united states

Lesson #1 of reading: Never ask a bookworm tax guy what book you should read about investing and the economy. He will recommend long ones. Like this one.

Sowell is almost maddeningly neutral. Not really pushing any sort of agenda, just research and history.That being said, it was good, and fascinatingly so, once I started. I'm pretty sure that he doesn't leave a question unanswered-- even about stuff you don't think is related to economy (like charity and giving). I would interrupt my reading multiple times to turn to my husband and say: "Did you know...?"

And he would smile nicely, like he always does, and say "wow" or "really?" or other some such appropriate remark for the husband of a bibliophile. ( )

A dense book. The author made a choice to leave out the charts and graphs; I had to fill them in mentally or I could not follow his arguments. An excellent writer, pithy and smart.

While this book has a wealth of information about economics and helped me understand some of the reasoning behind various economic activities going on in our world, I have 2 huge problems with this book that prevent me from recommending it to other people:

1. It is very biased and takes on the capitalist agenda completely, never missing a single opportunity to comment on the futility and ineffectiveness of socialist economies and the MAGICAL powers of capitalist economies to regulate itself and be efficient. I did not appreciate this one-minded approach.

2. It is very repetitive. It explains a concept or an idea followed by an example followed by a re-explanation followed by another example then another re-explanation and so on. Every chapter in the book more ore less follows that formula. I know this is used to hammer the point, but this is just a bit too much hammering. ( )

"Basic Economics" is an excellent, plain language introduction to the basics and fundamentals of economics. Technical words, phrases, and theories are avoided, making this book appropriate for anyone interested in expanding their horizons despite whatever their background.

Absolute must read by those interested in better understanding how the world works around them. ( )