Here are 93 books that Davos Man fans have personally recommended if you like
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My name is Carl Rhodes, and I am a Professor of Management and Organization at the University of Technology Sydney. Like many others, in recent years I have become increasingly concerned, sometimes angry even, about how the organization of business and the economy is creating massive economic injustice. I am convinced that the economic system that has billionaires at its apex is deeply unfair, creating hardship, pain, and even death for too many people around the world. I am also convinced that we do not have to accept this gross injustice as being inevitable.
Guido Alani’s book traces the history of rich people in the West from the Middle Ages to now. What I especially illuminating about this book was that as far back as the 14th century people were calling for rich people to be expelled from democratic societies because they held too much power.
Alfani confronts us with the reality that the rich pretend to be ‘gods among men’ as if they do not have to play by the same rules as the rest of us. But all is not lost. Alfani insists that the rich have a fragile position in society because they are always at risk of the majority turning against them.
How the rich and the super-rich throughout Western history accumulated their wealth, behaved (or misbehaved) and helped (or didn't help) their communities in times of crisis
The rich have always fascinated, sometimes in problematic ways. Medieval thinkers feared that the super-rich would act 'as gods among men'; much more recently Thomas Piketty made wealth central to discussions of inequality. In this book, Guido Alfani offers a history of the rich and super-rich in the West, examining who they were, how they accumulated their wealth and what role they played in society. Covering the last thousand years, with frequent incursions into…
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
My name is Carl Rhodes, and I am a Professor of Management and Organization at the University of Technology Sydney. Like many others, in recent years I have become increasingly concerned, sometimes angry even, about how the organization of business and the economy is creating massive economic injustice. I am convinced that the economic system that has billionaires at its apex is deeply unfair, creating hardship, pain, and even death for too many people around the world. I am also convinced that we do not have to accept this gross injustice as being inevitable.
Ingrid Robeyns opens her book provocatively. She poses the question: ‘Can a person be too rich?’ Her answer is ‘yes’! I value this book because it opens bold new ways of thinking about what can be done about inequality. Robeyns coined the term ‘limitarianism’ to explore how democratic societies might enforce specific caps on wealth.
This limitarianism is, for Robeyns, a ‘regulative ideal’ that should inform government policy and regulation. While limitarianism may appear idealistic at first glance, I found Robeyns book to offer very practical solutions as they relate to providing true socially funded equal opportunity, implementing progressive taxation and wealth capping, and a re-orientating society to valuing equality.
"A powerful case for limitarianism-the idea that we should set a maximum on how much resources one individual can appropriate. A must-read!" -Thomas Piketty, bestselling author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century
An original, bold, and convincing argument for a cap on wealth by the philosopher who coined the term "limitarianism."
How much money is too much? Is it ethical, and democratic, for an individual to amass a limitless amount of wealth, and then spend it however they choose? Many of us feel that the answer to that is no-but what can we do about it?
My name is Carl Rhodes, and I am a Professor of Management and Organization at the University of Technology Sydney. Like many others, in recent years I have become increasingly concerned, sometimes angry even, about how the organization of business and the economy is creating massive economic injustice. I am convinced that the economic system that has billionaires at its apex is deeply unfair, creating hardship, pain, and even death for too many people around the world. I am also convinced that we do not have to accept this gross injustice as being inevitable.
How do billionaires become so rich? One story is that it is all about hard work, initiative, and special talents. If you believe that story, then you might conclude that billionaires deserve their extreme wealth. What I found especially insightful about Chuck Collins book is that he painstakingly shows that this story is bogus.
Collins delves into the realities of what he calls the ‘agents of inequality’–the accountants and lawyers who ensure that the world’s richest people maintain and extend their wealth over generations. This fascinating book lifts the veil on how the rich use everything from cash hoarding to tax evasion to trust funds to ensure that the world’s economic system remains unequal.
