[.ca] Foundations of Economics: A Beginner's Companion (ISBN 0415178924)

Should be compulsory reading for beginners and ideologues:
If you want to expand your intellectual horizon, then this is the book for you. If, on the other hand, you wish to slavishly follow textbook dogma, never learn about the plethora of internal problems facing neo-classical theory (aka microeconomics), or perpetuate the fantasy that economics is objective, then keep away from this book! For each of the three areas of consumption, production and welfare theory, the book provides a review, an history, and a critique. The last section of the book looks at methodological and then sociological questions. It is a sad comment on introductory textbooks that this "companion" out performs them in every area it deals with: its review of the textbook material is more lucid and entertaining; its historical background is more informative; its critique is devastating and thought-provoking. In short, it provides average undergraduate (and graduate!) economics students with an entirely new and exciting intellectual experience.