books tagged “economics”

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The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life
by Steven E. Landsburg

ISBN 0029177766 (0-02-917776-6)
Softcover, Free Pr

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Book summary:
Most people associate economics with larg-scale wonders like the stock-market, big business, and international trade. Most people also assume that economists are dismally technical. Stephen Landsburg attempts to prove them wrong. He shows how the laws of economics can reveal themselves in surprising and humorous ways. He demonstrates that, no matter what the endeavour, people respond to incentives in understandable, if not always predictable ways. By illustrating how economists think about daily experience, he lays the basis for a richer appreciation of the full range of economic activity. In this guided tour of the familiar, through an unfamiliar lens, Landsburg explains many of the key issues of economics in chapters that read more like detective stories than textbook lessons. [via]
More editions of The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life:
- The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life: ISBN 0029177766 (0-02-917776-6)
  Softcover, Free Pr
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Basic Concepts in Sociology
by Max Weber, H.P. Secher

ISBN 0806503041 (0-8065-0304-1)
Softcover, Kensington Pub Corp

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Book summary:
Basic Concepts In Sociology is one of the central texts in the field of sociology, and if anyone can be called the godfather of the subject, it is Weber. As relevant today as it was in its first publication in the 1930s, this is essential reading for students and teachers.
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- Basic Concepts in Sociology: ISBN 0806503041 (0-8065-0304-1)
  Softcover, Kensington Pub Corp
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Basic Economics : A Citizen's Guide to the Economy
by Thomas Sowell

ISBN 0465081452 (0-465-08145-2)
Hardcover, Basic Books

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Book summary:
At last there is a citizen's guide to the economy, written by an economist who uses plain English. No jargon, no graphs, no equations. Yet this is a comprehensive survey, covering everything from rent control and the rise and fall of businesses to the international balance of payments.The purpose of Basic Economics is to enable people without any economic training to understand the way the economy functions-not only the American economy, but other economies around the world.Some of the clearest demonstrations of the role of prices, for example, come from economies in which prices are not allowed to function-with consequences which show just what those functions are and what happens when they are lacking.In the end, this is not a book from which to cram facts, but one from which to gain an understanding of the economy that will enable you to form your own conclusions on the basis of tested principles, rather than on the basis of emotion or rhetoric. That is the goal of the journey, but you should also enjoy the trip along the way.
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More editions of Basic Economics : A Citizen's Guide to the Economy:
- Basic Economics: A Citizens Guide to the Economy: ISBN 046508138X (0-465-08138-X)
  Hardcover, Perseus Books Group
- Basic Economics : A Citizen's Guide to the Economy: ISBN 0465081452 (0-465-08145-2)
  Hardcover, Basic Books
Capital
by Karl Marx

ISBN 187776776X (1-877767-76-X)
Hardcover, Univ Pub House

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This 1867 study-one of the most influential documents of modern times-looks at the relationship between labor and value, the role of money, and the conflict between the classes. [via]
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Capitalism and Freedom
by Milton Friedman, Rose D. Friedman

ISBN 0226264211 (0-226-26421-1)
Softcover, Univ of Chicago Pr

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Book summary:
Selected by the Times Literary Supplement as one of the "hundred most influential books since the war."

How can we benefit from the promise of government while avoiding the threat it poses to individual freedom? In this classic book, Milton Friedman provides the definitive statement of his immensely influential economic philosophyone in which competitive capitalism serves as both a device for achieving economic freedom and a necessary condition for political freedom. The result is an accessible text that has sold well over half a million copies in English, has been translated into eighteen languages, and shows every sign of becoming more and more influential as time goes on.
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The Communist Manifesto
by Friedrich Engels, Gareth Stedman Jones, K. Marx

ISBN 0140447571 (0-14-044757-1)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA

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Book summary:
The perfect books for the true book lover, Penguin's Great Ideas series features twelve more groundbreaking works by some of history's most prodigious thinkers. Each volume is beautifully packaged with a unique type-driven design that highlights the bookmaker's art. Offering great literature in great packages at great prices, this series is ideal for those readers who want to explore and savor the Great Ideas that have shaped our world.

The Communist Manifesto changed the face of the twentieth century beyond recognition, inspiring millions to revolution, forming the basis of political systems that still dominate countless lives and continuing to ignite violent debate about class and capitalism today.

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The Communist Manifesto
by Frederic L. Bender, K. Marx

ISBN 0393956164 (0-393-95616-4)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc

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Book summary:
This Norton Critical Edition offers a complete historical and philosophical introduction to Marx's Manifesto of the Communist Party.
It will assist students making their first approach to Marx's thought as well as those ready to study the Manifesto in more depth. For beginning students, this edition provides a carefully annotated text of the Manifesto and two introductory sections by Frederic Bender, a "Chronology of Events Leading to the Communist Manifesto" and "Historical and Theoretical Backgrounds of the Communist Manifesto." More experienced students will benefit from selections on the sources of Marx's thought, the significance of the Manifesto in the history of Marxism, and recent interpretations of the work. [via]
More editions of The Communist Manifesto:
- The Communist Manifesto: ISBN 0393025357 (0-393-02535-7)
  Hardcover, W.W. Norton
- The Communist Manifesto: ISBN 0393956164 (0-393-95616-4)
  Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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The Communist Manifesto
by K. Marx

