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The Economics Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained (DK Big Ideas) Kindle Edition

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 2,336 ratings

All your complicated economic questions and theories explained by world experts.

Economics is a broad topic, and your knowledge might be limited if you're not an economist by profession -- until now!
The Economics Book is your jargon-free, visual guide to understanding the production and distribution of wealth.


Using a combination of authoritative, clear text, and bold graphics, this encyclopedia explores and explains big questions and issues that affect us all. Everything from taxation, to recession to the housing market and much more!

By following an innovative visual approach,
The Economics Book demystifies and untangles complicated theories. Make sense of abstract concepts through colorful graphics, fun facts, and step-by-step flow diagrams.

Satisfy Your Hunger for Knowledge

Dive deeper into the history of economics with this page-turning book! From the ancient Greeks to today, you'll discover over 100 key ideas from the world's greatest theorists like Thomas Malthus, John Maynard Keynes, and Milton Friedman.

Fortunately, you don't need an economics degree to gain this type of understanding.
The Economics Book is your accessible guide to tons of invaluable economic knowledge and learning how the economy shapes our world!

This book will be your guide through the history of economics:

- Let the Trading Begin 400 BCE - 1770 CE
- The Age of Reason 1770 - 1820
- Industrial and Economic Revolutions 1820 - 1929
- War and Depressions: 1929 - 1945
- Post-War Economics 1945 - 1970
- Contemporary Economics 1970 - Present

The Series Simply Explained

With over 7 million copies sold worldwide to date,
The Economics Book is part of the award-winning Big Ideas Simply Explained series from DK Books. It uses innovative graphics along with engaging writing to make complex subjects easier to understand.
Due to its large file size, this book may take longer to download
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Customer Reviews
4.7 out of 5 stars
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4.6 out of 5 stars
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4.0 out of 5 stars
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4.6 out of 5 stars
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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* To most readers, the term engaging economics book is an oxymoron. This cleverly presented new volume may change that. The Economics Book takes a unique approach to elucidating this often murky subject through well-written entries. Arranged by both subtopic and time frame, the history of economic theory, notable world events, and biographies of key players are presented in six chapters, titled “Let the Trading Begin (400 BCE–1770 CE),” “The Age of Reason (1770–1820),” “Industrial and Economic Revolutions (1820–1929),” “War and Depressions (1929–1945),” “Post-War Economics (1945–1970),” and “Contemporary Economics (1970–present).” Chapters vary in length from 10 to 27 entries, each accompanied by an “In Context” sidebar and voluminous supporting illustrations, including flowcharts, graphs, and pictures. The book concludes with a directory of influential economic thinkers, a brief glossary, and an adequate index. The book’s brilliance lies in its packaging of economic theory into easily digestible essays (e.g. “The Economy is a Yo-Yo: Boom and Bust”; “Make the Polluter Pay: External Costs”; “Crowds Breed Collective Insanity: Economic Bubbles”). Overall, this book will make economics not only accessible but potentially even fascinating to a wide range of readers at and above a high-school reading level. --Jennifer Michaelson

Review

"This entertaining and informative volume will make economics not only accessible but potentially even fascinating to a wide range of readers at and above a high-school reading level." – Booklist Editors' Choice: Reference Sources

"[The Big Ideas Simply Explained books] are beautifully illustrated with shadow-like cartoons that break down even the most difficult concepts so they are easier to grasp. These step-by-step diagrams are an incredibly clever learning device to include, especially for visual learners." – Examiner.com

"The Economics Book takes a unique approach to elucidating this often murky subject through well-written entries. The book's brilliance lies in its packaging of economic theory into easily digestible essays. Overall, this book will make economics not only accessible but potentially even fascinating to a wide range of readers at and above a high-school reading level." – Booklist *Starred Review

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01E7GEIWI
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ DK (December 19, 2014)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 19, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 112289 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 787 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 2,336 ratings

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
2,336 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this book's information well-organized and accessible. They appreciate the clear explanations of economic ideas in simple language. The illustrations, timelines, charts, and visuals enhance learning.

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83 customers mention "Educational value"71 positive12 negative

Customers find the book's information well-organized and accessible. They appreciate the clear explanations and illustrations of economic concepts. The book helps young students increase their economics literacy with simple examples and graphs.

