It's time for me to sort out the next batch of books to send for review in the books section of the July 2010 Business Economist, and I've also just written approving comments for a couple of books which I guess will be out early next year, so it seemed a good time for a roundup of what's new and forthcoming.

Just out are two must-reads. One is John Kay's Obliquity, a wise and entertaining – and also short and easily-digested – essay on the truth that the most important goals are always attained indirectly. I've written a review for The Independent, not yet published, which is why I haven't yet reviewed it here.

Another is Michael Lewis's The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, about the sub-prime scandal (here's an excerpt). It's been widely reviewed. I've not read this but expect it will be very good. He's a terrific writer and does thorough research. No book skewered 1980s finance as well as his Liar's Poker.

I'm looking forward as well to Philippe Legrain's Aftershock. It's a work of reportage illustrating the way the global economy is changing and the impact of the financial crisis on the balance of economic power.

David Smith, economics editor of the Sunday Times, has a new book on a similar theme out as well. It's The Age of Instability: The Global Financial Crisis and What Comes Next.

Also in the box are Banking on the Future: the Rise and Fall of Central Banking by Howard Davies and David Green; Awakening Giants: Assessing the Economic Rise of India and China by Pranab Bardhan; Stephen King's Losing Control, reviewed here a while ago; The Invention of Enterprise: Entrepreneurship from Ancient Mesopotamia to Modern Times, edited by a distinguished cast of economists, David Landes, Joel Mokyr and Will Baumol (there's a Wilson Quarterly essay by David Landes about it); and on a lighter note, The Cartoon Introduction to Economics by Yoram Bauman (the Standup Economist) and Grady Klein.

As for the forthcoming titles, one is by Roger Backhouse on The Puzzle of Modern Economics, which assesses the state of the subject in the light of recent events; and The Heart of Teaching Economics by Simon Bowmaker, in which he interviews the best teachers in US universities to find out what knowledge they're passing on to the next generation of economists. Backhouse's previous book was the excellent history of economics, The Ordinary Business of Life, while Bowmaker edited Economics Uncut, a very accessible intro to economics for students.