This is Planet Money from NPR.
For a long time, whenever I entered the cozy refuge of an independent bookstore, I couldn't help
but suspect that there was this whole hidden world, this whole economy lurking behind the bookshelves.
And I know in the era of TikTok and polymarket
and video podcasting, it can be easy to overlook the humble book.
But it is undeniable, books are one of the most influential technologies ever.
From The Wealth of Nations and Das Kapital to The Art of the Deal or Dreams for My Father.
Books can make us all lean in one day,
or suddenly everyone you know is finding life-changing magic and tidying up.
Even if you haven't picked up a book in years, the forces
that shape the marketplace for books have the power to shape everything else in your life.
They shape the ideas that make it to the masses.
So last year, when my boss informed the team in an editorial meeting that the Planet Money book,
which had been in the works for a while, was now hurtling toward publication, I found myself leaning in.
The question on my boss's mind was this.
Would anyone on the team like to report out how the book got made?
To see what it might tell us about the business of books?
Would anyone raise their hand?
And when I heard the call to tell the tale of the Planet Money book,
what do you think I did?