For decades, a secret army of tax attorneys, accountants and wealth managers has been developing into the shadowy Wealth Defence Industry. These 'agents of inequality' are paid millions to hide trillions for the richest 0.01%.
In this book, inequality expert Chuck Collins, who himself inherited a fortune, interviews the leading players and gives a unique insider account of how this industry is doing everything it can to create and entrench hereditary dynasties of wealth and power. He exposes the inner workings of these "agents of inequality", showing how they deploy anonymous shell companies, family offices, offshore accounts, opaque trusts, and…
A poisonous maiden, a Daoist sex cult, and a violent insurgency.
The polyandrous Yan family in China's rural Shaanxi Province takes in two carpenter brothers. When one brother is convicted of murder after killing their neighbor in a dispute, a constable threatens to expose the family's rumored polyandry and extorts…
My name is Carl Rhodes, and I am a Professor of Management and Organization at the University of Technology Sydney. Like many others, in recent years I have become increasingly concerned, sometimes angry even, about how the organization of business and the economy is creating massive economic injustice. I am convinced that the economic system that has billionaires at its apex is deeply unfair, creating hardship, pain, and even death for too many people around the world. I am also convinced that we do not have to accept this gross injustice as being inevitable.
Jonathan Taplin’s excellent book focuses on just four billionaires–Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, and Marc Andreessen. What I found special about this book is that it shows how these billionaires have created and sold utopian futures to the world, whether they come in the form of the metaverse, cryptocurrency, space travel, or transhumanism.
Even more disturbing is Taplin’s argument that under the pretense of these utopias, billionaires have been able to grow their wealth and power without interference from the government. Meanwhile, inequality continues to expand, nature is replaced with technology, and oligarchy gets more and more entrenched. In short, billionaire utopian visions are a distraction from the real and present danger of gross economic inequality.
'A wake-up call ... fascinating' Scott Galloway, author of The Four
'Please read this' Jaron Lanier, author of Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media
From the author of Move Fast and Break Things comes a withering takedown of four billionaires (from Andreessen to Zuckerberg) who are selling us fantasies while the world burns.
At a time when multiple crises are compounding to create epic inequality, four billionaires are hyping schemes that are designed to divert our attention away from issues that really matter. Each scheme - from the metaverse to cryptocurrency, space travel and transhumanism - is an existential…
I've been reading romance since I was a teenager; historical, modern, fantasy, you name it, I devoured it. Give me all the books with epic love stories, will they or won’t they, and happily ever afters. Although I didn’t tell anyone besides my mom about my writing for years, I can’t remember a time when I wasn't crafting my own love stories. In my books, I like to keep my readers guessing and challenge assumptions about people and what love can accomplish. The best romance stories include heartbreak and misunderstandings along the way, but that makes the endings that much sweeter. Happy Reading XO
Who doesn’t love a grumpy sunshine, workplace romance? I know I love it.
Give me the drama, awkward scenes, and that moment when the sunshine character outsmarts the Grump and cracks that hardshell to reveal they are also capable of sunshine. The chemistry between these two just jumps off the page for me. I know you’re going to love the angst.
Rowan I’m in the business of creating fairy tales. Theme parks. Production companies. Five-star hotels. Everything could be all mine if I renovated Dreamland. My initial idea of hiring Zahra was good in theory, but then I kissed her. Things spiraled out of control once I texted her using an alias. By the time I realized where I went wrong, it was too late. People like me don’t get happy endings. Not when we’re destined to ruin them.
Zahra After submitting a drunk proposal criticizing Dreamland’s most expensive ride, I should have been fired. Instead, Rowan Kane offered me a…
As an economics professor, I’ve spent the past twenty years researching why cities build upward. Though I mostly look at cities through the lens of statistics and data, every building has a personal and dramatic story that exists behind the numbers. And no matter where you go in the world, great cities with their towering skyscrapers all owe a debt to New York—every city wants its own version of the Empire State Building to signal its economic might. New York is the world’s metropolis. As the (now cliché) song line goes, “If I can make there, I’ll make it anywhere,” is a true today as a century ago.