ISBN 0140444785 (0-14-044478-5)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA

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Book summary:
"A spectre is haunting Europe," Karl Marx and Frederic Engels wrote in 1848, "the spectre of Communism." This new edition of The Communist Manifesto, commemorating the 150th anniversary of its publication, includes an introduction by renowned historian Eric Hobsbawm which reminds us of the document's continued relevance. Marx and Engels's critique of capitalism and its deleterious effect on all aspects of life, from the increasing rift between the classes to the destruction of the nuclear family, has proven remarkably prescient. Their spectre, manifested in the Manifesto's vivid prose, continues to haunt the capitalist world, lingering as a ghostly apparition even after the collapse of those governments which claimed to be enacting its principles. [via]
More editions of The Communist Manifesto:
- The Communist Manifesto: ISBN 0671443879 (0-671-44387-9)
  Softcover, Pocket Books
- The Communist Manifesto: ISBN 0140444785 (0-14-044478-5)
  Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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The Communist Manifesto
by David McLellan, Friedrich Engels, Samuel Moore, K. Marx

ISBN 0192829548 (0-19-282954-8)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr

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Book summary:
"A spectre is haunting Europe," Karl Marx and Frederic Engels wrote in 1848, "the spectre of Communism." This new edition of The Communist Manifesto, commemorating the 150th anniversary of its publication, includes an introduction by renowned historian Eric Hobsbawm which reminds us of the document's continued relevance. Marx and Engels's critique of capitalism and its deleterious effect on all aspects of life, from the increasing rift between the classes to the destruction of the nuclear family, has proven remarkably prescient. Their spectre, manifested in the Manifesto's vivid prose, continues to haunt the capitalist world, lingering as a ghostly apparition even after the collapse of those governments which claimed to be enacting its principles. [via]
More editions of The Communist Manifesto:
- The Communist Manifesto: ISBN 0192829548 (0-19-282954-8)
  Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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Confessions Of An Economic Hit Man
by John Perkins

ISBN 1576753018 (1-57675-301-8)
Hardcover, Ingram Pub Services

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Book summary:
John Perkins started and stopped writing Confessions of an Economic Hit Man four times over 20 years. He says he was threatened and bribed in an effort to kill the project, but after 9/11 he finally decided to go through with this expose of his former professional life. Perkins, a former chief economist at Boston strategic-consulting firm Chas. T. Main, says he was an "economic hit man" for 10 years, helping U.S. intelligence agencies and multinationals cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business. "Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars," Perkins writes. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is an extraordinary and gripping tale of intrigue and dark machinations. Think John Le Carré, except it's a true story.
Perkins writes that his economic projections cooked the books Enron-style to convince foreign governments to accept billions of dollars of loans from the World Bank and other institutions to build dams, airports, electric grids, and other infrastructure he knew they couldn't afford. The loans were given on condition that construction and engineering contracts went to U.S. companies. Often, the money would simply be transferred from one bank account in Washington, D.C., to another one in New York or San Francisco. The deals were smoothed over with bribes for foreign officials, but it was the taxpayers in the foreign countries who had to pay back the loans. When their governments couldn't do so, as was often the case, the U.S. or its henchmen at the World Bank or International Monetary Fund would step in and essentially place the country in trusteeship, dictating everything from its spending budget to security agreements and even its United Nations votes. It was, Perkins writes, a clever way for the U.S. to expand its "empire" at the expense of Third World citizens. While at times he seems a little overly focused on conspiracies, perhaps that's not surprising considering the life he's led. --Alex Roslin [via]
More editions of Confessions Of An Economic Hit Man:
- Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: ISBN 0452287081 (0-452-28708-1)
  Softcover, Penguin Group USA
- Confessions Of An Economic Hit Man: ISBN 1576753018 (1-57675-301-8)
  Hardcover, Ingram Pub Services
Das Kapital
by Karl Marx

ISBN 0895269317 (0-89526-931-7)
Softcover, Gateway Books

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- Das Kapital: ISBN 0895269317 (0-89526-931-7)
  Softcover, Gateway Books
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Das Kapital: A Critique of Political Economy
by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Serge L. Levitsky

ISBN 089526711X (0-89526-711-X)
Softcover, Perseus Distribution Services

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Book summary:
"Das Kapital", Karl Marx's masterwork, is the book that above all others formed the twentieth century. From Kapital sprung the economic and political systems that in our time dominated half the earth and for half a century kept the world on the brink of war. Even today, one billion Chinese remain in the power of the Marxist system. Yet this important and powerful work has been passed over by many readers frustrated by Marx's difficult style and his preoccupation with nineteenth-century events of little relevance to today's reader. Serge Levitsky presents a new revised version of this masterpiece, carefully translated for the modern reader and abridged to emphasize the political and philosophical core of Marx's work, while trimming away much that is now unimportant. Here then is a fresh and highly readable version of a work whose ideas have influenced the lives of nearly every person alive today. [via]
More editions of Das Kapital: A Critique of Political Economy:
- Das Kapital: A Critique of Political Economy: ISBN 089526711X (0-89526-711-X)
  Softcover, Perseus Distribution Services
Development As Freedom
by Amartya Kumar Sen

