Greg Ip; Wiley, 272 pages ($19.95)
Journalist Greg Ip’s neat new book goes a long way toward dealing with our pandemic economic ignorance. Not far enough, in my view, but he does a really terrific job of simplifying and explaining a bit of ancient and recent history and shining some light into the dark places.
He starts with a bit of autobiographical info to establish his bona fides, then explains the basics of “Economy”: what it is, how it works and the ways it rules our material lives.
Ip does an excellent job of explaining the basics and a bit more. Some illustrations might help, and perhaps an “idiots” or “dummies” approach would have worked better. But as an elementary overview or as a refresher, Ip’s little book packs a big punch. Richard Pachter, McClatchy Newspapers
