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Nicholas Kristof's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books Nicholas Kristof recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Nicholas Kristof's favorite book recommendations of all time.

1

Philanthrocapitalism

How Giving Can Save the World

For philanthropists of the past, charity was often a matter of simply giving money away. For the philanthrocapitalists-the new generation of billionaires who are reshaping the way they give-it's like business. Largely trained in the corporate world, these "social investors" are using big-business-style strategies and expecting results and accountability to match. Bill Gates, the world's richest man, is leading the way: he has promised his entire fortune to finding a cure for the diseases that kill millions of children in the poorest countries in the world.
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Recommended by Nicholas Kristof, and 1 others.

Nicholas KristofPhilanthrocapitalism is by the New York bureau chief for The Economist, Matt Bishop. It looks at the way so many hard-headed businessmen have gone into the humanitarian sphere in recent years. (Source)

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2
In the universally acclaimed and award-winning The Bottom Billion, Paul Collier reveals that fifty failed states--home to the poorest one billion people on Earth--pose the central challenge of the developing world in the twenty-first century. The book shines much-needed light on this group of small nations, largely unnoticed by the industrialized West, that are dropping further and further behind the majority of the world's people, often falling into an absolute decline in living standards. A struggle rages within each of these nations between reformers and corrupt leaders--and the... more
Recommended by Bill Gates, Nicholas Kristof, and 2 others.

Bill GatesOn the short list of books that I recommend to people. (Source)

Nicholas KristofThere’s been a tendency for people looking at global poverty to either emphasise the extraordinary difficulty in making a difference or to make it seem almost too easy. What I really liked about The Bottom Billion is that he acknowledges how difficult it can be to end poverty, but also offers some important ideas about how one can actually make a difference. (Source)

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3
The inspiring account of one man's campaign to build schools in the most dangerous, remote, and anti-American reaches of Asia.

In April 2011, the CBS documentary "60 Minutes" called into question Greg Mortenson's work. The program alleged several inaccuracies in Three Cups of Tea, and its sequel, Stones into Schools, as well as financial improprieties in the operation of Mortenson's Central Asia Institute. Questions were also raised about Mortenson's claim that he got lost near K2 and ended up in Korphe; that he was captured by the Taliban in 1996; the number of...
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Jennifer SteilGreg Mortenson has changed literally thousands and thousands of lives. (Source)

Nicholas KristofI think Greg does a very good job of providing a more nuanced portrait of the Islamic world and what is possible in it. (Source)

Gretchen PetersI went to a refugee camp after 9/11 where people were living in tents and boiling grass to make tea and at least one family offered to let me sleep in their tent. (Source)

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4
Now published in more than twenty countries, David Bornstein's How to Change the World has become the bible for social entrepreneurship--in which men and women around the world are finding innovative solutions to a wide variety of social and economic problems. Whether delivering solar energy to Brazilian villagers, expanding work opportunities for disabled people across India, creating a network of home-care agencies to serve poor people with AIDS in South Africa, or bridging the college-access gap in the United States, social entrepreneurs are pioneering problem-solving models that... more

Nicholas KristofHow to Change the World really is the Bible for do-gooders and it’s just a terrific book. (Source)

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5

For the first 5,000 copies of The Blue Sweater purchased, a $15 donation per book will be made to Acumen Fund, a nonprofit that invests in transformative businesses to solve the problems of poverty.

The Blue Sweater is the inspiring story of a woman who left a career in international banking to spend her life on a quest to understand global poverty and find powerful new ways of tackling it. It all started back home in Virginia, with the blue sweater, a gift that quickly became her prized possession—until the day she outgrew it and gave...
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Recommended by Seth Godin, Nicholas Kristof, and 2 others.

Seth GodinAs we head toward the end of the year, I think you'll find inspiration in the work of people who show up and do the work. Daily. For decades. Jacqueline Novogratz and her classic book, The Blue Sweater continue to change lives. (Source)

Nicholas KristofThe Blue Sweater is a book by somebody who has really pioneered the use of business solutions to address poverty, Jacqueline Novogratz. (Source)

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