Excellent Read. Over the years, I've read columns and watched interviews of Sowell, but never picked up his books. As a reader, I'm attentive to well reasoned logic and rationale arguments. Sowell turns that into an art form. These types of socio-economic arguments always appeal to me.

What seems so obvious when looking at the data and unpolluted statistics seems so contrast to the gerrymandered version of the issues presented in the journalists today. One might seem to think they might have an ulterior agenda.

I've not encountered the data and arguments for slavery and prejudice in the way Sowell presented. That was unique. I may pick up another economics book again after this.

Loved this. It's pretty digestible but you need to pay attention. Listened on Audible and it wasn't a hard listen but you needed to pay attention. First time really getting into 'economics'. Sowell seems to understand that there are too many factors in any given micro field of economic study, i.e. housing, automotive, immigration, etc...that influence the minutia of that field of study for there to be any belief of the political systems labels of the problems with those economies. Also, that the assumed solution needs to also be well thought out in it's long term effects.

Masterful practical explanation of Economics as applied to various aspects of Civilization over time. Brilliant use of practical economics to illustrate how it has impacted civilizations development or lack thereof. I must read more of Sowells work.

simplistic understanding of economics great read.

I avoided this book for a long time because I thought it was Economics 2.0. Well, yes and no. No in that it is not “Advanced Economics” as I thought it would be. Yes in that it delves into what Sowell calls “Thinking beyond stage 1” which is, “Okay, you’ve stated your economic solution/idea/concept, but what happens next? Uh-huh, and then? And then? And THEN?” If anything, it takes the concepts learned in his book Basic Economics and gives even more practical examples. It’s a perfect companion book and I’m glad I finally chanced it.

Outstanding book. Thomas Sowell explains the dangers of one-stage thinking through a myriad of economic and social examples in a clear, concise way.

Must read for anybody interested in economics or social sciences - economics of politics, race, migration, global economics etc.

Good, common sense stuff on the economics of such things as insurance, the development of nations, labor (free and paid), and housing, and how economics relates with such things as politics and discrimination. His argument is that many, especially politicians, don't think past the immediate payoffs of economic decisions to the long-term consequences. Many helpful examples populate the book.

Good book, but you can probably get just as much out of a summary without investing the full 7+ hours. That being said, the full 7+ hours really drives the point home from every conceivable angle.

But it really is amazing how many voters we have that don't understand this "Stage 1" thinking. For my example, this is how we have a Councillor in Brisbane trying to mandate air conditioning in rental properties, as if landlords won't pass that purchase and installation cost back to renters. This essentially takes the choice away from renters as to whether they would like to invest their money into expensive air conditioning.

I'm sure the people who didn't want to pay more rent in order to obtain housing with an air conditioner will rarely want to pay for the expensive electricity costs of actually running an air conditioner, and the landlord now has to pay for the air conditioner to be serviced annually (again, passed onto the renter).

Which means Stage 1 thinking has left renters with less choice, ewaste mounted on the wall, and more expensive rent.

I read a decent range of material I think and ive taken economics classes in college and I enjoy reading about economics, but I hated this book. Sowell is a white man who can't see past his own privilege, who pulls bunk out of his ass thinly veiled as economics to explain away problems that clearly exist for reasons beyond just that. His explanations are overly simplistic as he cycles through three reasons for every theme he addresses. Slogging through this book it felt like all those puss bags on Fox who had one economics class and think they're experts.

Politicians rarely thinking about an economic policy beyond stage one. Sowell presents here evidence of what happens when many of the ideas presented by our politicians go past stage one, and the disastrous consequences that follow. Everything from healthcare to immigration is covered in this book. I've read multiple Sowell books before this one, so a lot of the arguments that Sowell presents here are also presented in his other books.

I mostly enjoyed the beginning and ending chapters of the book and the middles felt overly stretched and repetitive at times.

I appreciate how Mr. Sowell sheds a unique light on controversial topics such as slavery, racism, discrimination, immigration, underdevelopment, labor and resource exploitation etc. His perspective is much more healthier, scientific, honest and rational than some of today's populist movements.

I also benefited from the fundamental comparison of politics vs economics.

Overall this is a book where Dr. Thomas Sowell shared his valuable lifelong academic findings and intuition that will likely make you smarter by a small or large margin depending on how much you already know about these topics.

I salute Mr. Sowell for his courage, precision and honesty in explaining his views on topics that require stage two thinking, something the majority of global population is vastly missing today regardless of their educational titles and societal statuses.