Trade and Trade-offs: Using Resources, Making Choices, and Taking Risks

Alright, so I haven't read the book yet, but I did just order it. Why? When I was a young wide eyed undergrad, Estellie was one of my teachers and probably my favorite professor when I think back on it. She was old school and academically tough during a time when political correctness and the erosion of objective thought were just beginning to infect the American university system. That was the mid 80's. I remember she always wore her jet black hair pulled back into a tight bun and smoked unapologetically right in the classroom using one of those aristocratic cigarette filters. Always a tough grader, my proudest moment of my college career was when she gave me an A+ on a term paper.She was the first person I ever heard use the term, "intellectual Marxism." I can't wait to read this book!

This book makes one want to be a teacher, since it would be a perfect textbook for the college classroom. But it really does not need a teacher, since it does the job itself. Technically speaking, it is an exercise in economic and cultural anthropology. But it is written in such a straight-forward, down-to-earth way, that it reads less like a textbook than a self-help book on how to think about and understand most of what is going on in the world today. Thus, almost anybody would enjoy and profit from reading Smith's bold and imaginative book.

A whole education! In an accessible, provocative style, Dr. Smith demystifies the dynamics of economic life and its relationships to often overlooked everyday details. The book is comprehensive, its perspective refreshing and the language has interdisciplinary reach. The glossary and annotated bibliography are extensive and valuable reference documents by themselves. Smith walks the reader through a phenomenal amount of information and the chapters are full of gems that intrigue and surprise. The problem-solving approach makes it engaging and invites the reader to think and inquire further. Ideal as a tool for group discussion in courses or reading clubs that explore the radical changes of contemporary life.