ISBN 0385720270 (0-385-72027-0)
Softcover, Random House Inc

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In Development as Freedom Amartya Sen explains how in a world of unprecedented increase in overall opulence millions of people living in the Third World are still unfree. Even if they are not technically slaves, they are denied elementary freedoms and remain imprisoned in one way or another by economic poverty, social deprivation, political tyranny or cultural authoritarianism. The main purpose of development is to spread freedom and its 'thousand charms' to the unfree citizens. Freedom, Sen persuasively argues, is at once the ultimate goal of social and economic arrangements and the most efficient means of realizing general welfare. Social institutions like markets, political parties, legislatures, the judiciary, and the media contribute to development by enhancing individual freedom and are in turn sustained by social values. Values, institutions, development, and freedom are all closely interrelated, and Sen links them together in an elegant analytical framework. By asking 'What is the relation between our collective economic wealth and our individual ability to live as we would like?' and by incorporating individual freedom as a social commitment into his analysis Sen allows economics once again, as it did in the time of Adam Smith, to address the social basis of individual well-being and freedom. [via]
More editions of Development As Freedom:
- Development As Freedom: ISBN 0192893300 (0-19-289330-0)
  Hardcover, Oxford University Press
- Development As Freedom: ISBN 0385720270 (0-385-72027-0)
  Softcover, Random House Inc
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Development As Freedom
by Amartya Sen

ISBN 0375406190 (0-375-40619-0)
Hardcover, Knopf Publishing Group

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Book summary:
Development as Freedom is a general exposition of the economic ideas and analyses of Amartya Sen, winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economic Science. This brilliant and indispensable treatise compellingly analyzes the nature of contemporary economic development from the perspective of human freedom. Freedom, Sen persuasively argues, is at once the ultimate goal of economic life and the most efficient means of realizing general welfare. It is a good to be enjoyed by the world's entire population. Drawing on moral and political philosophy and technical economic analysis, this work gives the nonspecialist reader powerful access to Sen's paradigm-altering vision and vividly shows how he, in the words of the Nobel Prize committee, has both "restored an ethical dimension to the discussion of economic problems" and "opened up new fields of study for subsequent generations of researchers."

To a world divided between those who fear the ruthlessness of the free market under prevailing conditions of global capitalism and those who fear the terror of authoritarian states that stifle indi-
vidual liberty as well as initiative, Development as Freedom presents a necessary intellectual and moral framework of analysis and scrutiny. By rigorously addressing one of the largest questions of all--"What is the relation between our economic wealth and our ability to live as we would like?"--Sen allows economics once again, as it did in the time of Adam Smith, to address the social basis of individual well-being and freedom. He also confronts the human dilemma that "despite unprecedented increases in overall opulence, the contemporary world denies elementary freedoms to vast numbers--perhaps even the majority--of people." This is a landmark work that shows how in individual human freedom--the exclusive possession, Sen shows, of no particular nation, region or historical, intellectual or religious tradition--lies the capacity for political participation, economic development and social progress. [via]
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- Development As Freedom: ISBN 0375406190 (0-375-40619-0)
  Hardcover, Knopf Publishing Group
Eat the Rich
by P. J. O'Rourke

ISBN 0871137607 (0-87113-760-7)
Softcover, Atlantic Monthly Pr

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Book summary:
A conservative, prosperous, American journalist gadding around the world laughing at all the ways less successful nations screw up their economy--this might not sound like the recipe for a great read, unless you're Rush Limbaugh, but if that journalist is P.J. O'Rourke you can be sure that you'll enjoy the ride even if you don't agree with the politics. Although Eat the Rich is subtitled A Treatise on Economics, O'Rourke spends relatively few pages tackling the complexities of monetary theory. He's much happier when flying from Sweden to Hong Kong to Tanzania to Moscow, gleefully recording every economic goof he can find. When he visits post-Communist Russia and finds a country that is as messed up by capitalism as it was by Communism, O'Rourke mixes jokes about black-market shoes with disturbing insights into a nation on the verge of collapse. P.J. O'Rourke is more than a humorist, he's an experienced international journalist with a lot of frequent-flyer miles, and this gives even his funniest riffs on the world's problems the ring of truth. [via]
More editions of Eat the Rich:
- Eat the Rich: ISBN 0871137194 (0-87113-719-4)
  Hardcover, Atlantic Monthly Pr
- Eat the Rich: ISBN 0871137607 (0-87113-760-7)
  Softcover, Atlantic Monthly Pr
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The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time
by Jeffrey D. Sachs, Bono

ISBN 1594200459 (1-59420-045-9)
Hardcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated

