King William’s Tontine: Why the Retirement Annuity of the Future Should Resemble Its Past
Moshe Milevsky
Cambridge University Press, April 2015, $54.95

In a time before bonds, treasury notes, or central banks, there were tontines. These were schemes in which a group of investors similar to a modern-day loan syndicate lent money to a government, corporation, or king. But unlike conventional debt, periodic interest payments were distributed only to survivors. As tontine nominees died, the income of survivors correspondingly increased. Morbid, perhaps, but this was one of the earliest forms of longevity insurance in which the pool shared the risk.

Moshe Milevsky tells the story of the first tontine, issued by the English government in 1693. Known as King William’s tontine, it was intended to finance the war against French King Louis XIV. Milevsky explains how tontines work, the financial and economic thinking behind them, and why they fell into disrepute. He concludes with a provocative argument that suitably modified tontines should be resurrected for 21st-century retirement income planning.

Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family
Bob Chapman and Raj Sisodia
Portfolio, October 2015, $35.95

Bob Chapman and Raj Sisodia show how any company can reject the traumatic consequences of rolling layoffs, dehumanizing rules, and hyper-competitive cultures. Once you stop treating people like functions or costs, disengaged workers begin to apply their gifts and talents toward building a shared future. Uninspired workers stop feeling that their jobs have no meaning. Frustrated workers stop taking their bad days out on their spouses and kids. And everyone stops counting the minutes until it’s time to go home.

This book chronicles Chapman’s journey to discovering his true calling, going behind the scenes as his team tackles real-world challenges with caring, empathy, and inspiration. It also provides clear steps for transforming your own workplace. As the authors put it, “Everyone wants to do better. Trust them. Leaders are everywhere. Find them. People achieve good things, big and small, every day. Celebrate them. Some people wish things were different. Listen to them. Everybody matters. Show them.”

The Devil’s Financial Dictionary
Jason Zweig
Public Affairs, October 2015, $24.99

The Devil’s Financial Dictionary skewers the plutocrats and bureaucrats who gave us exploding mortgages, freakish risks, and banks too big to fail. And it distills the complexities, absurdities, and pomposities of Wall Street into plain truths and aphorisms anyone can understand.

An indispensable survival guide to the hostile wilderness of today’s financial markets, The Devil’s Financial Dictionary delivers practical insights with a scorpion’s sting. It cuts through the fads and fakery of Wall Street and clears a safe path for investors between euphoria and despair.

Staying out of financial purgatory has never been this fun.

Crisis Wasted? Leading Risk Managers on Risk Culture
Frances Cowell and Matthew Levins
Wiley Finance, November 2015, $72.00

Risk management has become an area of focus for companies since the financial crises that shook the international community over the past decade. But, despite high levels of introspection and changes to key processes, many financial houses are still experiencing large losses. Understanding today’s risk environment can help you improve risk management tactics.

Crisis Wasted? sheds light on today’s risk management landscape through a unique collection of interviews with risk leaders in both the banking and investment industries. These interviews zero in on companies’ risk culture, effective risk management in practice, and the sometimes paradoxical effects of new regulations and how they affect decision-making in financial companies.

The Magic of Math: Solving for x and Figuring Out Why
Arthur Benjamin
Basic Books, September 2015, $33.99

The Magic of Math is the math book you wish you’d had in school. Using a delightful assortment of examples—from ice cream scoops and poker hands that teach you factorials to mnemonics that help you memorize pi—this book empowers you to see the beauty, simplicity, and truly magical properties behind those formulas and equations that once left your head spinning. You’ll learn the key ideas of classic areas of mathematics such as arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus. But you’ll also have fun fooling around with Fibonacci numbers, investigating infinity, and marvelling over mathematical magic tricks.

Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money
Nathaniel Popper
Harper Collins, May 2015, $34.99

In Digital Gold, New York Times technology and business reporter Nathaniel Popper charts the dramatic rise of bitcoin through the eyes of the movement’s colourful central characters, including an Argentinian millionaire, a Chinese entrepreneur, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, and bitcoin’s elusive creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.

The notion of this new global currency for the Internet age, maintained by the computers of users around the world, has been the butt of many jokes, but that hasn’t stopped it from growing into a technology worth billions of dollars, supported by the hordes of followers who have come to view it as the most important new idea since the creation of the Internet. Believers from Beijing to Buenos Aires see the potential for a financial system free from banks and governments. More than just a tech industry fad, bitcoin has threatened to decentralize some of society’s most basic institutions. And it has led to untold riches for some and prison terms for others.

You’ve Been Framed: How to Reframe Your Wealth Management Business and Renew Client Relationships
Ray Sclafani
Wiley, October 2015, $48.00

You’ve Been Framed is a step-by-step guide for achieving ultimate profitability and sustainability for your financial advisory firm. Whether you’re a savvy entrepreneur ready to dominate your competitors or a more experienced advisor moving toward selling your practice, this guide will help you proactively reframe your business. You’ll learn how to grow your pipeline of prospects, win the next generation of clients, and deepen your business so it can thrive without you—leaving you free to pursue what matters to you.

You’ve Been Framed gives you the perspective you need to thrive in the new financial environment and achieve sustainable success.

Heroes and Villains of Finance: The 50 Most Colourful Characters in the History of Finance
A. Baldwin
Wiley, April 2015, $27.95

Heroes and Villains of Finance is a fascinating dive into the history of money as an institution, highlighting the 50 most significant figures who, rightly or wrongly, are responsible for the financial landscape we live in today. From philosophers and bankers to fraudsters and academics, this book provides a striking introduction to the most remarkable characters. Their impact reaches far beyond the financial system itself and has helped shape the course of human history. The economic systems of today would look very different if it hadn’t been for these innovators, thought leaders, storytellers, and rebels, and this captivating examination takes you inside their stories to understand their thinking, background, perspective, and inspiration. Their actions, both positive and negative, are responsible for what we understand as finance today.

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
Ashlee Vance
Harper Collins, May 2015, $32.50

Elon Musk spotlights the technology and vision of Elon Musk—the renowned entrepreneur and innovator behind SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity—who sold one of his Internet companies, PayPal, for $1.5 billion. Ashlee Vance captures the full spectacle and arc of the genius’s life and work, from his tumultuous upbringing in South Africa and flight to the U.S. to his dramatic technical innovations and entrepreneurial pursuits.

Thorough and insightful, Elon Musk brings to life a technology industry that is rapidly and dramatically changing by examining the life of one of its most powerful and influential titans.

How Star Wars Conquered the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of a Multibillion Dollar Franchise
Chris Taylor
Basic Books, October 2015, $21.50

In 1973, a young filmmaker named George Lucas scribbled some notes for a far-fetched epic space fantasy. Some 40 years and $37 billion later, Star Wars-related products outnumber human beings, a growing storm trooper army spans the globe, and Jediism has become a religion in its own right. Lucas’s creation has grown into far more than a cinematic classic; it is, quite simply, one of the most lucrative, influential, and interactive franchises of all time. Yet, incredibly, until now, the complete history of Star Wars—its influences and impact, the controversies it has spawned, and its financial growth and long-term prospects—has never been told.

An energetic, fast-moving account of this creative and commercial phenomenon, How Star Wars Conquered the Universe explains how a young filmmaker’s fragile dream beat out a surprising number of rivals to gain a diehard, multigenerational fan base—and why it will be galvanizing our imaginations and minting money for generations to come.