Brief History of Economic Genius
By Paul Strathern
Texere, 2002 - 360pages

I bought this book hoping it might shed some insights into the thoughts and times of the world’s greatest economists and I got what I hoped for.  In particular I was hoping to see if the author did a good job in relating economics to other areas such as politics, science, sociology, history philosophy and mathematics and the book fulfilled my desire.  The book was well written, in terms of prose, making it an easy book to read economics books, especially for non-economists.

If I had anything to gripe it would be the EXTREMELY poor editing.  Throughout the book I found words that had mistakenly been split up by a spac e mark, such as what I have included in this review.  One or two can be forgiven but the twenty or so I seem to have come across is truly shameful for a book at approximately $20 or more.  As a result of this and the poor examples provided I rate the book a 3 star book

This book, like The Worldly Philosophers and New Ideas from Dead Economists, is designed to illustrate the thoughts and history of the world’s greatest economic thinkers.  Economists.  This book is ideal for those seeking to learn about some of the contributions of the world’s greatest economists as well as those who are history buffs and want to learn more about the times / overlap of the world’s greatest minds in other areas such as philosophy, science, etc as many of these individuals had an impact on economists of their times.

Economists highlighted in the book, which goes in chronological order from past to recent, include Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, Robert Malthus, George Marshall, Thorton Veblen, Joseph Schumpeter, John von Neumann, John Nash and Milton Friedman.

Some historic events mentioned in the book, since they affected the economists’ thoughts, are Holland 's 17th-century bout of tulipmania, Britain 's notorious South Sea Bubble, The French Revolution, the Great Depression, and the rebuilding and retribution strategies following the two world wars.

Most of my reviews are in business / economics and I encourage people to read them.  If you are interested in another excellent economics book I would start with The Worldly Philosophers (which I would buy before this book) and then read Hernando DeSoto’s Mystery of Capital.  A great general business book is by the management guru Peter Drucker entitled “The Essential Drucker”.  Just so you know, he didn’t pick the title but his work is excellent and highly applicable for managers. 

One final note, The Mystery Of Capital is a highly regarded, easy to read book on economic development that is VERY popular in the offices of dignitaries throughout the world, including Paul O’Neill (Secretary of State for the U.S).  During a recent CNBC documentary on Mr. O’Neill the secretary met Mr. DeSoto to get some insights before his trip to Africa where he will focus on ways to improve economic development in 3^rd world nations.

Paul Strathern has a Ph.D. in Mathematics and Philosophy and lectures at Kingston University. He is the author of several novels, including A Season in Abyssinia, which won a Somerset Maugham prize, and Mendeleyev's Dream: The Quest for the Elements. He has also published two series of books—one on philosophy: Philosophers in 90 Minutes, and another on science. He lives in London, England.  Strathern is best known for his 39 short biographies of philosophers and scientists