"...Happy to have found DK, this fantastic source of knowlwdge, after having perused Philosophy and Politics, I grabbed my own speciality Economics, and..." Read more

"...SO, I AM REALLY ENJOYING THIS HISTORY BOOK ON ECONOMICS AND I RECOMMEND IT TO THOSE THAT WANT A LEG UP ON SUBJECTS SUCH AS FINANCE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL..." Read more

"...Anyway, this little book should help young students increase their economics literacy. KillerOceans.Com - eddie evans" Read more

"...Many clear and concise topic areas are introduced, some of which were unfamiliar to me, and many for which I could not place a source, for example,..." Read more

12 customers mention "Graphics"12 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's graphics helpful. They say the visuals enhance learning and make concepts simple. The colors and graphs are essential for understanding theories. Readers appreciate the text-box diagrams and find the book visually appealing.

"The book gives a lot of theoretical abstractions, demonstrating them with non-numeric graphs...." Read more

"...This is not that book. The way the concepts are outlined and illustrated in the book makes it a must have if you are trying to learn about..." Read more

"...The writing is very simple and the graphs make every concept seem simple and easy - it's a great book for the basics which is just what i wanted!" Read more

"...High interest pieces with pleasing graphics." Read more

The economic history part of the topics
4 out of 5 stars
The economic history part of the topics
Liked the history of thetopic being covered. Unfortunately, some details are too long. A good learning textbook
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2021
    DK-Ecomomics - another Giant of Knowledge
    Happy to have found DK, this fantastic source of knowlwdge, after having perused Philosophy and Politics, I grabbed my own speciality Economics, and, indeed, was not disappointed! As retired professor of economics I expected to find a repeating course of everything I had learned and lectured, written during my career. And I really found it, but not only that, but a giant wide background of it, of course the nucleus of my knowledge but also a thick layer around it, up to thick but not dense layer of unknown but interesting items.
    Everything here is presented in the new revolutionary DK-way completely permeated by dense internal linkage to such an extent that it can without the least exaggeration be named a new genre, new at least to me, although I have read only ebooks already during the last five years and can consider myself a specialist in textbooks having myself published 27 editions of mainly textbooks, all in paper format. Now fingers are itching to get at least one of my obliterate, because of their strong fresh econometric foundation, texts transformed to this DK format. The same concerning my two present translations from Russian to English and Finnish, both two being particularly suitable for rich internal linking, one of them already having that to large extent as well as the discoursive spirit of the text being lented to this easy-learning way. Good bye thick hand-written notes for exam preparation tags. Of course, own hand-written has its advantages compared with ready-made author-prepared, but so have the latter, too, like automobiles over horsebuggies.
    What is then particular in this DK Economics? Absolutely the topmost is the feature that every time a person, an authority is mentioned, the name is made a link to he or she being mentied elsewhere in this book, to peronal profile or to contribution to the topic now in question. You can, according to need and interest, look up or pass this link. Anyway, you cannot avoid paying notice to the frequency of a name in the text. It soon becomes clear that Adam Smith and Keynes are the real heroes of this book, quite rightly so, also in my opinion. It seems to me that in addition to all the real classics, almost all Economics Nobel Price winners get this honorifying link treatment. Except, to my astonishment, my favorite econometrician L.R. Klein. Why my favorite? Because my personal contact with him. Even if by a few hanshakes, but two terms of listening his lectures in Penn Uni and reading his widely popular book of The Keynesian Revolution and most importantof all having learned through his famous Klein's Kit booklet the main tool for my life's work, te Iterative Solution of a Macroeconomic Models. Indeed, Klein would have deserved being mentioned in this DK Economics along with Tinbergen and Frish, especially as econometrics as such gets a fair attention, for its significance in general, although none of its core principles, also a small disappointment. But all main doctrines and connections of economics as science and economic policies are profoundly treated in logical as well as their intuitive origins by personal flying wordings of the authors.
    When reading about the myriades of the more dimmed stars, I come to the idea that this is even too much, a whole encyclopedia even for serious professionals. Something thinner, perhaps a half or even a third of the present would be needed for newcomers, studying youth as well as interested amateurs or practical representatives of business and administration. Therefore suggestion to publishers: Why not edit a shorter version before somebody else does it? I am convinced that the loss in pages brings a gain in readers and would not disappoint in sales either.
    Anyway: full five stars assessment with laurel wreath!
    26 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2024
    ECONOMIC FORTUNE TELLING IS A GREAT CAREER CHOICE! I AM SURE HARRY POTTER'S SON FOUND OUT THAT ECONOMICS IS BEYOND MAGIC JUST LIKE THE REST OF THE NORMAL WORLD. SO, I AM REALLY ENJOYING THIS HISTORY BOOK ON ECONOMICS AND I RECOMMEND IT TO THOSE THAT WANT A LEG UP ON SUBJECTS SUCH AS FINANCE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORIALS OF LIVING.
  • Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2024
    Liked the history of the
    topic being covered. Unfortunately, some details are too long. A good learning textbook
    Customer image
    4.0 out of 5 stars The economic history part of the topics
    Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2024
    Liked the history of the
    topic being covered. Unfortunately, some details are too long. A good learning textbook
    Images in this review
    Customer image
    Customer image
  • Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2024
    Fast and reliable, thanks !
  • Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2024
    We have three books of this serie, perfectly content with delivery.
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2019
    I've looked for a simple economics history book for decades. I bought the Kindle edition for listening and underlining key concepts. As a sociology major 45 years ago, my economics interests revolved around Malthus and Marx; so, naturally enough, these two thinkers were first on my reading list. Simple explanations for some of their key concepts find fair handling, I believe.
    I sometimes wonder how Marx would appear today had he delved into ecology as a critical concept as we find it today. Marx's ideas would have benefitted from George Perkins Marsh's work on nature, for example.
    I'm thinking of the commodification of our planet as private property and the new attacks on the Amazon forests and CO2 density increases. Exxon, of course, comes to mind as proof of capitalism's moral dilemmas; its embrace of moral corruption as a get rich now scheme at the cost of future generations.
    Anyway, this little book should help young students increase their economics literacy. KillerOceans.Com - eddie evans
    6 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2013
    The book gives a lot of theoretical abstractions, demonstrating them with non-numeric graphs.

