The Big Short by Michael Lewis
This is also the book on which the film ‘The Big Short’ is based. The book reconstructs the period from 2007 to 2008. Wall Street and a wider global financial market was running high on “sub-prime” mortgage bonds and other derivative securities, which were essentially junk bonds. Flush with money, it tracks how a small group of financiers see the scam behind the construct and decide to ‘short’ or sell these sub-prime securities. What follows is the biggest collapse of financial markets in recent times. It is not only a really incredible read, it also brings back many personal memories for me as I was stocks editor for India’s biggest business news channel at the time. The fall of Lehmann Brothers and the global stock meltdown that I was witness to, holds so many lessons for future investors and traders.
The Panama Papers: Breaking the Story of How the World’s Rich and Powerful Hide their Money by Bastian Obermayer and Frederik Obermaier
Easily a golden journalism moment, this book, written by the two reporters themselves pieces together how brave and thorough reporting by Bastian Obermayer and Frederik Obermaier uncovered how offshore companies were being used the world’s most rich and powerful to hide assets worth billions of dollars. Obermayer and Obermaier of the Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung first received this stunning data from an anonymous law firm in Panama. But what made this a ground breaking investigation was their decision to involve reporters from around 80 countries through the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Without the scale, impact and reach the ICIJ provided, this may not have been the trail-blazing story it was for data journalism.
Palestine by Joe Sacco
I am a huge fan of graphic novels and Palestine by Joe Sacco is a stunning two-volume non-fiction graphic novel about Gaza, based on his travels there and interviews with those living in Palestine. He created this moving piece of work, sometimes called ‘comics journalism’ in the early ‘90s, at the time of the first Intifada. But so much of what he has chronicled and etched out is living reality of what is unfolding in Gaza and West Bank in the present day.
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
The most powerful quality of books and great writers is their ability to move us. In recent times, I can’t recall a book that has been more striking and extraordinary in the beauty with which it has been written. As a non-fiction writer, I can only marvel at the power and magic that fiction writers wield on book lovers, and hope to create a small slice of that feeling in our work.
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