Fareed Zakaria is a well-known Indian-American journalist, political commentator, and author. Books recommended by Fareed Zakaria are worth it and deserve all the attention they can get.
Though most of the books are Nonfiction and related to the world’s history, you can also find some business books and books on politics. Finally, we bring you 15 books recommended by Fareed Zakaria.
#1 The World is Flat by Thomas L. Freidman
About the Book
Title: The World is Flat
Author: Thomas L. Freidman
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (N.Y.)
Genre: History, Non-fiction
Pages: 593
Goodreads rating: 3.7/5
Summary
When scholars write the history of the world twenty years from now and come to chapter Y2K to March 2004, what will they say was the most crucial development? The attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 and the Iraq war? Or the convergence of technology and events that allowed India, China, and so many other countries to become part of the global supply chain for services and manufacturing, creating an explosion of wealth in the middle classes of the world’s two biggest nations, giving them a vast new stake in the success of globalization? However, with this flattening’ of the globe, which requires us to run faster to stay in one place, has the Worlddgot too small and tight for human beings and their political systems to adjust stably?
Fareed Zakaria’s Opinion
“[This book’s] insight is true and deeply important. . . . The metaphor of a flat world, used by [the author] to describe the next phase of globalization, is ingenious.”
Fareed Zakaria
To buy/ gift The World Is Flat, click on the below link:
#2 The Professor and The Madman by Simon Winchester
About the Book
Title: The Professor and The Madman
Author: Simon Winchester
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Genre: History, Non-fiction
Pages: 242
Goodreads rating: 3.9/5
Summary
The Professor and the Madman, masterfully researched and eloquently written, is an extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary — and literary history. However, the compilation of the OED, which began in 1857, was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. Moreover, as definitions were collected, the overseeing committee, led by Professor James Murray, discovered that one man, Dr. W. C. Minor, had submitted more than ten thousand. When the committee insisted on honoring him, a shocking truth came to light: Dr. Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane.
Fareed Zakaria’s Opinion
“An unbelievable tale, one that reminds us of the extraordinary range, depth and beauty of the English language.”
Fareed Zakaria
To buy/ gift The Professor and The Madman, click on the below link:
#3 Trade is Not a Four-Letter Word by Fred P. Hochberg
About the Book
Title: Trade is Not a Four-Letter Word
Author: Fred P. Hochberg
Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon Schuster
Genre: Economics, Business, Non-fiction
Pages: 336
Goodreads rating: 4.2/5
Summary
To begin with, trade—the exchange that powers the world—allows us to sell what we produce at home and purchase what we don’t. In the age of globalization, trade has joined together more people than ever, providing access to significant new markets and countless new products that have revolutionized our lives. Moreover, through the lens of six quintessential American goods, Fred P. However, Hochberg breaks down colorful and compelling real-world examples to dispel the widespread misconceptions surrounding trade. Using six widely consumed American goods—the taco salad, the minivan, the banana, the iPhone, the college degree, and the HBO series Game of Thrones—Hochberg highlights the story of America’s most surprising relationships while sharing the essentials of trade.
Fareed Zakaria’s Opinion
“[The author] has managed to do the seemingly impossible, write a breezy, smart, funny book about trade.”
Fareed Zakaria
To buy/ gift Trade is Not a Four-Letter Word, click on the below link:
#4 The Great Reversal by Thomas Philippon
About the Book
Title: The Great Reversal
Author: Thomas Philippon
Publisher: Belknap Press
Genre: Economics, Business, Non-fiction
Pages: 368
Goodreads rating: 4.2/5
Summary
Why are cell phone plans more expensive in the United States than in Europe? However, it seems a simple question. But the search for an answer took Thomas Philippon on an unexpected journey through some of the most complex and hotly debated issues in modern economics. Ultimately he reached his surprising conclusion: American markets, once a model for the world, are giving up on healthy competition. Instead, sector after economic sector is more concentrated than twenty years ago, dominated by fewer and more prominent players who lobby politicians aggressively to protect and expand their profit margins. He concludes that the government must return to what it once did best for ordinary Americans: keeping the playing field level for competition. Finally, it’s time to make American markets tremendous and accessible again.
Fareed Zakaria’s Opinion
“This is the most important book on economics I’ve read in a while. It will explains how the United States went from being a vibrant free market with low prices for consumers to one in which oligopolies and monopolies abound and consumers get shafted with higher price.”
