I've taken to reading business news recently with everything that has been going on over the last few years, and economic weekly magazines but need a little more help in understanding the articles, so thought I would start with this book when it came up on Netgalley for review.

Everyday Economics made Easy is divided into three main sections: history, basics, and micro/macroeconimcs.

It's an interesting book that explains things well and has certainly increased my understanding of the economic world around me.

I received this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Such an interesting introduction to Economics. As soon as this book was published I ordered it straight away as a book to go back to and re-read. I studied Economics at university and I wish I'd had this book to read before I started my course

Get introduction into everyday economics. This would be great for beginners to understand basic economics.

Grace Wynter's EVERYDAY ECONOMICS MADE EASY is that most rare of books that taught me concepts I might have known and have since forgotten and done so with such grace, such simple brilliance that I enjoyed the learning. Financial discussions and articles no longer scare me off--and I look forward to conversations about money, about economics, the world, and why people behave the way they do. Wynter's clear prose and effortless weaving of history, philosophy, individuals, and graphics made for an entertaining, illuminating read. I received an advance copy and these opinions are my own unbiased thoughts.

Reading this book reminded me a lot of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Astrophysics for people in a hurry.’ Before the author and his team jump up in excitement (or wonder in confusion at what could connect economics and astrophysics), let me reproduce an excerpt from my review of the above book:
“The book aims at providing a “foundational fluency” in astrophysics. It certainly succeeds in that. But you must understand that this is Astrophysics 101, not Science 101. There’s a lot of “foundational fluency” that you already need to have in physics and astronomy before you pick this up. In other words, keep in mind that the title is not 'Astrophysics for Beginners' but 'Astrophysics for People in a Hurry'.”

I can simply tweak a few words of the above paragraph and give you the review for this book. In short, this is not Economics 101. Now comes the long version of my review.

Economics primarily assumes rational behaviour from an irrational species and is based on “all things being equal” in a dynamic environment where hardly anything is equal. Despite this, economics is probably the only social sciences to have as widespread a relevance and impact in the real world as the core sciences. As such, we cannot ignore economics and everyone needs to have at least some knowledge of it.

The book aims at providing “economic concepts in small, easily digestible pieces” and this aim is almost entirely met. (The problematic word is “easily”.) The content is really good and comprehensive. Beginning from basic economic systems and concepts such as demand and supply; the development of economics through the decades through the viewpoints of prominent economists; the practical side of economics such as taxes and its social impact; to more macroeconomic issues such as recessions and economics policies, the book tries to cover as much of economics as possible in order to maximise your utility. (See what I did there? 😛)

As someone who is more than familiar with the basics and even some advanced economics, I found the book quite interesting. It is very practical and sometimes, even humorous. There are plenty of quotes, “quick tips”, and trivia to lighten the topic and increase the impact. I enjoyed these additional info boxes even more than main content.

However, I wonder if the book justifies the claim of ‘everyday economics made easy.’ A major part of the main content (that is, not counting the add-ons such as trivia, brief bios of economists, quotes and the like) is very dense. The problem begins right at the start. When you want to spread an everyday understanding of a subject feared by the general public, you don’t begin with a historical listing of famous people associated with the subject and their economic theories! That’s the easiest way to either put people off the book or scare them away from the subject itself. The book doesn’t ease into day-to-day economics but dives in at the deep end and for most of the journey, stays at the deep end. There are case studies to help you understand the topic better but these too will work only if you have a certain grasp over the essentials.

In other words, I don’t think this book can work for a person who knows nothing about economics. It will click better with those who have already studied economics at some time in the past, have forgotten the basics and are looking for a resource to refresh their knowledge.

The last two years have been like the world has never seen. While humankind has been through many pandemics before, this was the first pandemic of the information age, where fake news went viral and genuine news was left unseen, where panic caused people to buy toilet paper in reams and fear made many stay away from vaccines. It is at such a juncture that economics and economic thinking is more necessary than ever before. This book does help in that aim, but as I said, you need to have grasp over the subject first.

I wish the approach of the main content of the book would have been more layperson-friendly, such as in “Freakonomics” or even in “The Undercover Economist.” The content in the text boxes is outstanding but a book can’t be read for the added textboxes alone. The tagline of the book—“ A Quick Review of What You Forgot You Knew“—makes its intention clear but I wonder how many will read that tagline before picking up the book as the title claims something else.

3 stars.

My thanks to Wellfleet Press and NetGalley for the DRC of “Everyday Economics Made Easy”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

I enjoyed this book. I liked the conversational and sometimes witty writing. I had previously taken economics courses (many decades ago) and the book is a great refresher. I suspect that it would make a very good introductory text, but I can’t really speak to that. The book is concise; it did not cover anything in great detail, but does have a bibliography. The book also has a handy glossary. I enjoyed the discussions of the social impact of economics - including gender, racial discrimination, and climate change. Overall, this is a great read. Thank you to Netgalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Wellfleet Press for the advance reader copy.

Where was this book when I was trying to figure out economics in college! This book has a lot of knowledge packed into a short amount of pages. It does read slightly like a textbook, but not in a bad way. Everything is explained instead of trying to infer information. I really appreciated that. I’ve been taking some accounting courses and those books are just…horrible!

This book is perfect for someone looking to understand economics a little deeper or preparing for an economics course.