Updated Monthly
What I’m Reading
A running log of what’s on my desk, what I’ve finished, and what made me think differently. I read across development economics, political economy, history, and long-form narrative, whatever is sharpening my thinking at the time.
Updated at the start of each month. If something here resonates, I’d genuinely like to hear why, so do write to me.
Currently Reading
- In Progress Political Economy
The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty
A compelling framework for thinking about why some societies sustain freedom and prosperity while others collapse into tyranny or anarchy. Directly relevant to the investment climate work I do. Liberty and economic openness move together.
- In Progress History
The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent
Extraordinarily detailed. I find myself reading it alongside current maps of regional integration disputes and seeing the colonial boundary-drawing in a completely new light.
- Returning To Behavioural Economics
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Re-reading chapters on loss aversion and risk with fresh eyes, now thinking about how these biases shape smallholder farmer decision-making around CSA adoption. What looks like resistance to change often looks different when you run it through System 1 and System 2.
On the Road, Listening
Long runs and long rides are reading time too. These are finished on audio rather than on the page.
- Fiction
The Three-Body Problem
Watched the series. Could not wait a year for the next season, so I read ahead.
- Language
Pimsleur Brazilian Portuguese, Levels 1 to 10
Covid gave me the classes. Pimsleur kept it going. I am still short of anyone to practise on.
- Behavioural Science
Grit: Why Passion and Resilience Are the Secrets to Success
Reassuring news for the rest of us. You do not have to be the biggest or the smartest, only the last one still going.
- Endurance
Chasing Kona: From back of the pack smoker to racing the Ironman World Championship
Straight onto the bucket list, where it has been sitting ever since.
Past Reads, Selected Log
March 2026
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Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty
The foundational argument for inclusive institutions as the driver of long-run prosperity. Read for the third time, and found new resonance in the Southern Africa regional integration context.
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Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty
The RCT approach is still contested in my field, but the granularity of how Banerjee and Duflo think about farmer behaviour is genuinely useful. The chapters on risk and insurance resonate strongly with the Zambia data.
February 2026
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The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life
Unsettling and useful in equal measure. The argument that much of human behaviour is motivated by social signalling rather than stated objectives maps uncomfortably well onto how investment climate reform gets designed and reported.
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Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World
A corrective to the instinct-driven pessimism that dominates development conversations. Best read alongside more critical work. Rosling's optimism is data-grounded, but the political economy he glosses over matters.
January 2026
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The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
Read mainly for personal reasons, restructuring my own routines, but ended up applying the habit loop framework to thinking about why institutional behaviour persists even after formal rules change. Sometimes the most useful reading is tangential.