"BASIC ECONOMICS," 4th edition, by Thomas Sowell, Basic Books, $39.95, 654 pages (nf)
The book's title and girth suggest that it would be the cure for insomnia: "Basic Economics" sounds soporific, and at nearly 700 pages, it's a good size for a sturdy pillow.
Instead, Thomas Sowell's classic provides an engaging — and at times entertaining — crash course through economics and its application to public policy and personal finance.
It isn't "Freakonomics," the 2005 book that popularized economics with stories comparing teachers and real estate agents to sumo wrestlers and the Ku Klux Klan, but it takes a more in-depth and serious view at issues facing any family and any community. Most older teenagers and adult readers can grasp the concepts as Sowell presents them.
From the beginning, Sowell helps readers understand how economics applies to everyday life. It isn't about revenue, profits, stocks and bonds, as much as it is about making choices.
In the opening chapter, he explains that economics applies to medical teams that must decide which wounded soldiers to treat on a battlefield, knowing that making the wrong choice could cause some soldiers to die needlessly.
Throughout the book, he addresses how economics applies to other choices, such as what career to pursue, how to pay for college, how to provide affordable housing and how to save for retirement.
"Most of us hate even to think about having to make such choices. But life does not ask us what we want. It presents us with options," Sowell writes. "Economics is one of the ways of trying to make the most of those options."
Many economists base their books and articles on the basics of supply, demand and incentive. Sowell discusses more of the principles of economics and business, such as scarcity of resources, the role of prices, international trade and inflation.
It's no secret that Sowell unabashedly believes in free-market economics and leans toward the conservative side of many issues in American politics. He doesn't hide that in "Basic Economics."
In defending free markets, Sowell frequently tells stories of government interference with markets. His examples range from rent-control laws in the U.S. to socialism and communism in other countries, and they all end badly. A reader who wants to know the other side of those stories would have to consult a different book, as Sowell devotes little space to explaining alternative views.
His language is eloquent, as well as accessible. The book has no charts or graphs to decipher, just page after page of thought-provoking prose.
"Basic Economics" is a useful guide for someone who wants to know more about how the business world operates and also how to interpret public policy proposals.
Bryan Gentry lives in Lynchburg, Va., where he writes for a daily newspaper. He is a native of North Carolina and a graduate of Southern Virginia University. He blogs at bryangentry.wordpress.com