Depending on your interest and goals, if you are like me and always looking for the trends in the big picture then I highly recommend being an active contrarian reader. Read what no one else is reading. Your goal is to think outside the box. To look at the world and ask “why hasn’t this been solved?” And that gives you a roadmap as to what opportunities may exist for your entrepreneurial efforts. So to that, here’s a snapshot, in no particular order, of what might help you push your intellectual boundaries:

• Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
• 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang
• Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future by Paul Mason
• Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty
• Who Gets What--And Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design by Alvin E. Roth
• The Political Economy of Participatory Economics by Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel
• The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism by Jeremy Rifkin
• Why America Misunderstands the World by Paul R. Pillar
• A Theory of Justice by John Rawls
• Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall

Depending on your interest and goals, if you are like me and always looking for the trends in the big picture then I highly recommend being an active contrarian reader. Read what no one else is reading. Your goal is to think outside the box. To look at the world and ask “why hasn’t this been solved?” And that gives you a roadmap as to what opportunities may exist for your entrepreneurial efforts. So to that, here’s a snapshot, in no particular order, of what might help you push your intellectual boundaries:

• Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
• 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang
• Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future by Paul Mason
• Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty
• Who Gets What--And Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design by Alvin E. Roth
• The Political Economy of Participatory Economics by Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel
• The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism by Jeremy Rifkin
• Why America Misunderstands the World by Paul R. Pillar
• A Theory of Justice by John Rawls
• Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall

Like Charlie Munger once said: “I’ve long believed that a certain system - which almost any intelligent person can learn - works way better than the systems most people use [to understand the world]. What you need is a latticework of mental models in your head. And, with that system, things gradually fit together in a way that enhances cognition. Just as multiple factors shape every system, multiple mental models from a variety of disciplines are necessary to understand that system". You can read this book to start building a "latticework of mental models in your head".

Studwell produces compelling answers to two of the greatest questions in development economics: How did countries like Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and China achieve sustained, high growth? And why have so few other countries managed to do so? His answers come in the form of a simple—and yet hard to execute—formula:

• (1) create conditions for small farmers to thrive,
• (2) use the proceeds from agricultural surpluses to build a manufacturing base focused on exports, and
• (3) nurture both these sectors with financial institutions closely controlled by the government.

The agriculture section of the book was particularly insightful. It provided ample food for thought for me as well as the whole Agriculture team at our foundation. And it left us thinking about whether parts of the Asian model can apply in Africa.