Fareed Zakaria
To buy/ gift The Great Reversal, click on the below link:
#5 Don’t Be Evil by Rana Foroohar
About the Book
Title: Don’t Be Evil
Author: Rana Foorhar
Publisher: Currency
Genre: Economics, Technology, Non-fiction
Pages: 328
Goodreads rating: 3.9/5
Summary
“Don’t be evil” was enshrined as Google’s original corporate mantra back in its early days. Its cheerful logo still conveyed the utopian vision for a future in which technology would inevitably make the world better, safer, and more prosperous. But unfortunately, it’s been a while since Google or most Big Tech companies lived up to this founding philosophy. Today, the utopia they sought to create looks more dystopian than ever: from digital surveillance and the loss of privacy to spreading misinformation and hate speech to predatory algorithms targeting the weak and vulnerable to products engineered to manipulate our desires. So how did we get here? How did these once-scrappy and idealistic enterprises become monopolies with the power to corrupt our elections, co-opt all our data, and control the most significant single chunk of corporate wealth?
Fareed Zakaria’s Opinion
“This is a fascinating highly engaging account of the rise of big technology companies and how they have betrayed their ideals and endangered American democracy. It will make you think hard about something we tend to simply accept as normal. The way technology now dominates our lives and societies.
Fareed Zakaria
To buy/ gift Don’t Be Evil, click on the below link:
#6 The Decadent Society by Ross Douthat
About the Book
Title: The Decadent Society
Author: Ross Douthat
Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon Schuster
Genre: Politics, Non-fiction
Pages: 272
Goodreads rating: 3.8/5
Summary
However, today the Western world seems to be in crisis. But beneath our social media frenzy and reality-television politics, the deeper reality is drift, repetition, and dead ends. Moreover, the Decadent Society explains what happens when a rich and powerful society ceases advancing. How the combination of wealth and technological proficiency with economic stagnation, political stalemates, cultural exhaustion, and demographic decline creates a strange kind of “sustainable decadence,” a civilizational malaise that could endure for longer than we think. Finally, it is one of the best books recommended by Fareed Zakaria.
Fareed Zakaria’s Opinion
“I benefitted from reading this strikingly well-written book that ranges widely and intelligently over politics, economics, and culture, and captures something very essential about America today.
Fareed Zakaria
To buy/ gift The Decadent Society, click on the below link:
#7 Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall
About the Book
Title: Prisoners of Geography
Author: Tim Marshall
Publisher: Elliott & Thompson
Genre: Politics, Non-fiction
Pages: 256
Goodreads rating: 4.2/5
Summary
Firstly, all leaders of nations are constrained by geography. However, their choices are limited by mountains, rivers, seas, and concrete. News organizations and other authorities often focus on people, ideas, and political movements to understand world events, but we only have the whole picture with geography. However, in ten up-to-date maps of each region, Marshall clarifies the complex geo-political strategies of these critical parts of the globe in clear and engaging prose. For example, what does it mean that Russia must have a navy and have frozen ports for six months yearly? How does this affect Putin’s treatment of Ukraine? Why will Europe never be united? Finally, why is it that America will never be invaded?
Fareed Zakaria’s Opinion
“Ten maps that tell you everything you need to know about global politics, by Time Marshall. This is a good idea superbly executed. The book explains the world starting with geography, which in many ways is an idea of a starting point. It explains Russia, Ukraine, Kashmir, Tibet, Iraq, all through the rich lands of the map.
Fareed Zakaria
To buy/ gift Prisoners of Geography, click on the below link:
#8 Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
About the Book
Title: Talking to Strangers
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Publisher: Little, Browm, and Company
Genre: Psychology, Non-fiction
Pages: 388
Goodreads rating: 4/5
Summary
How did Fidel Castro fool the CIA for a generation, and why did Neville Chamberlain think he could trust Adolf Hitler? Why are campus sexual assaults on the rise? Do television sitcoms teach us something about how we relate to each other that isn’t true? While tackling these questions, Malcolm Gladwell was not solely writing a book for the page. He was also producing for the ear. Moreover, in the audiobook version of Talking to Strangers, you’ll hear the voices of people he interviewed–scientists, criminologists, and military psychologists. However, something is very wrong, Gladwell argues, with the tools and strategies we use to make sense of people we don’t know. And because we don’t know how to talk to strangers, we invite conflict and misunderstanding that profoundly affect our lives and world.
Fareed Zakaria’s Opinion
“I would say to you, it’s a very good formula, and he executes it so well, making this book compulsively readable and insightful. Like all of his work, agree or not, it will make you think.
