Covid Summer ‘ 2020 (Seattle, U.S.A)

Top 5 Non-fiction books young adults should read in 2020

1. Good Economics for Bad times : Written by nobel laureate and recommended by Bill Gates. This is a fairly simple read and will prepare you for the next ones. It brings us all up to speed on the progress humanity and how 💵 indeed rules everything around us.
2. Growth by Vaclav Smil: Again a classic recommended by Bill Gates. This book is detailed and be prepared to spend anywhere close to a month to month and a half on this.
3. Enlightenment Now : You guessed, recommended Bill Gates! I did not have to read it completely because if you have already read the previous ones, you can skim through a lot in this book. It’s got lots of juice to put human progress in perspective and give you motivation to try out your own ventures.
4. Changing World Order, The rise and fall of nations : This is by Ray Dalio, an extremely successfully hedge fund manager with broad understanding of macroeconomics. He is 71 years old, giving you roughly 40 years worth of structured knowledge. I really like this book as it helped me see how every super power in the world so far from the Dutch East India company to the British East India company to Microsoft had to rely on India for its think tank. His writing is a fairly simple (and annoyingly repetitive at times) and this e-book is a quick weekend read.
5. A feast of Vultures : This one is investigative journalism at its best. Shashi Tharoor is not the only impecabble english speaking mallu that Kerala has given to the world. Josy Joseph has summarized in this book the details on corruption in India since Independence. It’s fairly unbiased and enlightened me to develop political opinions about the govt in India.This a book is an easy week long read.

Remember, these are great books to only start with. It was fairly common for me to read a few chapters and engage in independent study purely using google(Wikipedia is highly recommended) for the next couple of weeks altogether before coming back to the books again. Great reading sessions happen on an adequately satiated stomach and regular hydration. So get some healthy carbs, grab a bottle of water and dive in.