Your correspondent bought this highly hyped book, intrigued by the review or two he had read. The premise was intriguing. An interesting look at various topics from an economic perspective. Unfortunately this book utterly fails.
First, it is padded beyond belief. Blank pages abound. The font is huge. And this is a short book. Bad sign.
Reading the book, I realize very quickly that this was written by a journalist. It is basically a 150 page magazine article with about 20-30 pages of real content. And a good chunk of it has nothing to with economics at all. Maybe some sort of populist sociology, but economics, no.
The distinct lack of rigor in this text and the constant hyping of the coauthor left a bad taste in my mouth. This book can be read in an hour or two. You will learn more about economics unclogging a plugged toilet than you will from this self aggrandizing fluff piece.
For a wonderful and detailed look at economics, try Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics: A Citizens Guide to the Economy
