[cloudier]

“Seeing like a state” taught me what high modernism is and it’s pitfalls (since I - and I imagine many readers of HN - are already familiar with its strengths and achievements e.g. modern medicine).

Poor Economics is a book in a similar vein that talks about how policies that sound like they would be effective can backfire.

(I am a software engineer and found both of these books approachable and interesting.)