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Book summary:
Celebrated economist Jeffrey Sachs has a plan to eliminate extreme poverty around the world by 2025. If you think that is too ambitious or wildly unrealistic, you need to read this book. His focus is on the one billion poorest individuals around the world who are caught in a poverty trap of disease, physical isolation, environmental stress, political instability, and lack of access to capital, technology, medicine, and education. The goal is to help these people reach the first rung on the "ladder of economic development" so they can rise above mere subsistence level and achieve some control over their economic futures and their lives. To do this, Sachs proposes nine specific steps, which he explains in great detail in The End of Poverty. Though his plan certainly requires the help of rich nations, the financial assistance Sachs calls for is surprisingly modest--more than is now provided, but within the bounds of what has been promised in the past. For the U.S., for instance, it would mean raising foreign aid from just 0.14 percent of GNP to 0.7 percent. Sachs does not view such help as a handout but rather an investment in global economic growth that will add to the security of all nations. In presenting his argument, he offers a comprehensive education on global economics, including why globalization should be embraced rather than fought, why international institutions such as the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank need to play a strong role in this effort, and the reasons why extreme poverty exists in the midst of great wealth. He also shatters some persistent myths about poor people and shows how developing nations can do more to help themselves.
Despite some crushing statistics, The End of Poverty is a hopeful book. Based on a tremendous amount of data and his own experiences working as an economic advisor to the UN and several individual nations, Sachs makes a strong moral, economic, and political case for why countries and individuals should battle poverty with the same commitment and focus normally reserved for waging war. This important book not only makes the end of poverty seem realistic, but in the best interest of everyone on the planet, rich and poor alike. --Shawn Carkonen [via]
More editions of The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time:
- The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time: ISBN 0143036580 (0-14-303658-0)
  Softcover, Penguin Group USA
- The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time: ISBN 1594200459 (1-59420-045-9)
  Hardcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Free to Choose
by Rose, Milton Friedman

ISBN 038069879X (0-380-69879-X)
Softcover, Harpercollins

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- Free to Choose: ISBN 038069879X (0-380-69879-X)
  Softcover, Harpercollins
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Free to Choose: A Personal Statement
by Milton Friedman, Rose Friedman

ISBN 0156334607 (0-15-633460-7)
Softcover, Harcourt

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Book summary:
All who listen to this masterful and lucid polemic for a free market economy will never question Milton Friedman's Nobel Prize in economics. Friedman and his wife Rose team to write a most convincing and readable guide that illustrates the crucial link between Adam Smith's capitalism and the free society. [via]
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General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
by John Keynes

ISBN 1573921394 (1-57392-139-4)
Softcover, Prometheus Books

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Keynes profoundly influenced the New Deal and created the basis for classic economic theory. I can think of no single book that has so changed the conception held by economists as to the working of the capitalist system (Robert L. Heilbroner). Index.
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More editions of General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money:
- General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money: ISBN 0156347113 (0-15-634711-3)
  Softcover, Harcourt
- General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money: ISBN 1573921394 (1-57392-139-4)
  Softcover, Prometheus Books
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The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century
by Paul Krugman

ISBN 0393326055 (0-393-32605-5)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc

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Book summary:
The Great Unraveling is a chronicle of how "the heady optimism of the late 1990s gave way to renewed gloom as a result of "incredibly bad leadership, in the private sector and in the corridors of power." Offering his own take on the trickle-down theory, economist and columnist Paul Krugman lays much of the blame for a slew of problems on the Bush administration, which he views as a "revolutionary power...a movement whose leaders do not accept the legitimacy of our current political system." Declaring them radicals masquerading as moderates, he questions their motives on a range of issues, particularly their tax and Social Security plans, which he argues are "obviously, blatantly based on bogus arithmetic." Though a fine writer, Krugman relies more heavily on numbers than words to examine the current rash of corporate malfeasance, the rise and fall of the stock market bubble, the federal budget and the future of Social Security, and how a huge surplus quickly became a record deficit. He also rails against the news media for displaying a disturbing lack of skepticism and for failing to do even the most basic homework when reporting on business and economic issues. The book is mainly a collection of op-ed pieces Krugman wrote for The New York Times between 2000 and 2003. Overall, this format works well. Krugman writes clearly about complicated issues and offers plenty of evidence and hard facts to support his theories regarding the intersection of business, economics, and politics, making this a detailed, informative, and thought-provoking book. --Shawn Carkonen [via]
More editions of The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century:
- The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century: ISBN 0393058506 (0-393-05850-6)
  Hardcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
- The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century: ISBN 0393326055 (0-393-32605-5)
  Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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Guns, Germs, and Steel Reader's Companion
by Jared Diamond

ISBN 1586638637 (1-58663-863-7)
Softcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc

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Book summary:
Scholar and professor Jared Diamond made a huge splash with this fascinating but controversial book, which argues that geography and environment have almost singlehandedly determined the course of human history. Dig deeper into his contentions with the information inside this invaluable reader's handbook:
- Why did Europe colonize Africa and Asia rather than the other way around?
- Why is geography the most important factor in human history?
- How has the rest of the scientific community received Diamond's theory?
[via]
More editions of Guns, Germs, and Steel Reader's Companion:
- Guns, Germs, and Steel Reader's Companion: ISBN 1586638637 (1-58663-863-7)
  Softcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc
Human Action: A Treatise on Economics
by Ludwig Von Mises

