"The Wealth of Nations" by Smith, Adam. Why workers are most often compensated per hour rather than per unit of work done? Why it was not easy to live as a free man in antique era? Was it better for a medieval serf to live in Church-owned or a noble-owned lands? Was it cheaper to own a slave or hire a worker in American colonies? Is it better to get most of your calories from bread or potatoes? How strict trade policies negatively impacted European states? Why not being allowed to public universities lead to better level of education for woman sometimes? Were all colonies managed equally well? How did the world look like on the brink of American Revolution? A lot of people, often well educated, keep repeating fringe and dangerous economic ideas (like Universal Basic Income, direct taxation of the capital or even communism) without understanding what makes the economy really work and without knowing any examples of bad economic policies ruining economies in the past. Most people, unless it is their profession requires it, don't have a natural source of reliable information on that matter and the mass media are full of myths and simplifications. This book is a wonderful journey though countless examples of how economy actually works up to the middle 18th century. By starting from a large number of observations it is very much an "Origin of Species" of the economy. Everybody should read it. Very eye opening. Sadly, it is also one of the longest books I've ever read and it takes endurance to eat thought all the references. It is much easier to read few pages of the Communist Manifesto, post class struggle rants on Facebook, join Black Lives Matter and block street traffic.
