Economics for Real People: An Introduction to the ... (ISBN 0945466358)

Simplify without being simplistic:
Gene Callahan accomplishes the monumentally difficult task of taking what seems to be "impossible" to outsiders and makes it accessible through his use of excellent examples and word-pictures. (I'm sure the logical positivist, mathematics-based economists will despise the rationalist approach...but let's save that discussion for a few beers and a cigar...). He builds his discussion, bit by bit, working with the average reader. You don't need to be a pre-PhD to follow what Gene is saying...the old "crawl-walk-run" idea. The sense I had was this was more of a trip where we would go from stop to stop, discussing the concept, then using that to build to the next concept. The great thing is that Callahan doesn't patronize his readers...he expects you're going to work a bit. Overall, despite my many years of reading Austrian economics texts & pamphlets, I found this back-to-basics approach to be very helpful in bringing my thinking down the stairs of the ivory tower & back onto the streets, making economics the true "beer-and-pizza" description of reality it is (P=MC doesn't taste as good anyway!).

Full Disclosure:
The five-star non-review immediately below is written by an employee (Jeffrey Tucker) of the publisher. His non-review may be helpful to prospective buyers but the five-star rating obviously is biased. Since "Economics for Real People" is really a three-star book, I'm providing a one-star non-review just to keep everything in balance.

Nice Overview, bit to broad:
This is a good book for those that already have had a limited exposer to economics, but in no way goes over people's head. I feal Gene Callahan is true to his title with bringing economics to the masses. Its main theme of subjective value is well-explored, and changed how i view decisions that others make.

Recommended by Ron Paul...:
My interest in Presidential campaigner Ron Paul (on his list of recommended books to read) and ignorance of economics motivated the reading of this text. This is the first of a long line of books I have on my "to read" list to overcome my economic ignorance. Although the text is geared towards Austrian thought, it provides enough angles to introduce different economic theories in simple enough terms. The author's style, packed with clever examples and flowing narrative, was helpful for someone like me who couldn't explain inflation much less define a fiat money system prior to reading this. If you are interested in an introduction to Austrian economics - it's a sure bet.

Poorly written and simplistic:
A cartoonish and goofy lightweight assemblance of dullwitted alphanumberic characters attempting to relate something which in other hands would be an interesting topic.