
A Brief History of Economic Genius
2002
First Published
3.83
Average Rating
344
Number of Pages
Strathern brings the reader along in a lively, breezy and elegant manner, through Adam Smith and Hume; the French Optimists and British Pessimists: Saint-Simon and Owen; Marx and Hegel; Pareto; Veblen; Schumpeter, Keynes, John Nash and finally fullcircle back to von Neumann. Strathern uncovers the genuine progression of the development of mathematics and economic theory, from double-entry booking keeping to the discovery of standard deviation and the various applications of probability theory. These brilliant economists and mathematicians often were aware of each other, had met each other or read each other's work thereby influencing and building upon one another's conclusions. Strathern manages his broad swath of historical information and condenses it into a very usable, readable and informative format.
Avg Rating
3.83
Number of Ratings
40
5 STARS
25%
4 STARS
40%
3 STARS
28%
2 STARS
8%
1 STARS
0%
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Author

Paul Strathern
Author · 70 books
Paul Strathern (born 1940) is a British writer and academic. He was born in London, and studied at Trinity College, Dublin, after which he served in the Merchant Navy over a period of two years. He then lived on a Greek island. In 1966 he travelled overland to India and the Himalayas. His novel A Season in Abyssinia won a Somerset Maugham Award in 1972. Besides five novels, he has also written numerous books on science, philosophy, history, literature, medicine and economics.