A while ago I asked for reading suggestions to prepare me for my forthcoming panel discussion about the future at the British Library (with Cory Doctorow, William Gibson, Mark Stevenson and Jon Turney). The BL is running a science fiction exhibition. This request has broadened my reading in a healthy way, and I'm now midway through The Dervish House by Ian McDonald. I've long had a soft spot for SF – many economists do, including Paul Krugman, who says his interest in economics was aroused by the 'psychohistory' of Asimov's Foundation novels. Something to do with predicting the unknowable far into the future?

Anyway, it's an excellent read. One thing I particularly like is that a central character is actually an economist, and one of the bits of character establishment is that as a young man he engaged in scholarly argument with Nassim Taleb. It set me to wondering about other novels where real economists have walk-on parts. At the moment I can't think of any but maybe others can?