Are We Rome? by historian Cullen Murphy examines the founding of the USA as the "New Rome" and traces our ascent as a world power and possible current decline from that position, paralelling at times closely, at times not, the rise and fall of the Roman Republic. It is a great read of history and my favorite book hands-down of 2008.

Animal Spirits by UC Berkeley economist George Akerlof and Yale economist Robert Shiller is no less than an attempt to wholly reformulate our understanding of economics through the lens of behavioral economics. More than a little cumbersome in its writing (as with prior Shiller books), it offers so far (I am on Chapter Three) fascinating and even groundbreaking insights into the likely role of consumer confidence and fear in the rise and fall of economic cycles. Written in the heat of the current economic crisis, the book promises to address remedies for how to get us out of this mess. Shiller is one of our best contemporary economists (as is Akerlof) and strikes a very reasoned balance between the competing pulls of the Chicago Classical and neo-liberal Keynesian schools of economic thought.

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