as a bond trader at the height of the 1980s frenzy on Wall Street, compiles about 50 stories of modern financial upheaval. The collection starts with an account -- co-authored by SmartMoney’s Executive Editor, Bob Rose -- of the 1987 Black Monday stock market crash and moves along to the roots of the subprime mortgage crisis. While “Panic” provides little insight on how to get out of this current financial fiasco, readers will surely walk away with a better understanding of Wall Street’s rational irrationality and how it affects investors.
Discover Your Inner Economist
Author: Tyler Cowen
Picked by: Kelli B. Grant / Senior Consumer Reporter, SmartMoney.com
Basic economic principles will help you do more than navigate the stock market. Tyler Cowen, a professor of economics at George Mason University, teaches readers to recognize the incentives (financial and otherwise) underlying everyday situations, from a first date to a crucial work meeting, and how to work the particular carrots and sticks to your advantage. Once you understand that appealing to your teenager’s sense of familial obligation to help around the house is a more effective approach than upping his allowance, you’ll have cleaner dishes and a fatter wallet. Now that’s getting the most for your money.
The Truth About Avoiding Scams
Author: Steve Weisman
Picked by: Neil Parmar / Staff Writer, SmartMoney magazine
As the latest allegations about Bernard Madoff and his Ponzi Scheme hedge fund remind us, no matter what the state of the economy, get-rich schemers and scam artists will prey on consumers who don’t know how to keep themselves from becoming victims. Fortunately, Weisman’s reporting reveals some of the most common conmen’s gambits and suggestions to avoid them. The book helps readers of all ages, from college students considering getting a new credit card to retirees worried about medical identity theft. Each of the 12 sections are sprinkled with tips for readers who might want to jot down a few points, then pass the book onto a friend. (I’d give you mine, but I’ve already taken a highlighter to it.)
The Art of the Trade: What I Learned Trading the Chicago Futures Markets
Author: Jason Alan Jankovsky
Picked by: Jonathan Hoenig, SmartMoney.com columnist and managing member at Capitalistpig Hedge Fund LLC
In the investment game, you don’t battle the market as much as your own psychology. And nestled in between the “7 Steps to Financial Success” and guides to “Sure-Fire Trading” comes this thoughtful and brutally-honest read chronicling the invaluable experience gained in the world’s most competitive marketplace. As a former Chicago floor trader myself, I was impressed with his ability to nail the emotional rollercoaster unique to the futures game. Most people lose money in the markets because they treat them as a game. Jankovsky’s book is one of the few that moves beyond investment tips and equips readers with the psychological foundation necessary to survive most market environments…even one like 2008.
Beyond Bullsh*t: Straight-Talk at Work
Author: Samuel Culbert
Picked by: Matt Heimer / Deputy Editor, SmartMoney magazine
Bullsh*tting, as the philosopher Harry Frankfurt recently pointed out, isn’t the same thing as lying. Unlike a liar, who knows the truth but says its opposite, a bullsh*tter merely says whatever’s expedient, whether true or false, to suit his purpose in the moment. That’s why bullsh*t is so prevalent in the workplace, where appeasing your boss or rebuffing a persistent colleague often takes precedence over telling the truth. In this short, slightly self-helpish but admirably clear book, Culbert, a UCLA management professor, succinctly diagnoses why bullsh*tting can become such a drag on the effectiveness of a business, a relationship and even a society. And, as we watch Wall Street executives tie themselves in knots trying to explain why record losses should be rewarded with “retention payments,” it feels particularly relevant right now.
Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day
Author: Studs Terkel
Picked by: Matt Heimer / Deputy Editor, SmartMoney magazine
As America struggles to extricate itself from a costly, unpopular war, the political classes fret over environmental catastrophe and dependence on foreign oil. Meanwhile, the economy is going into the tank, thanks to the woes of the manufacturing sector and a brutal downturn in the stock market. Last Thursday? No, 1974, when Studs Terkel’s oral-history compilation "Working" was originally published. Terkel interviewed hundreds of people about their work – tape recording tennis pros and CEOs, bartenders and housewives – then stitched their transcribed remarks into an account of the joys and absurdities of making a living in an uncertain world. Sure, some elements feel dated: cheap shots at Nixon, obsolete professions like elevator operator and the paucity of women in major professional roles. But the economic anxieties of an earlier generation remain timely, which is why we’ve grandfathered in this doorstop classic on our 2008 list.
Dreams From My Father
Author: Barack Obama
Picked by: Brad Reagan / Staff writer, SmartMoney magazine
Before the election, there was understandable curiosity among readers about where the charismatic junior senator from Illinois actually came from. And this book, first published in 2004, retains real relevance as a rare unvarnished look into the formative years of a national political figure. Now that he’s charged with guiding the country out of its economic funk, it’s equally instructive about where he might be taking us. For all his beautiful language – and he truly is a gifted writer – Obama reveals himself to be more of a pragmatist than an idealist.
Lincoln President-Elect: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter 1860-1861
Author: Harold Holzer
Picked by: Jonathan Dahl / Editor in Chief, SmartMoney magazine
This fall release is a great companion read to current events with President-elect Obama — though obviously a bad economy isn’t quite the same thing as a brewing civil war. Still, the parallels are interesting: A lame-duck, unpopular president (then: James Buchanan) whose hands were more or less tied when it came to solving the great national crisis. There’s an interesting contrast, too. Lincoln generally kept out of the fray until he actually took office, compared with Obama’s proactive steps.
How to Cook Everything (10th Anniversary Edition)
Author: Mark Bittman
Picked by: Tom Weber / Editor, SmartMoney.com
Trying to eat more meals at home these days? Penny-pinching isn’t the best reason to have Bittman’s masterpiece in your kitchen. But if that helps motivate you to discover — or rediscover — the simple and healthy pleasure of cooking, so be it. Bittman, who writes a recipe column called “The Minimalist” for The New York Times, stresses a building-from-basics method: Master the key technique for a recipe, then vary it according to your own likes and whims. In this revised edition, that approach is more evident than ever. After you’ve spent some time with this book, you’ll find yourself scanning your kitchen and envisioning what you could prepare from what’s around. That sense of mastery is rewarding in itself. But hey, it’s thrifty too.
Lush Life
Author: Richard Price
Picked by: Will Swarts / Reporter, SmartMoney.com
Worlds collide on the Lower East Side of New York, which gave Price a ripped-from-the-headlines plot when a young actress was shot and killed there in a 2005 mugging gone wrong. Price has a matchless ear for the dialogue heard among the urban tribes of precinct cops, artistically aspiring hipsters and residents of the housing projects on the edges of the gentrifying neighborhood. He weaves them together in the murky account of the shooting of a young bartender during a late-night robbery, crafting a novel that’s as much keenly observed reportage as narrative, focusing on the detectives, the muggers, the bereaved family and Eric Cash, who was at the shooting scene and finds himself in the glare of police suspicion. If it drags a little in sections, "Lush Life" also evokes of the ceaseless pulse of New York, seen through a few sharply-etched fictional inhabitants.
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