Vikas Shah - Thought Economics

15 February 2021

Thought Economics is one of these rare books that you can keep picking up and learn from every time. It is full of eyeopeners (or ‘aha moments’ as Brené Brown calls them) and you will read something new every time you re-read it. It is also a book that you can open on any page and get inspired by whichever question is posed and answered. The beauty of this book lies not just in the fact that Vikas Shah has interviewed an incredible roster of people who are shaping our history, but also in the way it is formatted; snippets of interviews (and I use this term loosely, these are all very thought-provoking, thought-generating and inspiring paragraphs of text) grouped in wider themes.

I had intended to read this book cover to cover, like most other books, but realised soon that the way I could best appreciate these astonishing interviews, is to open specific chapters or sub-themes and consider the questions and answers for a couple of hours (or even the rest of the day) before moving on to a next topic.

To give just a few examples, Vikas asks Sir Antony Gormley and Sir Anish Kapoor CBE ‘Why does art exist?’ He explores topics such as ‘What is the role of photography in culture?’ with David Bailey, and asks Tracey Emin ‘What is the Power of Art?’. This collection of interviews challenges not just our thinking around art but every important element we should consider in entrepreneurship, leadership, democracy, identity, culture, and even war and peace. I cannot guarantee a quick read but I can assure you that this tome will provide value for the long run.