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| Free Lunch | 
 enlarge | Author: David Smith
Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
Buy New: £3.58
You Save: £5.41 (60%)
New (25) from £3.58
Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 3002
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.8
ISBN: 1861975066
Dewey Decimal Number: 330
EAN: 9781861975065
ASIN: 1861975066
Publication Date: January 1, 2003
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New. Shipped from UK Mainland. Delivery is usually 2 - 3 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 A Useful Outline January 11, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is easy to recommend to anyone wanting an overview of economics.
I came across David Smith via his web-site which reproduces the columns he writes as the economics editor of the Sunday Times.
I studied economics at school but it never quite clicked. Later, when I got interested in free markets, I read Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson and a couple of books by Hayek.
These were great, but I could never quite link them up mentally with the economics I learned at school. David Smith's book has joined up the gaps for me.
He takes the basic concepts and links them into today's economy. For instance, he summarises UK monetary policy since the 70s into a couple of pages and briefly explains the thinking behind tax credits.
There are introductions to major economists like Smith, Ricardo and Keynes.
It's a handy primer which I found useful.
 One of the best books that I have read in a long time September 5, 2007
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
My tile sais it all- well written and easy to read.
Would reccomend to anyone who wants to know about economics and how the UK government got us where we are today.
Admirable Attempt June 24, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
The book is an admirable attempt to present an introduction to economics for a layman. For the most part it works well, the basics of numerous subjects from house prices, to free trade and the Euro are explained lucidly and the interludes concerning the theories of Marx, Ricardo, Smith and the rest are very informative and enjoyable. In saying that, I feel that the structure of the book could have done with a little work. I get the impression that it began as an essay and spiraled off into a full blown book, as it doesn't seem to have a coherent narrative. In the end it comes across as an enjoyable but meandering discussion which doesn't aid your ability to keep track of the various subjects discussed. The final few chapters suffer in this regard as in comparison to the lengthy and easy paced discussion on house prices at the start, we have twenty different subjects and debates tacked on at the end which are bound to alienate your average layman, even if they'd kept up with the book until that point.
In addition the tone is a little (and only a little) irksome. Again in this respect the book started off fantastically, but by the end the rather wet attempts at humour described in a previous review started to gall. So overall I certainly think this is a worthwhile read and will illuminate your understanding of a wide variety of economic issues, but it could have done with a more coherent structure because it rather tails off into a bamboozling array of debates at the end.
a great introduction to a confusing subject May 21, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Economics is one of those things I've always thought I ought to know more about, but all previous attempts to educate myself have ended in either confusion or terminal boredom. Well done then, to David Smith and his Free Lunch, for rendering the subject both understandable and engaging. Smith introduces all the basic ideas and the big names in this whistlestop tour of economic theory. By the end you'll be familiar with Adam Smith, Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes, you'll be able to wax intelligent over the dinner table about interest rates, and you'll have heard some interesting anecdotes along the way.
I personally found it very useful in drawing out all the connections between consumer spending, tax, interest rates, and how they all impact each other in the mysterious machine known as 'the economy'. Those wanting deeper analysis will want to look elsewhere, but if you're only going to read one book on economics in your life (and let's face it, for most of us one is plenty), this is what you require.
Superb April 10, 2005
2 out of 11 found this review helpful
As a student I found this both invaluable and very readable. Highly recommended.
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