Economist includes books by two Law School professors in list of top 100 books for the year

University President Drew G. Faust isn’t the only Harvard luminary gracing lists of the year’s best books—she’s been joined by two of Harvard Law School’s most prominent professors.

While Faust’s book, “This Republic of Suffering,” was named one of the year’s 10 best by the New York Times, Law School professors Noah R. Feldman ’92 and Cass R. Sunstein ’75 each had their latest book selected by The Economist for its list of the year’s 100 best books.

Sunstein’s book, “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness,” earned a spot in the “Science and technology” category. Sunstein coauthored his book with University of Chicago economist Richard H. Thaler.

The book discusses how behavioral economics—the application of psychology and cognitive science to economic theory—can help explain decisions in every area of life—not just financial ones.

Feldman made the “Politics and current affairs” list for his book “The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State,” a study of the widespread popularity of Islamic government among Muslims that The Economist called “short, incisive, and elegant.”

“I’m pleased of course and since the goal of writing is for people to read what you’ve written,” Feldman wrote in an e-mail yesterday. “I’m hoping this helps my ideas get out there to the world.”

Feldman, who specializes in the relationship between law and religion, constitutional design, and the history of legal theory, wrote he has been thinking about religious government in the Middle East for the past 10 years.

“It seemed especially pressing as the calls for democracy in the region have become softer to offer an alternative policy driven by the rule of law,” Feldman wrote.

Reached via e-mail while traveling, Sunstein wrote that he selected his subject because of the importance he places on helping people make better decisions about “health and wealth and the environment.”

Sunstein, who has been mentioned as a possible Obama Supreme Court appointee, wrote he will continue working on the same topics in the future.