Paul A. Samuelson (1915–2009)

I just went looking for this book in my Library. I bought it as a textbook for Agricultural Economics in second year at Sydney University in 1964. Alas, it was no longer there but i had probably held on to it for over 50 years...thinking that in some way the knowledge contained in the book would somehow mysteriously seep into my brain from my library shelves. I had a great downsizing of my library some 10 years ago and I guess it went out then. OK maybe I did pick it up from time to time and show more look something up or even read a few pages. But I certainly never ever read it from cover to cover. At the time, it represented knowledge. If you knew what was in Samuelson then you were an economist. It was as simple as that. I noticed as I went seeking a cover for this entry that the book itself lasted through many editions (in fact there were over 112 different covers, and in many different languages. So Samuelson was onto a pretty good thing when he drafted this book. I was actually studying biology at the time and it always struck me that the diagrams that economists used ...like the famous trade of of guns for butter were overly simplistic. And, I think economics has recognised this over the years and come to terms with the fact that people are not necessarily rational in their choices and may not always seek an optimum position that "the market" would suggest. But I think these lines of thinking might have been a bit early for Samuelson. But I'm writing this review some 60 years after i bought the book. So my recollections are somewhat hazy. (I do recall quite clearly the straight line graphs however). I also recall that he made the observation that in economic bad times (eg with high unemployment) it was always possible for somebody who was exceptionally talented or exceptionally lucky to get a job but it was impossible for everybody to get a job. And that simple fact has always stuck with me. the book made a bitg impact on me at the time, even if we were looking at how to offset the marginal gain in grain yield against the marginal cost of the extra fertiliser required. So 5 stars from me...but mainly on personal historical grounds. show less

This was still a standard text, maybe the standard text for the subject when I first studied it on my own in the 1970s. I learned some terms and discovered that only macro-economics interested me.

Basic textbook on micro- and macroeconomics. It's good to get an overview of the most important issues and concepts. Very easy to read and comprehend - it's a typical American intro textbook with lots of simple examples, and very light on scientific language. When you're used to German textbooks, it feels a little too dumbed down at times, but it is still excellent to study with.

I actually liked this book !
easy and sufficient as an introduction to Economics