Marginal Revolution Book Rankings

Tyler and Alex's favorites from Marginal Revolution

How it works: I scraped every post categorized under 'books'. Then extracted book titles and relevant review context from each post. I then submitted a couple million pairs of reviews to an LLM to compare and determine which book review had more positive sentiment. I used these comparisons to fit a Bradley-Terry model which produces these rankings. I racked up a gemini bill so stopped shy of exhaustive 16 million comparisons, so it's not perfect, but roughly accurate.

Genre: Current Events ×
Showing 54 books in Current Events
What Catalans Want: Could Catalonia be Europe’s Next State?
1. What Catalans Want: Could Catalonia be Europe’s Next State?
BT: 7.80 99 comparisons
current events european politics european studies political science +2
MR Post
C
2. China’s World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict
BT: 5.61 103 comparisons
asian studies china chinese economics chinese politics +5
MR Post
N
3. Nightmare Scenario
BT: 4.16 184 comparisons
american history current events history journalism +2
MR Post
E
4. Europe at the Crossroads
BT: 3.61 213 comparisons
current events economics european economics european politics +2
MR Post
C
5. Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World
BT: 3.50 188 comparisons
current events economic history economics finance +2
MR Post
P
6. Paper Promises: Debt, Money, and The New World Order
BT: 2.34 293 comparisons
current events economic history economics finance +2
MR Post
B
7. Behind the Beautiful Forevers
BT: 1.65 220 comparisons
current events india non-fiction social commentary
MR Post
B
8. Beef, Bible, and Bullets: Brazil in the Age of Bolsonaro
BT: 1.65 287 comparisons
brazilian history current events history politics +2
MR Post
T
9. The Post-American World
BT: 1.62 288 comparisons
current events economics geopolitics globalization +4
MR Post
T
10. The Twilight of the Non-Elites
BT: 1.59 304 comparisons
american studies current events politics social commentary +1
MR Post
H
11. How Long Will South Africa Survive?: The Looming Crisis
BT: 1.37 333 comparisons
african studies current events economics politics +1
MR Post
D
12. Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East
BT: 1.35 320 comparisons
current events international relations middle east studies politics
MR Post
C
13. China’s Asian Dream: Empire Building Along the New Silk Road
BT: 0.84 326 comparisons
asian studies china current events economics +3
MR Post
A
14. And the Money Kept Rolling In
BT: 0.80 355 comparisons
argentine history current events economics history +2
MR Post
B
15. Bring Me My Machine Gun: The Battle for the Soul of South Africa from Mandela to Zuma
BT: 0.62 335 comparisons
african history current events history politics +1
MR Post
T
16. The End of the Euro
BT: 0.57 371 comparisons
current events economics european economics european politics +1
MR Post
T
17. The Great Stagnation: How America Ate All The Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History,Got Sick, and Will (Eventually) Feel Better
BT: 0.55 817 comparisons
american economics american history current events economic policy +5
MR Post MR Post +1 more
T
18. The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium
BT: -0.16 1041 comparisons
current events non-fiction politics social science +2
MR Post MR Post +2 more
K
19. Kingdom in Crisis: Thailand’s Struggle for Democracy in the 21st Century
BT: -0.25 382 comparisons
asian history current events history political science +3
MR Post
T
20. The Long Hangover: Putin’s New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past
BT: -0.33 361 comparisons
current events european history history international relations +2
MR Post
T
21. The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century
BT: -0.39 316 comparisons
american politics current events economic policy economics +2
MR Post
D
22. Divided: Why We’re Living in an Age of Walls
BT: -0.50 350 comparisons
current events demography geopolitics international relations +1
MR Post
I
23. In Covid’s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us
BT: -0.59 364 comparisons
current events history politics public policy
MR Post
T
24. The Impossible Revolution: Making Sense of the Syrian Tragedy
BT: -0.63 586 comparisons
current events history middle eastern politics political science +4
MR Post MR Post
T
25. The Elements of Power: A Story of War, Technology, and the Dirtiest Supply Chain on Earth
BT: -0.66 374 comparisons
