To be fair, the only part of this book I find truly disagreeable is the title. "Basic Economics" implies a presentation of universal principles that would generally be agreed upon by most who study the subject. This book does no such thing, but I'm not sure any book on the topic of economics could. While economics as a subject attempts to use an empirical approach to study human interactions regarding available resources in varying levels of scarcity, at it's heart it is social science. As such it is prone to be dominated by theories, models, and hypothesis which themselves are not universal and often up for much debate.

It is quite obvious from just the first few pages that this book is being presented with an extremely premeditated and somewhat biased perspective. The subtitle, "A common sense guide to the economy" seems a little more appropriate as it implies some degree of non-objective perspective. However, the economic principles being presented as "common-sense" or even fact are often very debatable and in some instances, from this laypersons perspective, flat out wrong.

Simply by discussing the basic principles of a free-market system, albeit from a biased perspective, in a well thought out and clear manner, this book proves to be worthy of its purchase price. Anybody who seeks to learn more about a subject with an open mind should be prepared to hear discussions of said subject from all perspectives, not just those which seem more favorable.

Overall, the book is well written and flows well. It obviously favors laissez-faire free market systems with little governmental intervention or regulation. Considering our current economic collapse and the factors that primarily contributed to it, I think we can all agree that such a perspective on economic principles should not be presented as being factual.

Exactly what the title describes. The basics of economics for the general audience. Starting out with the observation that we may think we don't own beachfront property because of its price. The reality is -- we don't own beachfront property because there's a lot more people who'd like to own it than there is property to be owned. Price is just the way to sort things out.

Full of concepts and concrete examples. For instance, in the Soviet Union, they usually used about two and a half more metal to produce the same amount of consumer goods as the United States; state planning meant there was no motive to economize. Similarly, rotten fruit would be packed in with good fruit, because a Soviet farmer had no motive to prevent spoilage. The rise of the mail-order catalog, and how the man who persuaded Sears to open department stores to supplement the catalog was originally working for Montgomery Ward, where he got fired for expressing the same notion. How the founders of Sears, Montgomery Ward, and J. C. Penney all started working for a living at an age that would be illegally young nowadays. And much, much, much more.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill:

If a man is not a socialist by the time he is 20, he has no heart. If he's still a socialist after reading this book, he has no brain.

Before reading this book I though I had a good grasp on the whole "supply and demand" thing (as I thought about the economy), but as it turns out knowing about something and understanding the implications of a thing are two different things.

Rarely do I encounter a book that leaves me changed after reading it. Basic Economics managed to change my views on several issues, most of which I thought as "set in stone".

I was very skeptical at start, but I cannot find any hole in the author's reasoning; the book has prompted me to reinvestigate and to rethink my stances on minimal wages, price controls, government interventions or anti-trust laws. On the other hand, it confirmed what I've always felt was important - to look at the underlying incentives of political issues and not at their supposed purpose.

The power of the book is in how incredibly well it is written. The author has a talent with words and explanations. Everything is presented step-by-step and introduced using simple terms. This makes the arguments easy to follow, understand, and to see if they are true.

It might be a projection on my part but I feel the authors dislikes sophistry and overcomplicating the underlying issues, and disdains people who resort to such tactics. He certainly has issues with politics and politicians and I have oftentimes bursted out laughing on some particularly scathing comment.

Sowell describes economics as a "the study of scarce resources which have alternate uses" and the book is devoted to describing different scenarios/parts of economy - prices and markets, industry, work and pay, time, risk, national economy and international trade and non-profit organizations.

The author shows how each may be a benefit to the consumer or puts him under an unnatural burden. He also dispels fallacies and myths surrounding these issues and what happens when the forces of the market are interfered with.

At least for me, some of the issues discussed by the book were obvious, but also as often there were counter-intuitive. The book did manage to change my mind a couple of times.

Most underlying principles used to explain the issues were really simple ("consumers buy often at lower prices than higher prices", supply and demand etc.) and the repeated all the way throughout - hammering some of the points in further.

The book has piqued my curiosity in economic issues, and gave me some small glimmer of hope that I can understand them. I cannot express how much it has impacted me. It's great, and you should read it.