These are a few of the books and articles I’ve found helpful in understanding the current world. I obviously don’t agree and endorse everything presented therein, but taken as a whole, they have given me a better understanding of the awesome confluence of societal forces at work today.

Technology / Business

The Long Tail by Chris Anderson

The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

Made to Stick by Dan and Chip Heath

Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky

The Wisdom of Crows by James Surowiecki

Finance / Economics

Web of Debt by by Ellen Hodgson Brown

Crash Proof by Peter D. Schiff and John Downes

The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve by G. Edward Griffin

Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins

Energy / Environment

The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight by Thom Hartmann

The Party’s Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies by Richard Heinburg

The Culture of Make Believe by Derrick Jensen

The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler

When Corporations Rule the World by David Korten

The Great Turning by David Korten

The End of Oil: On the edge of a Perilous New World by Paul Roberts

The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs

Beyond Civilization by Daniel Quinn

Food

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

The End of Food by Paul Roberts

Politics / Geopolitics

Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet by Michael Klare

Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing by Stephen Marshall

The Revolution by Ron Paul

Bad Money by Kevin Phillips

The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein

Cautionary Fiction

The Shell Game by Steve Alten

World Made by Hand by James Howard Kunstler

The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Stand by Stephen King