Reviews - The Undercover Economist

187 reviews for:

I have a deep loathing for economists, and Tim What-ever-is-his-name doesn't do much to help that. The book is, in its basic form, common sense written with an air of smugness. It is hard to take this book seriously - as earnest as the Undercover Economist believes that the world can be completely reduced to high school economics. Sure, it is insightful, and rather reassuring that economics hasn't really grown far from basic sense - but the book does not give anyone any new insight into the world.
Plus the notion that the world just needs a good economist to save the day and the environment is pitiful, given the many times the author himself has pointed out the ridiculous failures of economists before.
On the whole - a completely ridiculous book, and I genuinely pity the fool who took the pains to download this book on my computer. He would be extremely better off picking up an actual economics text book instead.

bepbop's review against another edition

3.25

funny informative reflective slow-paced

sagnik_20's review against another edition

5.0

What comparisons..What metaphors..Absolutely amazing yet simple analysis of day-to-day activities that are based purely on the rudimentary principles of economics.Entirely changed my perspective towards mundane stuffs.Superb Read!!

jmcdbrock's review against another edition

2.0

Economics is NOT my gig. Accounting? Probably. Finance? Okay. Business? So so.

xahrab's review against another edition

im ngl, i deffo think u need a basic understanding of how the economy runs and economics in general to understand this book. and while some parts were interesting like how ibm removes a chip from a printer to sell it at a lower price which acc costs them more - some parts were boring and for that reason Im gonna have to dnf it. maybe if I had more understanding of economics I would understand it more and acc find it interesting. unfortunately that is not the case

papapow69's review against another edition

4.0

It feels like Tim H tries a lot to shock by giving his point of view of understanding of the world. It's not always charming. But, I must say, this one was intriguing enough.

nocto's review against another edition

4.0

I like Tim Harford's books much better than his Freakonomics colleagues/competitors. Though I can't remember either book in detail I found this a good in depth read with plenty of detail and explanation. Learnt a lot.

finesilkflower's review against another edition

3.0

** DIDN'T FINISH ALERT ** My review should be taken with a grain of salt, because I didn't finish the book in time to return it to the library. This should probably not count toward my yearly books goal.

Tim Harford has a talent for explaining economics concepts in understandable, dryly witty language with clear examples. As a learning tool, I bet this is just as good and more entertaining than any textbook. As a casual read, it's a bit wall-of-text and fast-paced; it's not a deliciously gossipy tear-through-me beach read like Harford's collection of advice letters ([b:Dear Undercover Economist: Priceless Advice on Money, Work, Sex, Kids, and Life's Other Challenges|6004848|Dear Undercover Economist Priceless Advice on Money, Work, Sex, Kids, and Life's Other Challenges|Tim Harford|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320418034s/6004848.jpg|6179788]). As a more-or-less layman who listens to "Planet Money" but never took an economics class, more of a mind-expanding stop-every-few-pages-and-digest-the-content type of book.