Richard Rothstein, The Color of Law. What if it turned out cities and neighborhoods aren’t segregated because it just happened that way but because segregation was an official aim of government housing policy for a long time? Rothstein explores the ways in which white homeowners and homebuyers received preferential treatment via federal programs and the like for decades. If you don’t know what “redlining” is, this The Color of Law will teach you.

Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson, The Elephant in the Brain. Robin Hanson is probably the most interesting person I’ve never met. This book explores and explains how and why so many curious behaviors emerged and survived. The chapters explaining education, medicine, and religion are especially interesting. You’ll never look at your own motivations the same way again.