● Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer
By Dean Baker
Summary via publisher (Center for Economic and Policy Research)
There has been an enormous upward redistribution of income in the United States in the last four decades. In his most recent book, Baker shows that this upward redistribution was not the result of globalization and the natural workings of the market. Rather it was the result of conscious policies that were designed to put downward pressure on the wages of ordinary workers while protecting and enhancing the incomes of those at the top. Baker explains how rules on trade, patents, copyrights, corporate governance, and macroeconomic policy were rigged to make income flow upward.

● Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future
By Joi Ito and Jeff Howe
Summary via publisher (Grand Central Publishing)
The world is more complex and volatile today than at any other time in our history. The tools of our modern existence are getting faster, cheaper, and smaller at an exponential rate, just as billions of strangers around the world are suddenly just one click or tweet or post away from each other. When these two revolutions joined, an explosive force was unleashed that is transforming every aspect of society, from business to culture and from the public sphere to our most private moments.
Such periods of dramatic change have always produced winners and losers. The future will run on an entirely new operating system. It’s a major upgrade, but it comes with a steep learning curve. The logic of a faster future oversets the received wisdom of the past, and the people who succeed will be the ones who learn to think differently. In Whiplash, Joi Ito and Jeff Howe distill that logic into nine organizing principles for navigating and surviving this tumultuous period.

● The Breaking Point: Profit from the Coming Money Cataclysm
By James Dale Davidson
Summary via publisher (Humanix)
The global economy as we know it is due for a major correction, and with this will come permanent, systemic change: the greatest economic freedom the world has ever seen. But hard financial times are ahead, and The Breaking Point will help you protect your wealth and prosper through it all. Providing a painfully clear view of the state of the global economy, outspoken economist James Dale Davidson uses the old-fashioned tool of argument-facts-to describe how governments have mismanaged the financial system to the point of no return. It has all led to Brexit-the opening salvo in the war for financial freedom.

● Money Does Grow On Trees: The Family Tree: Financial Wisdom For Intergenerational Growth
By Trey Smith
Summary via Amazon
We all want to protect our families. We work our jobs to put food on the table, to keep a roof over their heads, and to provide for them. With a solid financial plan in place, you can go that extra step to know that your financial and moral legacy will continue to comfort them for generations to come.
Inside, financial planner Trey Smith imparts his knowledge and experience to his own family and to yours. In each section, Trey tackles a different stage in life and the strategies you can use to overcome life’s biggest challenges: knowledge for couples progressing through life, guidance for those who have lost a loved one, and direction for young adults just beginning their financial journey. Because it’s written as guidance for Trey’s own wife and children, you can trust that it is heartfelt and honest.

● Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers
By Tim Ferriss
Summary via publisher (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Tim Ferriss, on his hugely popular podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show, has interviewed top performers of every type. Here, in the ultimate self-help book, he distills and tests the key insights from these elite athletes and adventurers, entrepreneurs and executives, creative thinkers, researchers, and more, to help readers learn to become healthy, wealthy, and wise.