More about books

I read books off and on and more articles these days. I am not sure about the value of reading books and recommending them to others. But I suppose that we have to use accumulated knowledge and reading provides a part of it. Many in earlier times before internet were written by winners and their cohorts and it is not clear which books one recommends to others, particularly one's own grown up children. I guess the important idea come through anyway through articles and it is not really necessary read books apart from some poetry. Following a discussion elsewhere, I have come up with two books , one not published yet in English. In the kind of social, economic and political areas I am interested in and have very little expertise, I think that these two help us to think for ourselves emphasizing on the data over long periods to gather, seeing the components, and analysing. The first is volume one "The sources of Social Power" by Michael Mann and the second "Capital in the 21st Century" by Thomas Piketty.