On the Wealth of Nations by PJ O'Rourke

Adam Smith wrote a book on capitalism in the late 1700's, but hardly anyone has read it. Mostly it's because the book, the Wealth of Nations, is so long-winded. O'Rourke summarizes the book for us, tells us which parts have been debunked and which parts still make sense today. There seems to be a very relevant part of the book which relates to trade deficits. Adam Smith says that no importance should be placed on trade deficits. Trade deficits were a concerns of old mercantilists. (I'm not so sure that Smith was right about this, but perhaps it's true that trade deficits aren't as bad as they might seem.) Also, the book questions why should Americans care if the Chinese keep their currency too weak. It's like complaining about a discount that you're getting. Other exporting countries might complain about the Chinese luring Americans away as customers, but mega-consumer Americans shouldn't.

O'Rourke's book is actually very funny and entertaining, something which the original book perhaps was not.