Book Review

The Worldly Philosophers was written in 1953, by Robert Heilbroner. Heilbroner was a Harvard graduate and then later taught at the New School. He was known by his students as Norman Thomas Professor of Economics. Once The Worldly Philosophers was written, it became the second best selling economics book. After reading this book we soon understand why it has such great reviews. It’s a book that starts from explaining the basics of economics, to how it has transformed throughout history.

In the first half of the book it begins with the Economic Revolution, this chapter describes in great detail and examples of the different types of economic systems; tradition, command, and market. That chapter allows readers understand what the rest of the book is about when describing the philosophers. The first philosopher which is mentioned is the legendary Adam Smith. He was the first philosopher known at that time to be interested in economics. His theories and laws paved way for future philosophers to come, some agreeing with his and work and some disagreeing. For his great understanding in economics a school was made in his honor, the Adam Smith school of Classical Economics. Two people whom he inspired for spokesmen for the Adam Smith School were; Parson Malthus, and David Ricardo. They both shared different views from one another but agreed on the dangers of overpopulation. During the 1800s the world was aware of Karl Marx’s views on economics. He was known for his predictions which were called the laws of motion. These predictions were also proved true in the future of capitalism.

The Savage Society of Thorstein Veblen was during the beginning of the 20^th century. This was a time where industrial revolution had spread and stock markets had become private casinos for the upper class. Thorstein brought an unbiased call to the bias judgment. In 1929 the stock market had a crash. This crash caused losings in stock values and forty billion dollars disappeared. This is soon what caused the Great Depression. Keynes an Englishmen offered a solution to this American problem. His solution was to accommodate enough instead of having permanent depression. Keynes later wrote a book called Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren. A man who followed Keynes works was a Viennese noble, Joseph Schumpeter. He looked at capitalism as vibrant growth and referred it to abolition. The last chapter of the book focuses on the accomplishments of these philosophers. It tells us that economic predictions are unclear due to economists contrast through scientific studies. Economists tend to estimate the tendencies of the future instead of specific information. Economics are an exhilarating study of an aspect of what it means to be a human. It is still only one view of a multipart and ever-changing world representation.

We liked this book because it explained to us the early beginnings of economics to where was have come today. Through the beginnings of man to the beginnings of technology seeing some of these economic predictions come true. It gives us an insight on the lives and backgrounds of these philosophers and not just their findings and beliefs. The evolution of these philosophers’ thoughts since Adam Smiths theories to the most current economist Schumpeter. Also it was easy to comprehend and was well organized. Although the chapters were a little dragged out and long, it was necessary as it was detailed in full. We both enjoyed this book, and it gave us a sneak peak into our economics class. Also it gave us a better understanding of economics.

Heilbroner wrote one of the best selling economic books, The Worldly Philosophers. This book explains the basic economics and it transformed throughout history. Heilbroner made it easy to understand what he was talking about. He also informed his readers about famous philosophers. We enjoyed reading Heilbroner’s book since it gave us a scene of what has happened and could happen in life. If we weren’t assigned this book, we still would have enjoyed reading it outside of school.