Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?: A Fast, Clear, and Fun Explanation of the Economics You Need for Success in Your Career, Business, and Investments

I think this is the best book out there to help quickly spread a basic understanding of economics and therefore how the world works. The knowledge and importance per page ratio is the highest I have ever read. Even better than Harry Browne's intro to economics from his famous first 80 pages of "How you can profit from the coming devaluation" . Pages 13 - 90 are the heart of the book. That is 77 pages that in less than 2 hours can take your average person from unfortunate ignorance to economic genius compared to your average economics college graduate. Somehow someone needs to reach Bill Gates and Warren Buffet and get them to read this book and put a copy in every american household. That would really be the most charitable thing they could do.

The great thing about this book is that it's a great explanation of inflation. The bad thing about this book is it's a great explanation of inflation. Yes, I said the same thing twice. When it was first written-1978-inflation was the major thing in American economics. Today it is still a major threat-but the social urgency over it has declined as the rate of inflation has waned over the years. Yet, I still give this book a 5 star rating because understanding inflation requires explaining money. This book explains money better than any other book I've read. Understanding money is VERY important. It is not only the key to explaining inflation, but it is the context in which almost all business activity plays out. A good understanding business requires understanding this context. This book does a great job a laying out that context. The writing style is down to earth and simple. The book is short, very entertaining (for an economics book), and has clearly defined chapters. The author has some good illustrations. I don't really mean the expected graphical illustrations-although it has some of them too. I mean historical illustrations: stories of how societies have used (and abused) money in the past. These stories not only buttress the author's arguments, but also anchor the lessons in tangible human drama. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in learning economics and/or business.

Absolutely marvelous and clearly explained! I am a science teacher certified to teach all the major science disciplines and have read many books concerning economics. This one trumps them all! Common sense is throughout.

After having suffered through four college econ courses (Principles and Intermediate) I have come to the conclusion that most professional economists are nearly worthless ivory-tower eggheads whose theories are almost completely disconnected from the real world, and that "Ph.d" truly does mean "Piles high and deep." It is truly a shame that a reader can learn more from this marvelous little book than from getting a degree in economics. This book should be taught starting in junior high. It's clearly and simply written and very few of the concepts require a great deal of thought. After understanding it, you'll trust your own judgement over the babblers on tv and in the universities.