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Average Customer Rating:

Boring and disappointed

Customer Rating:

The book is so boring that I have to leave my first review on Amazon.com. I don't know economics. I'm expecting ideas from the famous economists and how to apply their ideas in the 21st century. I'm not interested in the their lives, their childhood, their education, their friends, their abilities, etc. For example, "Marshall also realized that facts teach nothing by themselves". I'm not interested in how he teaches, I'm interested in what he teaches. I'm already bored to death before the author put some economic ideas at the end of each chapter.

Much humor from a "dismal scientist"

Customer Rating:

Luckily, economics got that "dismal science" label a long time ago, because this book is quite the opposite. Written in both lively style and learned content, the reader will want to go through each chapter wondering "who's next on the chopping block?" And who would have expected to find this gem in a normally dry-sounding field (economics), or a self-serving field (biography). Lest anyone be turned off by the relatively un-recent publication date (1989), the author has updates covering fairly recent events. This book adds a nice thought just by itself: humor and economists. Marx and laughter. Adam Smith and mirth, etcetera. The story covers the really big names in the field in chronological order, and you just know that each personality coming up will get the same fair treatment: a description of the old economists' philosophies and systems, the good parts, the bad parts, the dumb parts, and what they said about each other. At the end, just as we figure out what the author REALLY thinks is the best economic structure, we find the answer is more along the line, "it depends." How can you not like a work like this! Dead economists. Some books are not that good, but have a great title (e.g., "Blink" or "Feel the Fear but Do It Anyway"). Many, many are the other way around, such as "Rise & Fall of the Roman Empire." "Dead Economists" is both. Do read it.

A Mixed Bag

Customer Rating:

This books generally delivers what it promises, a review of major thoughts from economists evaluated (somewhat) in a modern context. If that's what you are looking for, it's probably worth reading. However I had three problems with the book. First, he says some incredibly, bizarrely wrong things (quantum mechanics is not a hard science, the internet was invented by private industry, California may float away into the ocean). Even though they are topics outside of economics, they made me generally suspicious of his knowledge. Second, from some of his comments it is clear his writing has a political/philosophical bias but he never comes out and states what it is. Since I'm not an economist (after all, that's why I'm reading this book), it seems impossible to figure out what his bias is and how to correct for it. Third, perhaps a minor point, but he keeps drifting slightly off-topic in order to include a cute saying or clever remark. I mostly found this annoying, but other readers might find it helps keep the book light and fun.

Great Title -- Trivial Contents

Customer Rating:

When I first saw this book, I thought this sounds really interesting. It is, if you like to read trivia about economists, most of whom are dead. There are loose connections made to miscellaneous events in modern times, but the bulk of the book combines jokes that have been around for decades (as dead as the economists) with mini-biographies more suited to a fan magazine, focusing on John Stuart Mill's dysfunctional childhood, John Maynard Keynes' marriage to a ballerina, John Kenneth Galbraith's height, Thorstein Veblen's odd mode of dress and his lecture on cannibalism, and similar delicacies. My impression is that the author found no use for this information when he was studying economics, but hated to throw out his boxes of notes. So he came up with a great, if dishonest, title and packaged the miscellany for sale. If you have no real interest in economics, but love gossip columns and want to sound like you know something about famous economists, this is the book for you.

A pretty good introduction to economic theory

Customer Rating:

This book would make an excellent pre-100 level textbook for students interested in economics. Buchholz covers all major economic theories and their proponents from Adam Smith's Invisible Hand to the most currently vocal Rational Expectations theory. The detail never gets so deep as to actually present charts and diagrams, but is solid enough that the reader comes away with a general understanding of each theory. The book suffers a little in the beginning as Buchholz seems uncomfortable simply presenting the dry facts and ends up regaling the reader with anecdotes and economist in-jokes that may play in the classroom but fall flat in textual form. Buchholz really hits his stride when he starts talking about Keynes, though. Perhaps it is the benefit of having multiple economic theories at odds with each other by the early 20th century that make writing about it so easy. Whatever the case, his coverage from Keynes to the modern day is exceptionally well done. Focusing less on the character of the men and more on the value of their theories, Buchholz clearly describes Keynesian, Monetary, and Rational economic theories. He proceeds to play them off each other to the delight of the reader. Where the first part of the book failed to be dynamic, the latter half is exceedingly entertaining and informative. The problem is that I'm not interested to know that Smith was a klutz or that Malthus was well-polished. Those things are only used by Buchholz to bring life to these dead economists. He could have brought them more to life with more focus on what keeps them alive than the things buried with them. I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in getting an overview of economic thought. It will introduce you to just about all the important economic theories that have made an impact as well as the latest 'cutting edge' theories that present alternatives to the existing body of work. I hope to find a book that can replicate Buchholz's success with the modern era theories for those economists that I feel he short-shrifted in this one.