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Hidden Order: Economics of Everyday Life, the
David Friedman has never taken an economics class in his life. Sure, he's "taught" economics at UCLA. Chicago, Tulane, Cornell, and Santa Clara, but don't hold that against him. After all, everyone's an economist. We all make daily decisions that rely, consciously or not, on an acute understanding of economic theory--from picking the fastest checkout tine at the
...morePaperback, 352 pages
Published
August 27th 1997
by HarperBusiness
(first published 1996)
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This books tries to be an economics text book for lay people. I learned quite a bit, but there were many instances where I used the graphs and English descriptions to go, "Oh, he means XYZ in calculus." I'm not sure how clear those passages would be without a good math background (not necessarily calculus, but at least comfort with geometry). In general I feel like I learned a lot about modern economic theory and he had some fun passages that applied economics theory to unusual situ...more
This book is not what most people would expect from an economics book, even one aimed at the popular audience. From the start, you can tell that the author approaches economics from an unconventional point of view: in his view, economics is not about money. Instead, it turns out to be about value, and how we exchange things of value to obtain others; money need not be involved. When examined from this viewpoint, economics suddenly becomes applicable to study of how we make decisions about nearly...more
I finally finished this one. It is pretty heady which is what took me so long to read it. I would only make it through a couple pages at night before drifting off to sleep. It is more of a daytime read! LOL
This is not easy economics reading like Freakonomics, etc. This book would be awesome for a college economics class. It has very detailed information like you would learn at the level of a college course, but it is presented in a more entertaining way than a textbook. Havi...more
This is not easy economics reading like Freakonomics, etc. This book would be awesome for a college economics class. It has very detailed information like you would learn at the level of a college course, but it is presented in a more entertaining way than a textbook. Havi...more
Friedman is a brilliant economist (and son of Milton), and this book is really the forerunner to Freakonomics, in the sense that it was the first of the armchair economics books geared toward discussing data in more interesting and conversational ways. A friend who recommended Hidden Order claimed that it was the book that Freakonomics was trying to be. This is true in the sense that Hidden Order does a far better job of illustrating the pervasiveness of the power of numbers in all aspects of o...more
This book is more complete and detailed than books like the Undercover Economist or Freakonomics, but it is also much harder to read since it is written in a dryer more textbook like fashion. Parts of the book were interesting and other parts tended to make me nod off. This book would probably be best for someone that has a more than passing interest in the subject.
Craig J.
added it
Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life by David D. Friedman (1997)
Not that innovative.
David
added it
from motley fool
Kenny
rated it
Recommends it for:
Everyone, esp. critical thinking liberals wanting an accessible view into how libertarians think
Recommended to Kenny by:
I know the author
A very good read, I find this book excessively reductionist, i.e. the explanations (Friedman brings libertarian economics to a popular audience very well) are based on assumptions that are unrealistic (people are purely driven by profit type of thing) but a good introduction to that style of economic thought if you read critically.
The 5 stars is just for economists or econ students, though I think most other people would put it at 3-4 stars. The book provides a number of intriguing explanations to various decisions such as why we give diamond rings when we get engaged or why the British wore bright red uniforms.
Interesting...however much denser, and therefore less readable than other economics books I have made it through...namely Armchair Economist, The Drunkard's Walk, and Freakonomics - the remedial member of the family.
Too Damn much work.
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