SCALEBAR

The Scalebar reading list

The books behind how we read markets, energy, and power. Curated hard, no filler, no padding.

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Money and markets

The Price of Time

Edward Chancellor

The 5,000-year history of interest rates, and why cheap money distorts everything.

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Lords of Finance

Liaquat Ahamed

The four central bankers who broke the world in the 1930s. Required reading on policy error.

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When Money Dies

Adam Fergusson

Weimar hyperinflation, told day by day. The clearest warning ever written about printing.

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Energy

The Prize

Daniel Yergin

The definitive history of oil and the power it buys. Pulitzer winner, still unmatched.

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How the World Really Works

Vaclav Smil

The numbers behind energy, food, and materials. The antidote to magical thinking.

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The New Map

Daniel Yergin

Energy, climate, and the clash of nations, mapped onto today's geopolitics.

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Geopolitics and power

Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order

Ray Dalio

How empires and reserve currencies rise and fall, on a 250-year cycle.

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The World for Sale

Javier Blas and Jack Farchy

The secretive commodity traders who move the planet's oil, metal, and grain.

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Prisoners of Geography

Tim Marshall

Why mountains, rivers, and coastlines still decide what nations can and cannot do.

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