african history central african studies conflict minerals contemporary history +8
MR Post
B
26. Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World
BT: -0.76 348 comparisons
business current events economics finance +2
MR Post
K
27. Kaput: The End of the German Miracle
BT: -0.84 357 comparisons
current events economics german economics german politics +2
MR Post
R
28. Red Flags: Why Xi’s China Is In Jeopardy
BT: -1.06 359 comparisons
asian studies china chinese economics chinese politics +4
MR Post
R
29. Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam and the West
BT: -1.08 375 comparisons
cultural studies current events european politics immigration +3
MR Post
T
30. The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure
BT: -1.30 423 comparisons
cultural criticism current events education non-fiction +4
MR Post
I
31. In Gold We Trust: The Future of Money in an Age of Uncertainty
BT: -1.30 441 comparisons
current events economics finance financial technology +4
MR Post
W
32. Who is Charlie?
BT: -1.42 985 comparisons
cultural studies current events french history french politics +7
MR Post MR Post +1 more
E
33. Economics in One Virus: An Introduction to Economic Reasoning Through Covid-19
BT: -1.45 652 comparisons
current events economics health economics public policy
MR Post MR Post
P
34. Pinched: How the Great Recession has Narrowed Our Futures and What We Can Do About It
BT: -1.63 391 comparisons
current events economics labor economics public policy +3
MR Post
T
35. The In/Out Question
BT: -1.63 343 comparisons
current events european politics international relations politics +1
MR Post
A
36. And the Weak Suffer What They Must?: Europe’s Crisis and America’s Future
BT: -1.73 381 comparisons
current events economics european economics european politics +3
MR Post
B
37. Breaking Sudan: The Search for Peace
BT: -1.80 550 comparisons
african history conflict studies current events history +4
MR Post
T
38. The Occupy Handbook
BT: -1.93 369 comparisons
current events economics politics social commentary
MR Post
A
39. Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles
BT: -1.95 375 comparisons
african studies current events history non-fiction +1
MR Post
F
40. Farewell, Fred Voodoo: A Letter from Haiti
BT: -2.08 392 comparisons
caribbean history current events economics haiti +2
MR Post
T
41. To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism
BT: -2.09 717 comparisons
catholicism current events politics religion +1
MR Post
H
42. History has Begun: The Birth of a New America
BT: -2.26 375 comparisons
american history current events history politics
MR Post
O
43. Out on a Limb: Selected Writing, 1989-2021
BT: -2.47 299 comparisons
current events essays journalism political commentary +2
MR Post
T
44. The Leaderless Economy: Why the World Economic System Fell Apart and How to Fix It
BT: -2.48 353 comparisons
current events economics global economy international economics +2
MR Post
N
45. National Populism: The Revolt Against Liberal Democracy
BT: -2.57 302 comparisons
current events european politics political science politics +1
MR Post
T
46. The Shifts and the Shocks: What We’ve Learned — And Still Have to Learn — From the Financial Crisis
BT: -3.00 271 comparisons
current events economic history economics finance +1
MR Post
L
47. Lawless: The Obama Administration’s Unprecedented Assault on the Constitution and the Rule of Law
BT: -3.15 345 comparisons
american politics constitutional law current events law +2
MR Post
L
48. Limitless: The Federal Reserve Takes on a New Age of Crisis
BT: -3.30 338 comparisons
american politics central banking current events economics +2
MR Post
A
49. A Shot to Save the World: The Inside Story of The Life-or-Death Race for a Covid-19 Vaccine
BT: -3.65 340 comparisons
contemporary history current events medical science non-fiction +2
MR Post
T
50. Time for Socialism: Dispatches from a World on Fire, 2016-2021
BT: -3.87 260 comparisons
current events economics political economy politics +1
MR Post
T
51. The Fifth Risk
BT: -3.87 194 comparisons
american politics current events non-fiction politics +1
MR Post
S
52. Strength in What Remains
BT: -3.97 241 comparisons
african history current events history non-fiction +1
MR Post
T
53. Things That Can and Cannot Be Said
BT: -6.26 87 comparisons
current events journalism national security politics +1
MR Post
B
54. Bad Money
BT: -6.66 188 comparisons
american economics current events economic history economics +2
MR Post MR Post