    Many clear and concise topic areas are introduced, some of which were unfamiliar to me, and many for which I could not place a source, for example, industrial age and renaissance theorists who reached the conclusion that 'the last chocolate in a box is less valuable than the first' and 'labor seeks to justify it's own redundance' and many others.

    The book helped me to locate economists who are frequently hard to locate in the literature.

    This is better than a lot of introductory texts, and the number of theories covered is volumetric.
    6 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2023
    Simple to read and very informative. Enjoying it.

Top reviews from other countries

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  • AJM
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great read for the business enthusiast
    Reviewed in Canada on December 15, 2023
    If you majored in economics you probably will skip this, but if you have an interest in business or even philosophy you will probably enjoy this.

    Love the DK line of guides.
  • Eduardo
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book to know and understand how economy behaves
    Reviewed in Mexico on January 30, 2023
    Excellent book for people that wants to know some concepts of economics, I use it to gather ideas about a project that I'm doing right now, the price was excellent, and would be a recommendation for people that likes to have something different in their own personal library.
  • Abhinav
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book!
    Reviewed in India on March 21, 2024
    Includes every economic concept. Perfect book for quick understanding
  • Amazon Kunde
    5.0 out of 5 stars Zufrieden
    Reviewed in Germany on December 19, 2023
    Finde die Reihe sehr gut, sehr übersichtlich und anschaulich erklärt, zu empfehlen
  • Alejandro Suarez
    5.0 out of 5 stars Why using flashcards when you have a book like this one
    Reviewed in Italy on January 15, 2023
    I’ve read some comments saying “it doesn’t provide you with much information” well, I might have the answer to that.
    this book was not meant to profoundly teach you everything about economics. And I use the word profoundly for a reason.
    You forgot what Ricardo’s take on international trade was? You’re not sure who was the first economist who used math to prove economic theories? What about the physiocrats?
    There you go, just like a big bunch of study flashcards put together. Well-written, with graphs and charts, timelines of events, and biographies.

    The book cover the most important topics, theories, authors, thinkers, and events related to the subject.

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