The lecturers we had in the first year economics classes at the university used to recommend Robert Heilbroner�s Worldly Philosophers. Thomas Sowell thinks it is not worth the paper it�s written on since according to him �..its whole way of thinking leads the student away from economic analysis and away from intellectual development generally.� (p. 142, A Personal Odyssey ).
Writing economics for the general audience is no easy task. My favourite writers include John Kay and Paul Krugman both of whom are according to Peter Dougherty, Princeton University Press's economics editor, the best such writers today. My ideal armchair economics reading list would include the following:
1. The Truth About Markets (John Kay)
2. Basic Economics (Thomas Sowell)
3. Peddling Prosperity, Pop Internationalism, The Age of Diminished Expectations and The Accidental Theorist (Paul Krugman)
4. Hidden Order (David Friedman)
5. Free to Choose (Milton Friedman)
6. New Ideas from Dead Economists and From Here to Economy (Todd Buchcholz)
7. The Armchair Economist and Fair Play (Steven Landsburg)
8. Hard Heads, Soft Hearts (Alan Blinder)
9. The Economics of Life (Gary Becker)
10. The Academic Scribblers
11. The Literary Book of Economics (Michael Watts)
12. Economics through stories; The Invisible Heart and The Choice (Russell Roberts), Fatal Equilibrium, Deadly Indifference and Murder at the Margin (Marshall Jevons)
May be I should include Arnold Kling�s book Learning Economics, but I have not read it. Feel free to comment about your ideal list armchair economics.
I will recommend another book that uses very simple language and makes a lot of basic economic concepts very clear:
Economics in One Lesson, by Henry Hazlitt
Very intersting site! Thanks ;)