A Year in Books
See Pantheon Insights founder Dimitri Zabelin's reading list for this year - and what he's looking at in 2024.
Every year, I set out to read a minimum of one book a month across a variety of topics. I strongly believe a diversity of subjects feeds one’s intellectual curiosity and fortifies analyses of modern geopolitical affairs.
For my line of work, it is a necessity, but fortunately one which I enjoy. Geopolitical risk analysis is a field where mono-variable analyses cannot capture the full complexity of international affairs.
Rather, an eclectic, multi-faceted approach to understanding how the mosaic of economic, financial, social, and historical forces influence modern geopolitical affairs is necessary.
Below, please enjoy a list of the +15 books I had the privilege to read this year.
2023: A Year in Books
Dawn of Eurasia - Bruno Maçães
Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East - Kim Ghattas
The New Silk Roads: The Present and Future of the World - Peter Frankopan
Meganets: How Digital Forces Beyond Our Control Commandeer Our Daily Lives and Inner Realities - David B. Auerbach
The End of the World is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization - Peter Zeihan
The Hundred-Year Marathon: China's Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower - Michael Pillsbury
Sovereign Funds: How the Communist Party of China Finances Its Global Ambitions - Zongyuan Zoe Liu
Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology - Chris Miller
Beijing Rules: How China Weaponized Its Economy to Confront the World - Bethany Allen
Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives - Siddharth Kara
Geopolitical Alpha: An Investment Framework for Predicting the Future - Marko Papic
The Rumi Collection - Kabir Helminski
Why the Germans Do it Better: Notes from a Grown-Up Country - John Kampfner
The New Confessions of an Economic Hitman - John Perkins
Stoicism for Inner Peace - Einzelgänger
Countdown: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race - Shanna Swan
A (Partial) 2024 Reading List
For next year, here is an *(incomplete) sample of some books on my list for 2024:
Backfire: How Sanctions Reshape the World Against U.S. Interests - Agathe Demarais
The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations - Daniel Yergin
Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society - Nicholas A. Christakis
Aftershocks: Pandemic Politics and the End of the Old International Order - Colin Kahl and Thomas Wright
Nomads: The Wanderers Who Shaped Our World - Anthony Sattin
The Caliph and the Imam: The Making of Sunnism and Shiism - Toby Matthiesen
The Earth Transformed: An Untold History - Peter Frankopan
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