When I think of the best books I’ve ever read, a few classics come to mind: ‘About Time,’ ‘Up From Slavery,’ ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.’ The common denominator is that there is something truly enlightening in the pages of these books.

My favorite text book of all time is ‘Price Theory & Applications’ by Steven Lansburg, an economist at the University of Rochester.  It’s the book that taught me supply and demand and forever changed my view of the world.

A few weeks ago I picked up another book by Lansburg entitled ‘The Armchair Economist.’  I can now add it to my best books list.

What Lansburg does, more successfully than I’ve ever seen, is take the basics of economics and express them in a language that almost anyone can understand.

For some reason, professors tend to write books in a way that makes them almost indecipherable to normal human beings.  Ever read a calculus text book?  The beauty of ‘The Armchair Economist’ is there’s no math, no curves, no messy charts filled with figures.  It’s more of a conversational approach using everyday examples.  It works extremely well.

Why is popcorn so expensive at theatres?  Why do CEO’s have such high salaries?  Why are corn growers in Iowa in essence automobile manufacturers?

After I took a bunch of econ and finance grad classes, my life changed forever.  I started viewing the world as economists do.  My mind was opened to a new way of thinking.

Reading ‘The Armchair Economist’ can give you a great glimpse into that world without having to go through all the wonky stuff.

I highly recommend the book for anyone who desires more clarity into how the world actually works.

My rating: 10 out of 10.

Up next: ‘On Writing’ by Stephen King.