Nobel Prize Winners 2008

I always like reading about each year's Nobel Laureates.

The Nobel Prize Winners announced last week and today are:

Physiology or Medicine
Harald zur Hausen, for his discovery of "human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer"
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and
Luc Montagnier, for their discovery of the "human immunodeficiency virus" (click here to watch a PBS Frontline video about it)

Physics
Yoichiro Nambu, "for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics"
Makoto Kobayashi and
Toshihide Maskawa, "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature"

Chemistry - "for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP" (isolated from jellyfish)
Osamu Shimomura
Martin Chalfie
Roger Y. Tsien

Literature
Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, French writer of more than 40 books

Peace
Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland who is knowsn for his peace efforts and cautious diplomacy (particularly in Africa)

Economic Sciences
Paul Krugman (MIT PhD ’77), "for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity"

I'll have to see if I can get a copy of one of Le Clézio's books and Paul Krugman's The Return of Depression Economics (click here to read an excerpt and click here to view the table of contents) or any of his other books at my local library.

Financial Crisis Books

As the stock market continues its massive decline, I find myself wanting to read more books about economics and financial history.

I've read The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance (which I highly recommend) and The Power of Gold: the History of an Obsession; I'd like to read the recently published books about Warren Buffett and Goldman Sachs and there are some other books that seem relevant.

• Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960 by Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz (1971)
• Manias, Panics and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises by Charles Kindleberger (1975) -- click here to read an excerpt and click here to view the table of contents.
• The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World by Niall Ferguson (2008) -- to be published in November 2008
• Essays on the Great Depression by Ben Bernanke (2004) - click here to read an excerpt and click here to view the table of contents;
• The Return of Depression Economics by Paul Krugman (2000) -- click here to read an excerpt and click here to view the table of contents
• Origins of the Crash: The Great Bubble and Its Undoing by Roger Lowenstein (2004) -- click here to read an excerpt and click here to view the table of contents
• A Short History of Financial Euphoria by John Kenneth Galbraith (1990) -- click here to view the table of contents
• Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter L. Bernstein (1998) -- click here to view the table of contents
• The Subprime Solution: How Today's Global Financial Crisis Happened, and What to Do about It by Robert J Schiller (2008) -- click here to view the table of contents
• The Great Crash 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith (1997) -- click here to view the table of contents.
• Once in Golconda: A True Drama of Wall Street 1920-1938 by John Brooks (1981) -- click here to view the table of contents.
• Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street by Michael Lewis -- click here to view the table of contents
• When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by Roger Lowenstein (2000) -- click here to read an excerpt and click here to view the table of contents
• The Go-Go Years: The Drama and Crashing Finale of Wall Street's Bullish 60s by John Brooks (1998) -- click here to view the table of contents
• Risk and Business Cycles: New And Old Austrian Perspectives by Tyler Cowen (1998) -- click here to view the table of contents