Fareed Zakaria
To buy/ gift Talking to Strangers, click on the below link:
#9 A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves by Jason DeParle
About the Book
Title: A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves
Author: Jason DeParle
Publisher: Viking
Genre: Politics, Non-fiction
Pages: 382
Goodreads rating: 4.4/5
Summary
When Jason DeParle moved into the Manila slums with Tita Comodas and her family three decades ago, he never imagined his reporting on them would span three generations and turn into the defining chronicle of a new age–the age of global migration. However, in a monumental book that gives new meaning to “immersion journalism,” DeParle paints an intimate portrait of an unforgettable family as they endure years of sacrifice and separation, willing themselves out of shantytown poverty into a new global middle class. Moreover, migration is changing the world–reordering politics, economics, and cultures across the globe. Moreover, with nearly 45 million immigrants in the United States, few issues are as polarizing. But if the politics of immigration is broken, immigration itself–tens of millions of people gathered from every corner of the globe–remains an underappreciated American success.
Fareed Zakaria’s Opinion
“This is the best book on immigration I’ve read. Three decades ago, Jason DeParle moved into the Manila slums with the family. He chronicles their immigration story but through it tells the larger tale of what it all means. His empathy, intelligence and good writing shine through every page.”
Fareed Zakaria
To buy/ gift A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves, click on the below link:
#10 The Death of Truth by Michiko Kakutani
About the Book
Title: The Death of Truth
Author: Michiko Kakutani
Publisher: Tim Duggan Books
Genre: Politics, Non-fiction
Pages: 208
Goodreads rating: 3.8/5
Summary
Over the last three decades, Michiko Kakutani has been thinking about the demise of objective truth in popular culture, academia, and contemporary politics. However, in The Death of Truth, she connects the dots to reveal the slow march of untruth up to our present moment, when Red State and Blue State America have little common ground, proven science is once more up for debate, and all opinions are held to be equally valid. (And, more often than not, rudely declared online.) Finally, the crowd’s wisdom has diminished the power of research and expertise, and we are each left clinging to the “facts” that best confirm our biases.
Fareed Zakaria’s Opinion
“We all see that truth and facts have become endangered species, but we’re not really aware of why and when it happened. It didn’t start with Trump, argues Kakutani in this rich, erudite book. She brilliantly explains the cultural and political forces that brought us to our current sorry condition — a must read.”
Fareed Zakaria
To buy/gift The Death of Truth, click on the below link:
#11 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari
About the Book
Title: 21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Author: Yuval Noah Harari
Publisher: Random House
Genre: Philosophy, Non-fiction
Pages: 372
Goodreads rating: 4.2/5
Summary
How do computers and robots change the meaning of being human? How do we deal with the epidemic of fake news? Are nations and religions still relevant? What should we teach our children? Yuval Noah Harari’s 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a probing and visionary investigation into today’s most urgent issues as we move into the uncharted territory of the future. As technology advances faster than our understanding of it, hacking becomes a tactic of war. The world feels more polarized than ever; however, Harari addresses the challenge of navigating life in the face of constant and disorienting change. Finally, it is one of the best books recommended by Fareed Zakaria.
Fareed Zakaria’s Opinion
“If you liked “Sapiens” or “Homo Deus,” you will enjoy this wide-ranging, speculative look at the world today and where it is going — fascinating big think.
Fareed Zakaria
To buy/gift 21 Lessons for The 21st Century, click on the below link:
#12 Destined for War by Graham Allison
About the Book
Title: Destined for War
Author: Graham Allison
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Genre: History, Non-fiction
Pages: 384
Goodreads rating: 4.2/5
Summary
Firstly, China and the United States are heading toward a war neither wants. Thucydides’s Trap is a deadly pattern of structural stress that results when a rising power challenges a ruling one. However, this phenomenon is as old as history itself. Moreover, the historian Thucydides explained about the Peloponnesian War that devastated ancient Greece: “It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable” Over 500 years, these conditions have occurred sixteen times. War broke out in twelve of them. However, today, as an unstoppable China approaches an immovable America and Xi Jinping and Donald Trump promise to make their countries” “great again,” the seventeenth case looks grim. Unless China is willing to scale back its ambitions or Washington can accept becoming number two in the Pacific, a trade conflict, cyberattack, or accident at sea could soon escalate into an all-out war.
Fareed Zakaria’s Opinion
“A very smart and important book.”
