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: History Of Technology ×
Showing 58 books in History Of Technology
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1. Prime Movers of Globalization: The History and Impact of Diesel Engines and Gas Turbines
BT: 6.73 106 comparisons
economics energy engineering history globalization +2
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2. Where is My Flying Car?
BT: 6.58 112 comparisons
economics history of technology non-fiction progress studies +1
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3. The Horse in the City: Living Machines in the Nineteenth Century
BT: 6.16 108 comparisons
19th-century history american history economic history economics +4
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4. The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation
BT: 5.20 588 comparisons
american history history history of science history of technology +3
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5. The Lunar Men
BT: 5.18 133 comparisons
biography british history economic history european history +4
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6. Off the Charts: The Hidden Lives and Lessons of America’s Child Prodigies
BT: 5.13 141 comparisons
american history biography business education +4
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7. The Big Necessity
BT: 5.07 148 comparisons
cultural studies history of technology public health sanitation +1
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8. Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb
BT: 4.58 176 comparisons
american history cold war history history history of science +4
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9. Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867-1914 and Their Lasting Impact
BT: 4.02 231 comparisons
history history of technology technology
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10. Turing’s Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe
BT: 3.70 315 comparisons
biography computer science history history history of technology +2
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11. Red Cloud at Dawn: Truman, Stalin, and the End of the Atomic Monopoly
BT: 3.53 193 comparisons
american history cold war history history history of science +5
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12. Invention of the Modern World
BT: 3.36 205 comparisons
british history colonial history economic history european history +5
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13. War: What is it Good for? The Role of Conflict in Civilisation, from Primates to Robots
BT: 2.95 230 comparisons
future studies history history of technology military history +3
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14. Accounting for Capitalism: The World the Clerk Made
BT: 2.84 240 comparisons
accounting american history business history economics +3
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15. Home Computers: 100 Icons that Defined a Digital Generation
BT: 2.75 267 comparisons
computers cultural history history of technology technology
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16. Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man
BT: 2.57 214 comparisons
biography canadian history cultural history food history +2
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17. Enemy of All Mankind
BT: 2.42 472 comparisons
economic history european history global history history +6
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18. The Awakening: A History of the Western Mind AD 500-1700
BT: 2.36 237 comparisons
ancient history early modern history history history of education +6
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19. How the World Was One: Beyond the Global Village
BT: 2.21 269 comparisons
communication globalization history history of technology +1
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20. From the American System to Mass Production, 1800-1932
BT: 1.97 274 comparisons
american history economic history history history of technology +2
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21. Death of a Pirate: British Radio and the Making of the Information Age
BT: 1.47 323 comparisons
british history economics history history of economic thought +4
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22. Marconi: The Man Who Networked the World
BT: 1.31 286 comparisons
biography history history of technology science history +1
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23. The Best of all Possible Worlds: A Life of Leibniz in Seven Pivotal Days
BT: 1.30 323 comparisons
biography history history of mathematics history of science +2
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24. Everyday Technology: Machines and the Making of India’s Modernity
BT: 1.24 311 comparisons
asian history history history of technology indian history +2
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25. The Infinite Machine: How an Army of Crypto-hackers is Building the Next Internet with Ethereum
BT: 1.21 300 comparisons
biography blockchain business cryptocurrency +2
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26. The Age of Edison: Electric Light and the Invention of Modern America
BT: 0.99 282 comparisons
american history economics history history of technology +2
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27. Moore’s Law: The Life of Gordon Moore, Silicon Valley’s Quiet Revolutionary
BT: 0.99 315 comparisons
american history biography business history +2
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28. Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand
BT: 0.87 302 comparisons
american history biography cultural history history +4
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29. The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History
BT: 0.78 525 comparisons
chinese history comparative history economic history european history +6
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30. The Man Who Invented the Computer, The Biography of John Atanasoff, Digital Pioneer
BT: 0.48 324 comparisons
biography computer science history history history of technology +1
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31. Destroyer of Worlds: The Deep History of the Nuclear Age 1895-1965
BT: 0.30 381 comparisons
history history of technology nuclear history science history
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32. Unlocking the World: Port Cities and Globalization in the Age of Steam 1830-1930
BT: 0.30 343 comparisons
economic history economics global history history +3
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33. Where is my flying car?: A memoir of future past
BT: 0.29 351 comparisons
futurism history of technology public policy technological innovation +1
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34. How Not to Network a Nation: The Uneasy History of the Soviet Internet
BT: 0.02 374 comparisons
economics history history of technology internet history +2
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35. A Culture of Improvement: Technology and the Western Millennium
BT: -0.19 354 comparisons
history history of technology technology western history
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36. Artisans and Machinery
BT: -0.38 373 comparisons
british history economic history economics history +4
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37. Fifty Inventions that Shaped the Modern Economy
BT: -0.63 573 comparisons
economics history history of technology innovation +2
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38. Rise of the Machines: A Cybernetic History
BT: -0.80 362 comparisons
cultural history history history of science history of technology +2
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39. The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the revolution that made computing personal.
BT: -0.83 538 comparisons
biography computing history history of technology +1
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40. A History of the Future: Prophets of Progress from H.G.Wells to Isaac Asimov
BT: -0.90 401 comparisons
futurology history history of science history of technology +1
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41. Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming
BT: -1.23 391 comparisons
british history economic history energy history environmental history +3
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42. The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution
BT: -1.64 767 comparisons
biography collective biography computer science digital technology +4
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43. Miracles and Machines: A Sixteenth-Century Automaton and Its Legend
BT: -1.68 408 comparisons
art art history artificial intelligence european history +8
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44. The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention
BT: -1.85 374 comparisons
british history economic history economics history +2
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45. The Great Rift: Literacy, Numeracy, and the Religion-Science Divide
BT: -2.17 326 comparisons
history history of science history of technology intellectual history +3
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46. Script & Scribble: The Rise and Fall of Handwriting
BT: -2.24 379 comparisons
cultural history history history of technology
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47. River of Shadows
BT: -2.26 324 comparisons
criticism history of technology non-fiction photography +1
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48. The Information
BT: -2.55 346 comparisons
history history of science history of technology information theory +4
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49. The Dream Machine
BT: -2.56 333 comparisons
biography computer science history history of technology +1
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50. Print History
BT: -2.57 313 comparisons
cultural history historiography history history of technology +2
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51. The Tinkerings of Robert Noyce
BT: -2.65 355 comparisons
american history biography business history +3
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52. The Great American Jetpack: The Quest for the Ultimate Personal Lift Device
BT: -2.89 324 comparisons
american history history history of technology technology
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53. The Big Score
BT: -3.02 363 comparisons
business business history history history of technology +1
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54. Cataloging the World: Paul Otlet and the Birth of the Information Age
BT: -3.59 317 comparisons
biography european history history history of technology +2
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55. The Magic of Code: How Digital Language Created and Connects Our World — and Shapes Our Future
BT: -3.90 334 comparisons
history of technology information technology social science technology
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56. Firepower: How Weapons Shaped Warfare
BT: -4.07 297 comparisons
history history of technology military history
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57. A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age
BT: -4.08 225 comparisons
biography history history of technology science +1
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58. The Big Score: The billion dollar story of Silicon Valley
BT: -4.09 279 comparisons
american history business economics entrepreneurship +3
MR Post