Economics · Similar reads
Books like The Rise and Fall of American Growth
The best books like The Rise and Fall of American Growth are Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Enlightenment Now, and The Second Machine Age. The Rise and Fall of American Growth by Robert J. Gordon is about economic growth, technological progress, inequality. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
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Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Yuval Noah Harari · History
Sapiens traces the full arc of human history from the emergence of Homo sapiens in Africa roughly 70,000 years ago to the present.
A kindred economics read.
Read the summary → - Enlightenment Now
02
Steven Pinker · Science
Enlightenment Now is Steven Pinker's argument that the ideals of the Enlightenment — reason, science, humanism, and progress — have been responsible for a dramatic and continuing improvement in human wellbeing across virtually every measurable dimension, and that these ideals are under threat from counter-Enlightenment movements on both the left and the right.
A kindred economics read.
Read the summary → - The Second Machine Age
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Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee · Economics
The Second Machine Age is Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee's argument that digital technology has entered a qualitatively new phase — one in which machines can perform cognitive tasks previously reserved for humans, creating economic disruption and opportunity simultaneously.
Both dig into inequality.
Read the summary → - Guns, Germs, and Steel
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Jared Diamond · Science
Guns, Germs, and Steel is Jared Diamond's attempt to answer a question posed to him by a Papua New Guinean politician named Yali: why did Europeans end up with so much cargo — wealth, technology, power — while other peoples had comparatively little?
Both dig into inequality.
Read the summary → - The Wealth of Nations
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Adam Smith · Economics
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, published in 1776, is Adam Smith's comprehensive account of how modern commercial economies work and what policies promote prosperity.
A kindred economics read.
Read the summary → - Poverty, by America
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Matthew Desmond · Economics
Poverty, by America is Matthew Desmond's follow-up to Evicted, and it makes a more explicit and polemical argument: poverty in the United States is not a natural condition or a problem of insufficient resources.
Both dig into inequality.
Read the summary → - Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
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Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson · Economics
Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson argue that the fundamental difference between rich and poor countries is not geography, culture, or bad luck.
Both dig into inequality.
Read the summary → - A People's History of the United States
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A People's History of the United States
Howard Zinn · History
Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, first published in 1980, retells American history from the perspective of those who rarely appear in conventional textbooks: Native Americans, enslaved people, industrial workers, women, immigrants, and dissidents of various kinds.
Both dig into american history.
Read the summary → - American Nations
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Colin Woodard · History
American Nations is Colin Woodard's argument that North America is not a single nation but a continent of 11 distinct regional cultures, each founded by different waves of settlers with different values, institutions, and political philosophies, and that understanding those foundational cultures is more useful for explaining American political conflict than the standard red-state/blue-state framing.
Both dig into american history.
Read the summary → - Americana
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Bhu Srinivasan · History
Americana is Bhu Srinivasan's attempt to tell the history of American capitalism through its defining industries and the entrepreneurs who built them.
Both dig into american history.
Read the summary → - Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
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Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
Katherine Boo · History
Behind the Beautiful Forevers is Katherine Boo's account of three years spent in Annawadi, a Mumbai slum built on reclaimed land next to the international airport.
Both dig into inequality.
Read the summary → - Empty Mansions
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Bill Dedman · Biography
Empty Mansions is the biography of Huguette Clark, an extraordinarily wealthy woman who died in 2011 at the age of 104, having spent the last twenty years of her life in a hospital room she chose not to leave despite being in good health and owning a Santa Barbara estate, a Fifth Avenue apartment, and a Connecticut mansion — all maintained, staffed, and largely unvisited.
Both dig into american history.
Read the summary →
Books like The Rise and Fall of American Growth: quick answers
What are the best books like The Rise and Fall of American Growth?
The best books like The Rise and Fall of American Growth by Robert J. Gordon are Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker, The Second Machine Age by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Rise and Fall of American Growth, such as economic growth, technological progress, inequality.
What should I read after The Rise and Fall of American Growth?
A natural next read after The Rise and Fall of American Growth is Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. A kindred economics read. Other strong choices are Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker, The Second Machine Age by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.
What books are similar to The Rise and Fall of American Growth by Robert J. Gordon?
The Rise and Fall of American Growth centers on economic growth, technological progress, inequality. Books with a similar feel include Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker, The Second Machine Age by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