ISBN 1572460210 (1-57246-021-0)
Hardcover, Foundation for Economic Education

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- Human Action: A Treatise on Economics: ISBN 1572460210 (1-57246-021-0)
  Hardcover, Foundation for Economic Education
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Marx's Capital
by C. J. Arthur, Karl Marx

ISBN 0853157774 (0-85315-777-4)
Softcover, University of British Columbia Press

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Karl Marx's Capital is the classic text of Marxism for economists, social scientists, philosophers, students and political activists alike. But the sheer extent of Marx's great work of political economy has often daunted readers, and hampered their understanding of his ideas. Chris Arthur has substantially edited and abridged Marx's monumental work, eliminating the more arcane polemics, the scholarly footnotes, statistical data and mathematical formulae. He leaves intact and clarified Marx's main theoretical arguments and the historical information which supports them. 'Chris Arthur has solved the problem of slimming down Capital with exceptional success' EJ Hobsbawm 'A skilful abridgement...approachable and readable' Sean Sayers, Political Studies [via]
More editions of Marx's Capital:
- Marx's Capital: ISBN 0853157774 (0-85315-777-4)
  Softcover, University of British Columbia Press
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The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else
by Hernando Desoto

ISBN 0465016154 (0-465-01615-4)
Softcover, Perseus Books Group

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It's become clear by now the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism in most places around the globe hasn't ushered in an unequivocal flowering of capitalism in the developing and postcommunist world. Western thinkers have blamed this on everything from these countries' lack of sellable assets to their inherently non-entrepreneurial "mindset." In this book, the renowned Peruvian economist and adviser to presidents and prime ministers Hernando de Soto proposes and argues another reason: it's not that poor, postcommunist countries don't have the assets to make capitalism flourish. As de Soto points out by way of example, in Egypt, the wealth the poor have accumulated is worth 55 times as much as the sum of all direct foreign investment ever recorded there, including that spent on building the Suez Canal and the Aswan Dam.
No, the real problem is that such countries have yet to establish and normalize the invisible network of laws that turns assets from "dead" into "liquid" capital. In the West, standardized laws allow us to mortgage a house to raise money for a new venture, permit the worth of a company to be broken up into so many publicly tradable stocks, and make it possible to govern and appraise property with agreed-upon rules that hold across neighborhoods, towns, or regions. This invisible infrastructure of "asset management"--so taken for granted in the West, even though it has only fully existed in the United States for the past 100 years--is the missing ingredient to success with capitalism, insists de Soto. But even though that link is primarily a legal one, he argues that the process of making it a normalized component of a society is more a political--or attitude-changing--challenge than anything else.
With a fleet of researchers, de Soto has sought out detailed evidence from struggling economies around the world to back up his claims. The result is a fascinating and solidly supported look at the one component that's holding much of the world back from developing healthy free markets. --Timothy Murphy [via]
More editions of The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else:
- The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else: ISBN 0465016146 (0-465-01614-6)
  Hardcover, Perseus Books Group
- The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else: ISBN 0465016154 (0-465-01615-4)
  Softcover, Perseus Books Group
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Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science
by Charles Wheelen, Burton G. Malkiel

ISBN 0393324869 (0-393-32486-9)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc

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Book summary:
Finally! A book about economics that won't put you to sleep. In fact, you won't be able to put this one down.
Naked Economics makes up for all of those Econ 101 lectures you slept through (or avoided) in college, demystifying key concepts, laying bare the truths behind the numbers, and answering those questions you have always been too embarrassed to ask. For all the discussion of Alan Greenspan in the media, does anyone know what the Fed actually does? And what about those blackouts in California? Were they a conspiracy on the part of the power companies? Economics is life. There's no way to understand the important issues without it. Now, with Charles Wheelan's breezy tour, there's no reason to fear this highly relevant subject. With the commonsensical examples and brilliantly acerbic commentary we've come to associate with The Economist, Wheelan brings economics to life. Amazingly, he does so with nary a chart, graph, or mathematical equation in sightcertainly a feat to be witnessed firsthand.

Economics is a crucial subject. There's no way to understand the important issues without it. Now, with Charles Wheelan's breezy tour, there's also no reason to fear it. [via]
More editions of Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science:
- Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science: ISBN 0393049825 (0-393-04982-5)
  Hardcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
- Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science: ISBN 0393324869 (0-393-32486-9)
  Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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No Logo: El Poder De Las Marcas
by Naomi Klein

ISBN 8449312485 (84-493-1248-5)
Softcover, Paidos Iberica Ediciones S A

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- No Logo: El Poder De Las Marcas: ISBN 8449312485 (84-493-1248-5)
  Softcover, Paidos Iberica Ediciones S A
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No Logo: No Space No Choice No Jobs
by Naomi Klein

