Latest Read – “the Armchair Economist”

I’d picked up on this book because the author reviewed another book on economics in the Wall Street Journal – and slyly slipped in a little promotion for his own book. So I looked his book up on amazon, read a few of the posted reviews, and bought it (second hand, of course).

The book was not great, merely all right. There are 24 chapters making varying points about economics, and they could be read independently or even in reverse order. The writing style is breezy and humorous, but the quality is uneven. Some very good chapters, with titles like "New, Improved football, how economists go wrong", and "the mythology of deficits". And also some real clunkers, like "Random Walks and Stock Market Prices: A Primer for Investors."

I was hoping this would be a book I could recommend to normal people for insight into economics (it’s not called "the dismal science" for nothing), but I’m sure there are better books around.

DIGRESSION – The best short one volume book on investing and saving is still Andrew Tobias’s book, "the Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need", first written over 20 years ago and most recenlty updated in January, 2005.