The Shortest History of Economics (The Shortest History Series)

Very well written.

Delivered in time

If, like me, you find economics a labyrinth, this book is a map. It helps you understand how evolution and innovation have shaped your financial situation. This book, despite its “shortest history” label, was a surprisingly dense read. Although my core strengths lie in science and the arts, not commerce, I have always understood money on a basic consumer and small-time saver level. This book, however, opened my eyes to how my “economic journey” is part of a much larger cycle of social and environmental norms. Let me begin from the end, where the author shares that the book tackles three key objectives, ‘telling the story of capitalism and the market system’s emergence; discussing the key ideas and individuals shaping economics; and outlining how economic forces have influenced world history’. It successfully achieved all three for me, and my “ignorant self” was enlightened by the fortunate reality that I live in an era where most of humanity has access to education, vaccines, and the internet. Read it and get ready to unravel the world of economics from the beginning of time.

My knowledge about economics is basically zero and so I wanted to read this book to learn a bit more about it. This book is perfect for beginners of economics. This book tells us about the hidden economic forces behind wars, innovations, and social transformations. It traces how the market system and capitalism emerged along with introduction of the key ideas of economics. This book starts with agricultural revolution to industrial revolution to the pandemic and how it affected the economics. The author is obviously an expert in economics and he did a great job in telling the history in a chronological manner and explained the concepts well. There are also pictures in this book which made the reading experience better and helped in understanding the things better. There are also interesting anecdotes. This is a great nonfiction book to read to enhance our knowledge about economics. I most certainly learned a lot from this book. I found it so interesting to read about certain things like how plough invention worsened gender inequality and the derivation of the word ‘money’. Overall, I had a great time reading this book learning new things. I’d definitely recommend this book if you want to enhance your knowledge about economics.

Page quality is not good. Page quality is very poor as compared to price of the book.

Eversince I chose the commerce stream, Economics has been my favorite subject. More so, I was obsessed with it during my school time. This book reminded me of my long-lost love for the subject. Sure, this is about the history of economics; which means that the book tells you about how the major events that happened in the world like industrialization, world wars, the Great Depression, and pandemics changed the course of the subject overall and affected the world economy. As the title of the book suggests ‘shortest’, you only will find the jist of everything. Events are mentioned in crisp and direct form. It seems like the author is connecting the dots and trying to make sense of everything that has happened so far and built the world economy as it is today. And it all makes sense. ‘Economics can be defined as a social science that studies how people maximize their well-being in the face of scarcity.’ <3 (I haven’t read such a crisp and clear definition of economics anywhere). The arguments made in the book are presented with basis and proofs. One can understand how this world as a whole works by reading the 200-pager. Every page and sentences have information in them that you may like to know if you want to understand the whole mechanics. You don’t need to know anything beforehand, everything is explained in there that too very crisp and direct. (However, you may need to look it up, if you are not aware of these major events. Simple googling would be sufficient). However, you would not find much in the Indian context though except here and here occasionally, evidently so. If you have the urge to understand world history and economics but do not know where to start, this book may be a good starter. If not everything in depth, you would be able to decide which ones you are interested in. And not just the readers interested in the subject, I believe people without any prior knowledge and interest in the subject should read it to understand how any major event, development, trend, or activity affects the economy. Well, that is capitalism (free market) for you!!

Shortest history? Yes. But the author unnecessarily complicates certain things to hide his naivety

The book arrived on time and in great condition.

Puts the subject into an historical and institutional setting that’s well worth reading

very interesting, highly readable

As someone not particularly literate in economics, this was a brilliant read - grounding key economic theories in compelling historical narratives, which not only made them more digestible but also gave them immediate and tangible context. A brilliant read. I’ll be seeking out his other books immediately.

An easy read and good explainer of major world events and therefore the evolution of modern economic policy and thinkers