So you want to learn how the world works huh?
1. 
2. 
Resetting the Table: Straight Talk About the Food We Grow and Eat
by:
Robert Paarlberg
3.88 avg rating — 193 ratings 3. 
Law 101: Everything You Need to Know about the American Legal System
by:
Jay M. Feinman
3.96 avg rating — 1,322 ratings 4. 
Statistics Done Wrong: The Woefully Complete Guide
by:
Alex Reinhart
4.19 avg rating — 1,067 ratings 
6. 
The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World
by:
Virginia Postrel
4.15 avg rating — 2,486 ratings 7. 
How Asia Works: Success and Failure in the World's Most Dynamic Region
by:
Joe Studwell
4.26 avg rating — 4,886 ratings 
11. 
12. 
Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel: Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages
by:
Frances Gies
3.88 avg rating — 925 ratings 13. 
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
by:
Charles C. Mann
4.05 avg rating — 93,181 ratings 14. 
Escape from Rome: The Failure of Empire and the Road to Prosperity (The Princeton Economic History of the Western World)
by:
Walter Scheidel
4.02 avg rating — 449 ratings 15. 
Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History
by:
Penny Le Couteur
3.97 avg rating — 7,042 ratings 16. 
How Your House Works: A Visual Guide to Understanding & Maintaining Your Home
by:
Charlie Wing
4.03 avg rating — 673 ratings 17. 
Numbers Don't Lie: 71 Things You Need to Know About the World
by:
Vaclav Smil
3.83 avg rating — 10,013 ratings 18. 
Faster, Better, Cheaper in the History of Manufacturing
by:
Christoph Roser
4.43 avg rating — 35 ratings 19. 
Infrastructure: The Book of Everything for the Industrial Landscape
by:
Brian Hayes
4.47 avg rating — 381 ratings 
21. 
The Way Things Work: Newly Revised Edition: The Ultimate Guide to How Things Work
by:
David Macaulay
4.52 avg rating — 480 ratings 22. 
Global Economic History: A Very Short Introduction
by:
Robert C. Allen
3.82 avg rating — 1,336 ratings 23. 
The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger
by:
Marc Levinson
3.86 avg rating — 6,744 ratings 24. 
The Captured Economy: How the Powerful Enrich Themselves, Slow Down Growth, and Increase Inequality
by:
Brink Lindsey
3.90 avg rating — 405 ratings 25. 
Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology
by:
Chris Miller
4.41 avg rating — 36,749 ratings