ISBN 0312421435 (0-312-42143-5)
Softcover, St Martins Pr

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Book summary:
With a new Afterword to the 2002 edition, No Logo employs journalistic savvy and personal testament to detail the insidious practices and far-reaching effects of corporate marketing-and the powerful potential of a growing activist sect that will surely alter the course of the 21st century. First published before the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, this is an infuriating, inspiring, and altogether pioneering work of cultural criticism that investigates money, marketing, and the anti-corporate movement. As global corporations compete for the hearts and wallets of consumers who not only buy their products but willingly advertise them from head to toe-witness today's schoolbooks, superstores, sporting arenas, and brand-name synergy-a new generation has begun to battle consumerism with its own best weapons. In this provocative, well-written study, a front-line report on that battle, we learn how the Nike swoosh has changed from an athletic status-symbol to a metaphor for sweatshop labor, how teenaged McDonald's workers are risking their jobs to join the Teamsters, and how "culture jammers" utilize spray paint, computer-hacking acumen, and anti-propagandist wordplay to undercut the slogans and meanings of billboard ads (as in "Joe Chemo" for "Joe Camel"). No Logo will challenge and enlighten students of sociology, economics, popular culture, international affairs, and marketing. "This book is not another account of the power of the select group of corporate Goliaths that have gathered to form our de facto global government. Rather, it is an attempt to analyze and document the forces opposing corporate rule, and to lay out the particular set of cultural and economic conditions that made the emergence of that opposition inevitable."-Naomi Klein, from her Introduction [via]
More editions of No Logo: No Space No Choice No Jobs:
- No Logo: No Space No Choice No Jobs: ISBN 0312421435 (0-312-42143-5)
  Softcover, St Martins Pr
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No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies
by Naomi Klein

ISBN 0312271921 (0-312-27192-1)
Softcover, Picador

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Book summary:
We live in an era where image is nearly everything, where the proliferation of brand-name culture has created, to take one hyperbolic example from Naomi Klein's No Logo, "walking, talking, life-sized Tommy [Hilfiger] dolls, mummified in fully branded Tommy worlds." Brand identities are even flourishing online, she notes--and for some retailers, perhaps best of all online: "Liberated from the real-world burdens of stores and product manufacturing, these brands are free to soar, less as the disseminators of goods or services than as collective hallucinations."
In No Logo, Klein patiently demonstrates, step by step, how brands have become ubiquitous, not just in media and on the street but increasingly in the schools as well. (The controversy over advertiser-sponsored Channel One may be old hat, but many readers will be surprised to learn about ads in school lavatories and exclusive concessions in school cafeterias.) The global companies claim to support diversity, but their version of "corporate multiculturalism" is merely intended to create more buying options for consumers. When Klein talks about how easy it is for retailers like Wal-Mart and Blockbuster to "censor" the contents of videotapes and albums, she also considers the role corporate conglomeration plays in the process. How much would one expect Paramount Pictures, for example, to protest against Blockbuster's policies, given that they're both divisions of Viacom?
Klein also looks at the workers who keep these companies running, most of whom never share in any of the great rewards. The president of Borders, when asked whether the bookstore chain could pay its clerks a "living wage," wrote that "while the concept is romantically appealing, it ignores the practicalities and realities of our business environment." Those clerks should probably just be grateful they're not stuck in an Asian sweatshop, making pennies an hour to produce Nike sneakers or other must-have fashion items. Klein also discusses at some length the tactic of hiring "permatemps" who can do most of the work and receive few, if any, benefits like health care, paid vacations, or stock options. While many workers are glad to be part of the "Free Agent Nation," observers note that, particularly in the high-tech industry, such policies make it increasingly difficult to organize workers and advocate for change.
But resistance is growing, and the backlash against the brands has set in. Street-level education programs have taught kids in the inner cities, for example, not only about Nike's abusive labor practices but about the astronomical markup in their prices. Boycotts have commenced: as one urban teen put it, "Nike, we made you. We can break you." But there's more to the revolution, as Klein optimistically recounts: "Ethical shareholders, culture jammers, street reclaimers, McUnion organizers, human-rights hacktivists, school-logo fighters and Internet corporate watchdogs are at the early stages of demanding a citizen-centered alternative to the international rule of the brands ... as global, and as capable of coordinated action, as the multinational corporations it seeks to subvert." No Logo is a comprehensive account of what the global economy has wrought and the actions taking place to thwart it. --Ron Hogan [via]
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The Protestant Ethic and the 'Spirit' of Capitalism and Other Writings
by Peter R. Baehr, Max Weber, Gordon C. Wells

ISBN 0140439218 (0-14-043921-8)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA

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Book summary:
In The Protestant Ethic, Max Weber opposes the Marxist concept of dialectical materialism and relates the rise of the capitalist economy to the Calvinist belief in the moral value of hard work and the fulfillment of one's worldly duties. Based on the original 1905 edition, this volume includes, along with Weber's treatise, an illuminating introduction, a wealth of explanatory notes, and exemplary responses and remarks-both from Weber and his critics-sparked by publication of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. This is the first English translation of the 1905 German text and the first volume to include Weber's unexpurgated responses to his critics, which reveal important developments in and clarifications of Weber's argument. [via]
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  Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
by Max Weber, Stephen Kalberg

ISBN 1579583385 (1-57958-338-5)
Hardcover, Fitzroy Dearborn Pub

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Book summary:
A new translation of Max Webers classic The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism--one of the most enduring and influential books in sociology--is now available from Roxbury.

