30 August, 2007

Recommendations wanted

Can anyone recommend a good basic book about economics? I realised during the stock market wobble a couple of weeks ago how little I know about the way the economy works. The other recommendation I'd like is a good history of nineteenth century France. All suggestions gratefully received.

1 comment:

Phil said...

I don't know about primers for economics, but JK Galbraith is worth reading. His style is exemplary, you should read the Crash of 1929, it's excellent. I read it while I was going through the dotcom boom, it was very appropriate.

There are lots of pop-economics books about - eg Freakonomics, the Undercover Economist - which you might find interesting. I think the first is a bit overhyped, and doesn't tell you much about economics as a whole. The second is better, I think I reviewed it on my blog. There's also Jeffrey Sachs' The End of Poverty (which is mostly about how Sachs is going to save the world), and a book by anti-globalisation guru Joseph Stiglitz called the Roaring Nineties, which I haven't read yet.