- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Hamish Hamilton Ltd; 1st Edition edition (25 Oct 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0241141346
- ISBN-13: 978-0241141342
- Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 14 x 3.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 814,368 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
The history of economic genius is a tale of brilliance, egomania and borderline insanity. Since the earliest days, a cast of sometimes highly colourful individuals have pondered on the key to accumulating wealth and power. Paul Strathern has produced an erudite and witty narrative of these thinkers, together with their miraculous, and sometimes disastrous, ideas. Men like Adam Smith, Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes were fascinating characters as well as influential thinkers. But there are also a host of lesser-known figures whose theories were as eccentric as they were - the mediaeval monk who invented game theory by studying a ball game; the escaped Scottish murderer who controlled France's finances; numerous crackpot academics; and, of course, Dr. Strangelove himself, John von Neumann, the sinister genius who applied game theory to everything from economics to nuclear strategy. Paul Strathern uncovers the lives and ideas of the great philosophers of money against the backdrop of some of history's most turbulent events: the South Sea Bubble, the French and Russian Revolutions and the Crash of 1929. On the way he provides an enriching and entertaining account of the great, the good and the downright bad in economic theories -from double-entry book-keeping to game theory. In fact, everything you ever wanted to know about economics, but were too afraid to ask.
About the Author
Born in London in 1940, Paul Strathern lectures in philosophy and science at Kingston University. He is the author of MENDELEYEV'S DREAM (2000) and the Somerset Maugham prize-winning novel A SEASON IN ABYSSINIA.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This concise book is well written and reads well. Taking the reader through a selection of the most important thinkers that the world has seen, the author also adds interest by contextualising the thoughts of the economic thinkers he studies.
The reading list at the back of the book is particularly useful as the author does seem to rely on other books quite heavily in some chapters (notably Francis Wheen's superb biography of Marx). Overall though this is exactly what it says on the tin - and all the better for it - an intriguing and informative read
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Picked during a skim through the bookshop shelves this book was an amazing discovery, I gained a brief overview of economics and the way economic thought developed. Never studying economics before, this book enthralled me and produced real desire to significantly deepen my understanding. Throughout the whole book the presentation is revealing, engaging and humorous (though the chapter on Marx is quite direct), The personal discussion about the great thinkers maybe almost scandalous but leaves the reader needing to satisfy more detail for each character. I'm now studying avidly to ensure that this discovered gem of economics is polished to expose greater appreciation of the world I live in. My thanks to the author who made this book live for me.
Format:Paperback
Really like this book. A collection of the eccentricities of various economists that is very entertaining. Other reviewer's comments about John von Neumann himself are interesting but don't spoil the bits about the economists. Love the stuff about Karl Marx.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good introduction to economics for the layman
As an intorduction to economics you could do a lot worse, it certainly highlights the oddness and comic aspects of some economic theories (and theorists). Read more
Published on 15 Jan 2006 by Conor Mcvarnock
It's not economics it's fun!
This is NOT a book about economics, but rather a series of mini-biographies of people and characters who bacome entranced by the concpt of money. Read more
Published on 21 April 2004 by ZDDQ140770
top book
I'm not trying to be witty or impressive with the wording of this review - I just want to share my discovery of a fantastic book. Read more
Published on 19 Feb 2004 by "buttfloss"
Enjoyable insight into those who shaped economic thought
The book offers very interesting insights into the personalities and events that have shaped the science / psychology of economics. Read more
Published on 24 Jan 2002 by H. Cox
What is Strathern's Game?
This book is intended to illuminate various "economic ideas" by reference to the lives of their progenitors. Read more
Published on 30 Nov 2001 by Prof Frederick de Neumann
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