Translator Stephen Kalberg is an internationally acclaimed Weberian scholar. In this Third Roxbury Edition, Kalberg offers a precise and nuanced rendering of The Protestant Ethic that captures Webers style as well as the unusual subtlety of his descriptions and causal arguments. Kalbergs standardization of Webers terminology facilitates understanding of the various twists and turns in his complex lines of reasoning. Webers original italicization, highlighting major themes, has been restored. A glossary of major terms and numerous clarifying endnotes have been added; foreign terms have been translated; bracketed insertions in the text identify obscure names. In short, the Protestant Ethic thesis is presented in a clear and highly readable manner.

There are three compelling reasons for students to read this classic:

It explores the continuing debate regarding the origins and legacy of modern capitalism in the West.
It helps the reader better understand economic development today around the world, especially in Russia, Eastern Europe, Asia, and South America.
It plumbs the deep cultural forces that affect contemporary work life and the workplace in the United States and Europe.
In his introduction, Kalberg offers a sketch of Webers life and his major concerns, examines the intellectual context at the time The Protestant Ethic was written, and summarizes major aspects of Webers complex analysis. Kalberg also discusses this classical study in the context of Webers other writings. Finally, Kalberg investigates the contribution of The Protestant Ethic for understanding the role played by cultural forces in modern economic development.
The new translation includes Webers 1906 essay "The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism." Written after his extensive travels in the United States in 1904, Weber comments here on the diverse ways in which the legacies of early American Protestantism remain influential. Also contained in this edition are Webers masterful prefatory remarks to his Collected Essays in the Sociology of Religion, in which he defines the uniqueness of Western societies and asks what "ideas and interests" combined to call forth modern Western rationalism.
For students, The Protestant Ethic is a starting point toward understanding the multiple dimensions of social change. The continuing debates about the main elements of modern life, economic cultures and business ethics, our "common sense" economic determinism and "rational choices," the future of modern capitalism, the relationship between cultural forces and social structures, and the tension between science and religion are very much part of the Weberian project. Small wonder, then, that The Protestant Ethic continues to be one of the most frequently assigned readings in sociology.
Translator Stephen Kalberg is the author of Max Webers Comparative-Historical Sociology (1994), Max Webers Sociology of Civilizations, and numerous articles on Weber. He is the editor of Max Weber: The Confrontation with Modernity (2003l). He teaches at Boston University, where he is Associate Professor of Sociology. He is also co-chair of the German Study Group at Harvard University's Center for European Studies. [via]
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The Protestant Ethic And the Spirit of Capitalism
by Gilbert Geis, Max Weber

ISBN 1933220368 (1-933220-36-8)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr

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  Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
by Talcott Parsons, Max Weber

ISBN 048642703X (0-486-42703-X)
Softcover, Dover Pubns

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Book summary:
This brilliant study opposes the Marxist concept of dialectical materialism and its view that change takes place through the conflict of opposites. Instead, Weber relates the rise of a capitalist economy to the Puritan determination to work out anxiety over salvation or damnation by performing good deeds an effort that ultimately encouraged capitalism.
[via]
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- Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism: ISBN 048642703X (0-486-42703-X)
  Softcover, Dover Pubns
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Theory of the Leisure Class
by Thorstein Veblen

ISBN 1419185098 (1-4191-8509-8)
Softcover, Kessinger Pub Co

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Book summary:
"The Theory of the Leisure Class" is a classic examination of the economics of the upper classes and the impact that their habits have upon society. In this work Thorstein Veblen coins the phrase "conspicuous consumption" to describe the often wasteful and unnecessary use of resources that is typical of the wealthiest members of a society. Veblen argues that the social values of the rich have greatly contributed to a lack of substantive culture and proper use of wealth in our society. "The Theory of the Leisure Class" is a classic of economics and sociology that is as relevant today as when it was first written. [via]
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The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions
by Thorstein Veblen

ISBN 1573922196 (1-57392-219-6)
Softcover, Prometheus Books

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Book summary:
Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929), the controversial American economist and social critic, argues that economics is essentially a study of the economic aspects of human culture, which are in a constant state of flux. In his best-known work, The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), Veblen appropriated Darwin's theory of evolution to analyze the modern industrial system.

While industry itself demanded diligence, efficiency, and cooperation, businessmen in opposition to engineers and industrialists were only interested in making money and displaying their wealth in what Veblen coined "conspicuous consumption." Veblen's keen analysis of the psychological bases of American social and economic institutions laid the foundation for the school of institutional economics. [via]
More editions of The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions:
- The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions: ISBN 1573922196 (1-57392-219-6)
  Softcover, Prometheus Books
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
by Malcolm Gladwell