Fareed Zakaria
To buy/gift Destined for War, click on the below link:
#13 The Inevitability of Tragedy by Barry Gewen
About the Book
Title: The Inevitability of Tragedy
Author: Barry Gewen
Publisher: W. W. Norton Company
Genre: History, Non-fiction
Pages: 480
Goodreads rating: 4.1/5
Summary
Firstly, The Inevitability of Tragedy is a fascinating intellectual biography of Henry Kissinger that examines his unique role in government through his ideas. Moreover, it analyzes the continuing controversies surrounding Kissinger’s policies in places such as Vietnam and Chile by understanding his definition of realism. However, his seemingly amoral belief that foreign affairs must be conducted through a balance of power and his “un-American” view that promoting democracy will likely result in repeated defeats for the United States. Finally, it is one of the best books recommended by Fareed Zakaria.
Fareed Zakaria’s Opinion
“A study of Kissinger’s worldview & the challenge of using power to pursue justice.”
Fareed Zakari
To buy/gift The Inevitability of Tragedy, click on the below link:
#14 Hit Makers by Derek Thompson
About the Book
Title: Hit Makers
Author: Derek Thompson
Publisher: Penguin Press
Genre: History, Non-fiction
Pages: 307
Goodreads rating: 3.9/5
Summary
Firstly, nothing “goes viral.” You’re missing the real story if you think a popular movie, song, or app came out of nowhere to become a word-of-mouth success in today’s crowded media environment. Moreover, each blockbuster has a secret history–power, influence, dark broadcasters, and passionate cults that turn some new products into cultural phenomena. However, even the most brilliant ideas wither in obscurity if they fail to connect with the right network. The consumers that matter most aren’t the early adopters but rather their friends, followers, and imitators–your audience’s audience. Finally, in his groundbreaking investigation, The Atlantic senior editor Derek Thompson uncovers the hidden psychology of why we like what we like and reveals the economics of cultural markets that invisibly shape our lives.
Fareed Zakaria’s Opinion
“Superb”
Fareed Zakari
To buy/gift Hit Maker, click on the below link:
#15 The Guarded Gate by Daniel Okrent
About the Book
Title: The Guarded Gate
Author: Daniel Okrent
Publisher: Scribner
Genre: History, Non-fiction
Pages: 496
Goodreads rating: 4/5
Summary
Firstly a forgotten, dark chapter of American history with implications for the current day, The Guarded Gate tells the story of the scientists who argued that certain nationalities were inherently inferior, providing the intellectual justification for the harshest immigration law in American history. Brandished by the upper-class Bostonians and New Yorkers—many of them progressives—who led the anti-immigration movement, the eugenic arguments helped keep hundreds of thousands of Jews, Italians, and other unwanted groups out of the U.S. for more than 40 years. However, the Guarded Gate tells the complete story from 1895 when Henry Cabot Lodge and other Boston Brahmins launched their anti-immigrant campaign. Finally, it is one of the best books recommended by Fareed Zakaria.
Fareed Zakaria’s Opinion
“A gripping account of a dark wave in American history.”
Fareed Zakari
To buy/gift The Guarded Gate, click on the below link:
P.S.: Some books recommended here are available on Kindle Unlimited. If you have subscribed to it, you can read these books. Also, check out this article: Is Kindle Unlimited Worth It?
Lastly, to conclude, here is the list of the Books recommended by Fareed Zakaria:
| 1 | The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Freidman | Buy Now |
| 2 | The Professor and The Madman by Simon Winchester | Buy Now |
| 3 | Trade is Not a Four-Letter Word by Fred P. Hochberg | Buy Now |
| 4 | The Great Reversal by Thomas Philippon | Buy Now |
| 5 | Don’t Be Evil by Rana Foorhar | Buy Now |
| 6 | The Decadent Society by Ross Douthat | Buy Now |
| 7 | Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall | Buy Now |
| 8 | Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell | Buy Now |
| 9 | A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves by Jason DeParle | Buy Now |
| 10 | The Death of Truth by Michiko Kakutani | Buy Now |
| 11 | 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari | Buy Now |
| 12 | Destined for War by Graham Allison | Buy Now |
| 13 | The Inevitability of Tragedy by Barry Gewen | Buy Now |
| 14 | Hit Makers by Derek Thompson | Buy Now |
| 15 | The Guarded Gate by Daniel Okrent | Buy Now |
We hope this list of the Books recommended by Fareed Zakaria helped you pick your recommendation. Do read them all. They are fun and informative.
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