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Books Tyler Cowen recommends

Public list compiled from their own recommendations. Economist at George Mason University and co-author of the blog Marginal Revolution.

Compiled by Kaffe from public sources, with a link to each one. Tyler Cowen is not affiliated with Kaffe.

  1. Dialogues by Plato: on his top-10 most influential books (MR 2010); taught him philosophical thinking and meta-rationality source
  2. The Incredible Bread Machine by Susan Love Brown et al.: on his top-10 most influential books (MR 2010); first economics book he read source
  3. Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand: on his top-10 most influential books (MR 2010); production and producer freedom source
  4. Individualism and Economic Order by Friedrich A. Hayek: on his top-10 most influential books (MR 2010); market as discovery procedure source
  5. The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money by John Maynard Keynes: on his top-10 most influential books (MR 2010); new ideas on nearly every page source
  6. Autobiography by John Stuart Mill: on his top-10 most influential books (MR 2010); how ideas should change over a lifetime source
  7. Word and Object by W. V. O. Quine: on his top-10 most influential books (MR 2010); read as a book on reaching deeper understanding source
  8. Reasons and Persons by Derek Parfit: on his top-10 most influential books (MR 2010); limits of individualistic ethics source
  9. Sexual Personae by Camille Paglia: on his top-10 most influential books (MR 2010); spurred his writing on the economics of culture source
  10. Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust: on his top-10 most influential books (MR 2010); still the best book on interiority source
  11. Think Like a Grandmaster by Alexander Kotov: books with hidden influence on him (MR 2017); calls it one of the best books he has read; learning by doing source
  12. On the Calculation of Volume (I & II) by Solvej Balle: Best fiction of 2025 (MR); very strong series; read vol. III ahead in German source
  13. The Prisoner of Ankara by Suat Derviş: Best fiction of 2025 (MR); mid-century Turkish novel newly in English source
  14. V13: Chronicle of a Trial by Emmanuel Carrère: Best fiction of 2025 (MR); nonfiction that reads like fiction source
  15. Dealing with the Dead by Alain Mabanckou: Best fiction of 2025 (MR); held his interest throughout source
  16. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai: Best fiction of 2025 (MR); one of the year's very strong entries source
  17. Adam and Eve in Paradise by Eça de Queirós: Best fiction of 2025 (MR); 19th-century novella newly translated source
  18. Arise, England: Six Kings and the Making of the English State by Caroline Burt, Richard Partington: Best non-fiction books of 2025 (MR) source
  19. Kerala: 1956 to the Present by Tirthankar Roy, K. Ravi Raman: Best non-fiction books of 2025 (MR) source
  20. Open Socrates by Agnes Callard: Best non-fiction books of 2025 (MR) source
  21. The Sound of Utopia: Musicians in the Time of Stalin by Michael Krielaars: Best non-fiction books of 2025 (MR) source
  22. Rethinking the Atlantic Slave Trades by David Eltis: Best non-fiction books of 2025 (MR) source
  23. In the Brewing Luminous: The Life and Music of Cecil Taylor by Philip Freeman: Best non-fiction books of 2025 (MR) source
  24. Breakneck by Dan Wang: Best non-fiction books of 2025 (MR) source
  25. The Party's Interests Come First by Joseph Torigian: Best non-fiction books of 2025 (MR) source
  26. The Scaling Era: An Oral History of AI, 2019-2025 by Dwarkesh Patel et al.: Best non-fiction books of 2025 (MR) source
  27. Violent Saviors by William Easterly: Best non-fiction books of 2025 (MR) source
  28. Orange Sky, Rising Water by Nicholas Walton: Best non-fiction books of 2025 (MR) source
  29. Derek Parfit: His Life and Thought by Jeff McMahan (ed.): Best non-fiction books of 2025 (MR) source
  30. Maxims by François de La Rochefoucauld: honorable mention on self-deception (MR 2010) source
  31. The Western Canon by Harold Bloom: honorable mention on influence list (MR 2010) source
  32. My 60 Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer: books with hidden influence on him (MR 2017); classicism in thinking and method source
  33. The Codebreakers by David Kahn: books with hidden influence on him (MR 2017); read young; problems are to be solved source
  34. The Trachtenberg Speed System of Basic Mathematics by Jakow Trachtenberg, Rudolph McShane: books with hidden influence on him (MR 2017); mainstream methods are not the only ones source
  35. The Poems of Seamus Heaney by Seamus Heaney: Best fiction of 2025 (MR); listed before receiving it source

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