ISBN 0316346624 (0-316-34662-4)
Softcover, Back Bay Books

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Book summary:
"The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life," writes Malcolm Gladwell, "is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do." Although anyone familiar with the theory of memetics will recognize this concept, Gladwell's The Tipping Point has quite a few interesting twists on the subject.
For example, Paul Revere was able to galvanize the forces of resistance so effectively in part because he was what Gladwell calls a "Connector": he knew just about everybody, particularly the revolutionary leaders in each of the towns that he rode through. But Revere "wasn't just the man with the biggest Rolodex in colonial Boston," he was also a "Maven" who gathered extensive information about the British. He knew what was going on and he knew exactly whom to tell. The phenomenon continues to this day--think of how often you've received information in an e-mail message that had been forwarded at least half a dozen times before reaching you.
Gladwell develops these and other concepts (such as the "stickiness" of ideas or the effect of population size on information dispersal) through simple, clear explanations and entertainingly illustrative anecdotes, such as comparing the pedagogical methods of Sesame Street and Blue's Clues, or explaining why it would be even easier to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with the actor Rod Steiger. Although some readers may find the transitional passages between chapters hold their hands a little too tightly, and Gladwell's closing invocation of the possibilities of social engineering sketchy, even chilling, The Tipping Point is one of the most effective books on science for a general audience in ages. It seems inevitable that "tipping point," like "future shock" or "chaos theory," will soon become one of those ideas that everybody knows--or at least knows by name. --Ron Hogan [via]
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The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor
by David S. Landes

ISBN 0393318885 (0-393-31888-5)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc

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Book summary:
In dieser Meilensteinstudie über die Weltwirtschaft rückt Professor David S. Landes der Analyse der Verteilung des Wohlstands historisch zu Leibe. Landes vertritt den Standpunkt, daß der Schlüssel zur heutigen Ungleichheit zwischen den reichen und den armen Nationen der Welt ihren Ursprung direkt in der Industriellen Revolution hat, in der einige Länder den Sprung zur Industrialisierung schafften und sagenhaft reich wurden, während andere nicht in der Lage waren, sich anzupassen, und arm blieben. Warum die einen Länder diesen Sprung schafften und andere nicht war jahrzehntelang der Gegenstand so mancher hitziger Debatte. Das Klima, Rohstoffe und die geographischen Bedingungen wurden alle als Erkärung vorgebracht -- und alle werden von Landes verworfen zugunsten seiner eigenen kontoversen Theorie: daß die Fähigkeit, eine industrielle Revolution herbeizuführen, von bestimmten kulturellen Eigenschaften abhängt, ohne die die Erhaltung einer Industrialisierung unmöglich ist. Landes stellt die Eigenschaften erfolgreich industrialisierter Nationen -- Arbeitsleistung, Sparsamkeit, Ehrlichkeit, Geduld und Beharrlichkeit -- denen von nichtindustrialisierten Ländern gegenüber und behauptet, daß solange diese Werte nicht von allen Ländern verinnerlicht werden, die Kluft zwischen Reich und Arm weiter wachsen wird. [via]
More editions of The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor:
- The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor: ISBN 0393040178 (0-393-04017-8)
  Hardcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
- The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor: ISBN 0393318885 (0-393-31888-5)
  Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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The Wisdom Of Crowds
by James Surowiecki, Surowiecki, James (AFT)

ISBN 0385721706 (0-385-72170-6)
Softcover, Anchor Books

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Book summary:
In this fascinating book, New Yorker business columnist James Surowiecki explores a deceptively simple idea: Large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliantbetter at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future.

With boundless erudition and in delightfully clear prose, Surowiecki ranges across fields as diverse as popular culture, psychology, ant biology, behavioral economics, artificial intelligence, military history, and politics to show how this simple idea offers important lessons for how we live our lives, select our leaders, run our companies, and think about our world. [via]
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- The Wisdom Of Crowds: ISBN 0385721706 (0-385-72170-6)
  Softcover, Anchor Books
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The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business,Economies, Societies and Nations
by James Surowiecki

ISBN 0385503865 (0-385-50386-5)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group

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Book summary:
No one in this world, so far as I know, has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. H. L. Mencken

H. L. Mencken was wrong.

In this endlessly fascinating book, New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki explores a deceptively simple idea that has profound implications: large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliantbetter at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future.

This seemingly counterintuitive notion has endless and major ramifications for how businesses operate, how knowledge is advanced, how economies are (or should be) organized and how we live our daily lives. With seemingly boundless erudition and in delightfully clear prose, Surowiecki ranges across fields as diverse as popular culture, psychology, ant biology, economic behaviorism, artificial intelligence, military history and political theory to show just how this principle operates in the real world.

Despite the sophistication of his arguments, Surowiecki presents them in a wonderfully entertaining manner. The examples he uses are all down-to-earth, surprising, and fun to ponder. Why is the line in which youre standing always the longest? Why is it that you can buy a screw anywhere in the world and it will fit a bolt bought ten-thousand miles away? Why is network television so awful? If you had to meet someone in Paris on a specific day but had no way of contacting them, when and where would you meet? Why are there traffic jams? Whats the best way to win money on a game show? Why, when you walk into a convenience store at 2:00 A.M. to buy a quart of orange juice, is it there waiting for you? What do Hollywood mafia movies have to teach us about why corporations exist?

The Wisdom of Crowds is a brilliant but accessible biography of an idea, one with important lessons for how we live our lives, select our leaders, conduct our business, and think about our world.
[via]
More editions of The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business,Economies, Societies and Nations:
- The Wisdom of Crowds : Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations: ISBN 0375433627 (0-375-43362-7)
  Hardcover, Random House Large Print
- The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business,Economies, Societies and Nations: ISBN 0385503865 (0-385-50386-5)
  Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group