Economics for Dummies (For Dummies)

A reasonable intro to economics with one major problem. It is clearly little more than the American edition with a few British references thrown in (and this is supposed to be the 'UK Edition' as it says on the spine).

The two authors write in very different ways and it shows. Sean Masaki Flynn, the American author is very 'MTV' and tries far too hard to be conversational and informal with the result that he is rather annoying. His bits talk about the joys of peanut butter cookies and Ben and Jerry's fudge sundaes in ways that are unlikely to appeal to Brits.

In contrast, Peter Antonioni's sections are authoritative, evenly written and don't try to constantly be your 'buddy'. Every time the text switches between the two authors it is rather jarring. Indeed, readin the acknowledgements at the beginning it is clear that they have very different styles, ages, temperaments and opinions of themselves. Masaki Flynn is simply annoying. Maybe it's suitable for a US audience - but this should not be marketed as a British edition just because Antonioni gets to make a fw asides about Arsenal (or was it Spurs?).

In retrospect I wish I had bought one of the older single-author editions of Economics for Dummies which I imagine blows less hot and cold.

On a more positive note, I took the option of buying Investing for Dummies at the same time, and this is a far superior book. In fact it's rather better at explaining the essentials of economic theory than Economics for Dummies is, even though it only does it in passing.

Well written and explained... (31/32 people found this helpful)

Unlike some of the for dummies guides, this book is very well written and very well explained. With a variety of diagrams and tables this book is definately a good one to start with.

The only down side is a little bit of economic knowledge might be helpful when reading this as some of the diagrams maybe hard to get your head around.

The book is split into a number of sections whic are then split into chapters. It is pretty easy to read and understand as pages are broken down into smaller paragraphs which make it easier to digest. As well as an indepth glossary in the back of the book, this book is very good at explaining specific points and also uses 'real world' examples in its case studies and explanations.

A very good book for a beginner an intermediate economic student, however more advanced students maybe left wanting a little more.

Peter Antonioni, Sean Masaki Flynn

Reader Reviews:

You can see the joins... (15/16 people found this helpful)

Well written and explained... (31/32 people found this helpful)

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