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Asokore Beckles

Reading list

What I read, and what I'd have you read.

A working list of the books that have shaped how I think about money, leadership, and the long view. Not a syllabus. A starting point. Filter by theme. The “Start here” pick in each category is the one to open first.

If you only read three

Three books that distil the rest.

One for the economist. One for the thinker. One for the Caribbean reader. Read these and you have the spine of the entire list.

Curated shelves

Four shelves. Each one a thesis.

Four shelves. Each one carries a single argument worth following. The books on it are chosen to read together rather than separately, and no book appears on more than one shelf. Pick one to start.

The full library

Filter by theme.

Cover of The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason

finance

Start here

The Richest Man in Babylon

George S. Clason

Old parables, simple rules. If nobody ever sat you down and explained how to keep what you earn, start here. Thirty minutes a chapter, the arithmetic of a lifetime.

Find it on Amazon →

Cover of Poor Economics by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo

economics

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Poor Economics

Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo

Development economics anchored in field experiments rather than theory. The Caribbean reader will recognise many of the questions. A good starting point for understanding how evidence changes policy.

Find it on Amazon →

Cover of Start with Why by Simon Sinek

leadership

Start here

Start with Why

Simon Sinek

Institutions and leaders who articulate their purpose first outperform those who lead with product or process. Useful in the Caribbean context because our public bodies often skip that step.

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Cover of Good to Great by Jim Collins

strategy

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Good to Great

Jim Collins

A study of what separates durable organisations from merely successful ones. The discipline of confronting the brutal facts is the chapter that stays with me.

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Cover of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

philosophy

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Meditations

Marcus Aurelius

A working ruler’s notebook, written without any intention of publication. The entries on attention, duty, and accepting what you cannot control have aged better than most modern self-help.

Find it on Amazon →

Cover of From Columbus to Castro by Eric Williams

caribbean

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From Columbus to Castro

Eric Williams

The foundational economic history of the Caribbean, written by a Caribbean economist who became a prime minister. Essential for understanding why our fiscal choices look the way they do.

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Cover of Naked Statistics by Charles Wheelan

data

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Naked Statistics

Charles Wheelan

Statistics without the notation. Explains what correlation, regression, and inference actually mean, which is more than many analysts in practice can articulate.

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Cover of Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

life

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Man’s Search for Meaning

Viktor E. Frankl

A psychiatrist’s account of surviving the camps, and the therapy he built from it. The central claim, that meaning is chosen, not found, is one of the few ideas that hold up under pressure.

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Cover of Common Sense by Thomas Paine

history

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Common Sense

Thomas Paine

A 47-page pamphlet that changed an empire. Still the best short primer on how a clear argument, plainly written, can do political work no treatise can.

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Cover of The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

literature

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The Remains of the Day

Kazuo Ishiguro

Ishiguro on memory, duty, and the small dignities that sustain and destroy a life. Short enough to read in a weekend, stays with you for decades.

Find it on Amazon →