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| The Economic Naturalist: Why Economics Explains Almost Everything | 
 enlarge | Author: Robert H. Frank
Publisher: Virgin Books
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy Used: £2.33
You Save: £5.66 (71%)
New (14) from £4.68
Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 1941
Media: Paperback
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0753513382
EAN: 9780753513385
ASIN: 0753513382
Publication Date: April 3, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Does economics explain the existence of this book? August 28, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Unashamed and pointless cash-in on Freakonomics and the Undercover Economist, and not a patch on either though both have their weaknesses. This is a cobbled-together collection of oversimplistic answers to questions that in the main I wouldn't have asked. It makes some of the same faulty assumptions about logical choices and perfect markets that the other two do, but a number of the answers are so plainly wrong or miss out huge and obvious chunks that it becomes pretty annoying quite quickly. There are some interesting analyses in here but very little that a layman couldn't have figured out themselves, so the "economics" in the title could pretty much be replaced with "thinking about it". There is very little if any real innovative thinking or original insight in here.
One gap that stuck in the memory was the failure to understand that in rating people in a relationship scenario, not everyone's rating of you will be the same, as people give different priority to various criteria, and may also make different assessments of the same criteria. Therefore while you may be a 9 to someone, you will only be a 6 to someone else. Without this recognition, the (surprise) market-driven answer is nonsense. This is fairly typical in that the human element seems to be removed from the answers wherever possible - this economist seems scared of the messiness of humanity spoiling his neat models of how the world should be. While he isn't unique in this, it makes a book which purports to explain how the world works of strictly limited value.
Overpromise and underdeliver - recipe for disaster August 27, 2008
That's right. This book's like a movie which has an intriguing story line, (what appears at first to be) unconventional camerawork, fresh star cast but a weak script. So promising when you pick it up and begin reading it and so dull and unconvincing by the time you put it down and eventually go to bed.
I have no major qualms with the 'narrative form of expression' - it may seem to be refreshing for those who have a very basic understanding about economics and are too scared to venture out. They might pick this up and have this false notion that - is this it ? Heck, I can pull a good bluff and impress my friends with my knowledge and insight of this freaky subject. No no NO - you would be gravely mistaken for that notion my friend.
The truth is - most books or teachers aren't and don't teach the subject in the way they are accused of in this book. Examples and hypothetical scenarios do enhance the understanding and digestion of any central concept. However, book is inaccurate in its reasoning and sort of has a school boy take on matters which could be explained just as well with sound reasonable and quirky practical response.
A short course in marketing, finance would do well to cover majority of these topics in a much more responsible and inquisitive manner in today's universities.
All in all, I am glad that some people would actually pick up this book for sheer curiosity and could potentially develop lots of enthusiasm for the subject matter. But, please do not use those seriously flawed arguments to bluff in a gathering.
 A nice magazine article June 26, 2008
Bit of a let down, really a series of short pieces - some of which had an 'Ahhaaa' moment, most of them didn't - Shame really.
Long and superficial June 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
While it is admireable that there is a positive tendency from economists to make economics "more popular", this book largely misses the target, and in fact risks making economics irrelevant. While pretending to explain basic economic concepts by way of examples, too many of the examples turn repetitive and/or represent pure common sense. Some of the examples also have little/if anything to do with economics.
It is a pity, since it feels the author(s) look down on the capacity of the reader to understand economics.
If you have a basic grasp of economics, you can quickly bypass this book which swims in superficial and common day examples, since it will become very repetitive after just a few pages.
 Excellent for its down-to-earth lack of pretensions June 16, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
After reading Levitt's "Freakonomics" and Harford's "Undercover Economist" I was attracted to this book when I came across it. Yes, there's some overlap with both of them and yes, in some places either Levitt or Harford is better. Where this book scores, however, is that you can take it in small bites and have a good mull over what it says a bit at a time.
As another reviewer has noted, the book is based on questions that Frank's students have posed and answered, in varying degrees of depth, but always from the economist's perspective. The result is a collection of questions and answers, all relatively concise, and all showing economic thought at work. And the book pretends to be no more than that.
Criticism that it is too shallow or not based on empirical research IMO misses the point. The book's purpose is to demonstrate the application of economic thought to questions about everyday economic observations. The answers are cogently presented without any pretence that they are the last word - and this alone is welcome in a field whose more psychotic schools of thought have a hubristic track record of basing theories on patently false premises.
The important thing about this book is that it seeks to make its readers *think* about the things it discusses. IMO, it succeeds admirably (and it certainly made me think a lot). As a former student of economics, I'd confidently recommend it as a taster for students considering whether to take economics as a major subject.
More power to Frank and his students. I hope he writes a sequel ("More from the Economic Naturalist"?) that addresses topics not included in the original.
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