If you stroll through Central Park, as I frequently do, you can’t help but notice the string of supertall, superslim towers lording over Central Park South. Many New Yorkers decry them as creating excessive shadows and driving gentrification. However, viewing them from the park, you can see how they naturally fit into the Manhattan skyline—the skyline that created the world’s greatest city.
Katherine Clarke’s book chronicles the developers who brought forth these ultraluxury towers. It dramatically highlights the game of 3D chess these New York titans must play to realize their skyscraper dreams. Some win, and some lose—but that’s the striver’s tale in Gotham.
A “thrilling” (Financial Times) fly-on-the-wall account of the ferocious ambition, greed, and one-upmanship behind the most expensive real estate in the world: the new Manhattan megatowers known as Billionaires’ Row—from a staff reporter at The Wall Street Journal
“Deeply informative, delightfully entertaining, and addictively readable.”—Diana B. Henriques, bestselling author of The Wizard of Lies
A CEO Magazine Best Book of the Year • Longlisted for the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award
To look south and skyward from Central Park these days is to gaze upon a physical manifestation of tens of billions of dollars in…
Big Ideas... For Small Businesses
by
John Lamerton,
Big Ideas… for Small Businesses is a straight-talking, no-nonsense guide to growing a small business without sacrificing your lifestyle. Written by a former civil servant turned entrepreneur, the book challenges hustle culture and instead champions the idea of an "ambitious lifestyle business" - one that provides freedom and financial stability,…
I am an award-winning author of sex-positive contemporary romance and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. As a reader, I’ve grown weary of Native American romance characters who are mostly caricatures and stereotypes. Last year, I went on a quest to find romance stories that portrayed contemporary Native characters experiencing love as they navigated real life in the 21st century. And who better to tell those stories than Native authors using their own voice? Now that I’ve found several great Native romance authors, I want to share these recommendations far and wide. Come, come, read Native romance!
I don’t usually read billionaire romance because the billionaires are often crappy humans, and I don’t enjoy reading about crappy people getting a happily-ever-after. This book was a great exception. Adam Redhawk isn’t just a billionaire, he’s an Eastern Band Cherokee billionaire who was taken from his home and community when he was a child. Now he’s hired a PI to help him find his long-lost siblings to reconnect with the past that was stolen from him. I enjoyed the romance and the characters a lot. If you read billionaire romance, let this be one of them.
Will the woman he can’t resist be his downfall? Find out, only from USA TODAY bestselling author Robin Covington!
In the boardroom—and the bedroom—they’re on fire.
But will her secrets destroy them both?
Investigator Tess Lynch once helped Adam Redhawk find his Cherokee family. Now the self-made tech billionaire wants her to root out his company’s saboteur—and share his bed. But as passion builds between them, the private eye pursues a plan of her own—to get even for the way Adam’s adoptive father ruined hers. Until an unexpected pregnancy changes everything…
From Harlequin Desire: Luxury, scandal, desire—welcome to the lives…
I have always loved reading fiction novels with a fast-paced plot and an unexpected ending that surprises me. In my own Dr. Kyle Chandler Thriller Series, I try to use this same thought-provoking pattern that also includes quick dialogue with an underlying sexual tension between the male and female protagonists to keep the readers’ interest. Using this, I feel I am conveying my passion for the characters and plot to the reader. I believe that this theme of fast-paced, twisting plots matched with surprise endings is shown with clarity in all five of the books I have recommended in this list.
While many of John Grisham’s novels are legal-based courtroom thrillers, this is not. As a result, I personally think this is one of his most interesting thrillers.
With a cadre of selfish family members circling the waters after the suicide death of their eccentric patriarch billionaire, the plot shifts to the wilds of the primitive Amazon rainforest as a recovering alcoholic attorney tries to track down the real heir to the vast family fortune.
