If one wishes to keep an open mind and explore non-mainstream views of the modern world economy, I recommend the first chapters of The Bitcoin Standard, by Saif

If one wishes to keep an open mind and explore non-mainstream views of the modern world economy, I recommend the first chapters of The Bitcoin Standard, by Saifedean Ammous, an actual trained economist. He has been interviewed by Lex Fridman if you prefer to hear him in podcast version. These chapters are not about bitcoin, but the societal shift that happened at the turn of last century when countries abandoned the gold standard to finance their wars. The Keynesian economic policy. The concept of time preference which shifts when the value of a currency is diluted by inflation. How very rich entities are allowed to grow richer simply because they are able to get large sums of money "at the source" before inflation has had the chance to raise prices for all of us, etc. Very unpopular in this circles where the mention of bitcoin is cause to raise pitchforks, and everybody loves to quote economists that seemingly have no clue what is going on.