I’m working on a project that will help people navigate the coming tumultuous 2020s, and emerge wealthier and stronger than before.

While researching this project, these are the books which most informed my understanding of where America is at, and how the crisis will unfold throughout the coming decade.

I like to multi-task by listening to books while I do chores like laundry and dishes. Sometimes I will re-listen on double-speed to review what I learned the first time around.

Click here to try out Audible Premium Plus and receive two free audiobooks (Amazon affiliate link).

1. The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age

• Takes a broad look at large cycles of 500 years
• Analyzes the four main eras of humanity: hunter gatherer, farming, industrial, and now information age
• This time not just a 500 year transition, but also transition into information age
• The nation-state’s power will fade away, like the church during the Renaissance, or Rome after the year 500

The Sovereign Individual (Amazon affiliate link)

2. The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy

• Zooms in to look at 80 year cycles, split into 20 year generations
• Starting from the revolutionary war, we are now due for the typical 80 year Fourth Turning
• This leads to a new era where major change occurs that “no one” predicted
• This culminates in a crisis, and when the crisis is solved, a new order emerges

The Fourth Turning (Amazon affiliate link)

3. The Storm Before the Calm: America’s Discord, the Coming Crisis of the 2020s, and the Triumph Beyond

• More recent book that looks at what is happening now– why people feel left out and angry
• Looks more at 50 year economic cycles– coming to an end at the same time as the 80 year social cycle
• Dives more into what will happen politically– the two party system as we know it will not survive
• There will be a new coalition of working class Americans as a backlash to “technocracy”– rule by “experts”

The Storm Before the Calm (Amazon affiliate link)

4. Principles for Dealing with a Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail

• Brand new book from a self-made billionaire investor who runs the biggest hedge fund in the world
• Also talks about the culmination of the 80 and 50 year social and economic cycles, but focuses on economic problems
• Says late in a debt cycle, what has been profitable for everyone in living memory becomes dangerous: right now, that means debt assets
• The future will NOT look like the past, and the best solution is to diversify

Principles for Dealing with a Changing World Order (Amazon affiliate link)

Bonus: American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America

• Provides historical context to where the political fault lines run in America– not as clear cut as left versus right
• Geography has played a major role in American politics from the beginning and still does
• Several regions have distinct cultures which make them their own “nation” (but not politically, which causes problems)
• These nations could prove to be the binding glue in new political arrangements if the centralized United States nation-state becomes less powerful, or ceases to exist

American Nations (Amazon affiliate link)

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