I loved the vivid description of the water-filled jungle that made you feel right in the middle of the journey. His intense description of the protagonist fighting to overcome his lurking addiction while on his mission to make things right made you want to keep turning the pages until you reached the startling ending.
Troy Phelen is one of the richest men in the United States, and he's looking for a way to die.
He might just have found it.
Nate O'Riley is a high-powered Washington litigator who's lived hard and fast for too long. Emerging from his fourth stay in rehab, he knows returning to the real world is going to be murder.
Meanwhile Troy's estranged daughter walked away from the modern world and devoted her life to God, moving to the isolated deep jungles of Brazil.
When Troy dies and leaves a shocking will behind him, three lives collide with vast…
I am a professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, and I am interested in global capitalism, financial elites, and all aspects of how people broker capital deals. I am a scholar of anti-heroes who studies all of the ways that people play in the gray. My first book, Dealing in Desire, is an ethnography where I embedded myself in several different hostess bars to study the relationship between sex work and financial deal-making. I grew up in California but have lived most of my adult life in Ho Chi Minh City, Houston, Boston, and Chicago.
I loved this book because it takes you inside the exclusive world of the ultra-wealthy within the United States and shows how the richest are exploiting the natural environment in Teton County, Wyoming, to solve personal existential crises.
The author managed to get incredible access to prominent tech CEOs, Wall Street financiers, and other ultra-high-net-worth individuals who have moved to a place where they can profit from their environmental philanthropy while also contributing to ever-widening economic inequality by privatizing public goods. I thought this book provided a fair yet fascinating insight into the contradictions of philanthropy, which allow the rich to donate in ways that absolve themselves from the guilt of the inequality that they contribute to.
A revealing look at the intersection of wealth, philanthropy, and conservation
Billionaire Wilderness takes you inside the exclusive world of the ultra-wealthy, showing how today's richest people are using the natural environment to solve the existential dilemmas they face. Justin Farrell spent five years in Teton County, Wyoming, the richest county in the United States, and a community where income inequality is the worst in the nation. He conducted hundreds of in-depth interviews, gaining unprecedented access to tech CEOs, Wall Street financiers, and other prominent figures in business and politics. He also talked with the rural poor who live among…
The problem is not with the actions young women take but with the toxic, sexist conditions they are responding to.
Tanenbaum found, based on six years of interviews with young people ages 14-30, that young women are navigating a culture littered with gendered dress codes, revenge porn, and sexually explicit…
After a long career in other forms of writing including but not limited to journalism, TV writing, nonfiction book authoring, I began writing contemporary romance novels two years ago and I haven’t gotten off the couch or closed my laptop since then. I write sweet, spicy books about quirky heroines and the men who can’t live without them. When I’m not writing, I’m perfecting the right ratio of coffee to milk, hustling my 2 rescue dogs around the neighborhood, or running up a hill in search of a view.
Computer nerd meets billionaire! Nothing better than a college one-night-stand who comes back into Melody’s life as the boss’s son and her lingering flame. Smart women (in STEM, no less) will always be catnip for me as a reader because I love the inner conflict between hard-fought career goals and wanderings of the heart. In this book, watching Melody hold her ground in the face of wayward Jeremy made my heart happy—she’s funny, smart, and willing to put her heart on the line when it matters. And for his part, Jeremy’s the guy you love to hate until you just fall for him completely. This is the first book in the Chemistry Lessons series and each subsequent book delivers as well.
Opposites attract when a nerdy computer whiz meets billionaire playboy.
The last thing Melody expects when she accepts a dream job offer is to run into her college one-night stand again. Not only does the hunky blast from her past work at the same aerospace company where she's just started in the IT department, he's the CEO's son.
Jeremy's got a girlfriend and a reputation as a bad boy, so Melody resolves to keep her distance and focus on building a new life for herself in Los Angeles. But despite her good intentions, she can't seem to stay away from…