Introduction

I was commissioned by Teach Secondary magazine to review this book. I’ve included here both the review I submitted, and the lightly edited version published in the magazine.

You might wonder why I’ve included a review of it at all on this website, given that the target readership of the website is writers, and people thinking about writing. The reason is that the book employs a couple of interesting approaches to teaching would could be an abstruse subject.

My review was aimed at teachers and their students, and I was allowed only 150 words. So allow me to add here that, as a former teacher of Economics and someone who still has an interest (who doesn’t, in these straitened times?), that I am pleased to recommend this book to general readers as well as teachers.

My original version

It must be a publisher’s dream to have the economy tank just as its book on Economics appears! There’s enough information here to enable you to make sense of Chancellors’ budget statements and to evaluate how likely their measures are to be effective. Some concepts are usually difficult to grasp, but the authors have done an admirable job using plain language. Students taking Citizenship, Politics, Sociology and even some History courses would benefit from having an accessible guide to economics concepts. Even Economics students themselves would find this a good introduction. The conversation aspect is slightly tedious, but that’s a small price to pay. Relatively new terms such as Sub prime mortgages are explained well, as are older ones like ‘externalities’. However, some are just mentioned almost in passing. Nevertheless, this is one of the few books on Economics that both works as a textbook and is actually readable!

The version published in Teach Secondary magazine

It must be a publisher's dream to have the economy tank, just as its book on economics appears! There's enough information here to help you make sense of Chancellors' budget statements, and try evaluating how effective their measures will be. Economics concepts can often be difficult to grasp, but the authors have done an admirable job of explaining them in plain language. Students taking citizenship, politics, sociology and perhaps even history may well benefit from its accessible introduction to the field. Even economics students will likely find it helpful. The 'conversation' conceit used throughout is slightly tedious, but it's a small price to pay. Newer terms, such as 'sub-prime mortgages' are explained well, as are older standbys like 'externalities'. This is one of the few books on economics that works as a textbook while remaining actually readable!