The Wealth of Nations

Beware! Great Minds edition is ABRIDGED!

To sell an abridged edition without stating that is in fact abridged is, simply, fraud. I would like to read, and make up my own mind about as well as learn from, ALL of what Adam Smith wrote.

10 out of 11 people found this review helpful.

A reviewer

Nobody seriously involved in economics can do without this exhaustive work, originally published in five volumes as An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. This classic is a pragmatic and accessible milestone in the history of economics. Its author, Adam Smith, is woven into every economics textbook. However, Smith¿s theories, which today often are recounted mostly in fragments, frequently incorrectly, reveal their entire social and economic innovative power only in context. Smith burst onto the scene at a time when absolutist national states monopolized the world's precious metal reserves and tried to increase their own wealth through stringent export policies. These states were motivated by an entirely new concept about national wealth: that it stemmed from the work of the country's people, not from gold. Based on that idea, economic markets should balance themselves as if guided by an 'invisible hand,' impelled by each individual's self-interest. The state has to provide only an orderly framework and specific public goods and services. Even though Smith's image of idealized economic and social harmony may have developed a few cracks over the course of time, his ideas have inspired many well-known economists during the past 250 years, including David Ricardo, Vilfredo Pareto, Friedrich August von Hayek and Milton Friedman. We highly recommend this seminal work.

6 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

The Founding Book of Capitalism and Economics

Written by Adam Smith who was the founding father of capitalism. This book was the the historical book that changed the views of many people. This book is highly regarded in the economics community. I reccomend it for anyone who is interested in econ or capitalism. A must read for any thinkers.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Missing several pages at the end!

This ebook is missing several pages at the end.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

ABRIDGED

ABRIDGED

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Seminal work from the father of economics

getAbstract believes that no serious economist can do without this exhaustive work, originally published in five volumes as An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. This classic is a pragmatic and accessible milestone in the history of economics. Its author, Adam Smith, is woven into every economics textbook. However, Smith's theories, which today often are recounted mostly in fragments, frequently incorrectly, reveal their entire social and economic innovative power only in context. Smith burst onto the scene at a time when absolutist national states monopolized the world's precious metal reserves and tried to increase their own wealth through stringent export policies. These states were motivated by an entirely new concept about national wealth: that it stemmed from the work of the country's people, not from gold. Based on that idea, economic markets should balance themselves as if guided by an "invisible hand," impelled by each individual's self-interest. The state has to provide only an orderly framework and specific public goods and services. Even though Smith's image of idealized economic and social harmony may have developed a few cracks over the course of time, his ideas have inspired many well-known economists during the past 250 years, including David Ricardo, Vilfredo Pareto and Milton Friedman.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Difficult but Rewarding

Extremely tedious, laborious reading with somewhat outdated vernacular, but a must-read for those interested in the history of economic theory.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

good insights

I was happy to read this book, again. Full of insights on a changing age. For our current affairs, I recommend a sharp new book China's global reach by george zhibin gu, whose vision and messages are as big as Smith.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Great Version of a Classic!

This is a great unabridged version of the great (and first) economics classic, with rather nice paper, and a nice typeface, includes a chronology of Adam Smith's life, and also has a built in bookmark (the ribbon type) which is handy. However, either due to the age (14 yrs old, published in '91) or lack of quality, all the black parts (which are made of some sort of ink) on the book, get rubbed off after a while. That's the only reason I gave it only four stars, as it tends to look a little tacky, with big patches missing from the book label. However, if you don't mind that, this is an excellent edition.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

The book is so detailed it tends toward tedium.

I have read the book in hard cover. I bought it as an eBook to help me decide if I like the Nook ebook format. It turned out that I didn't. Navigation is slow on my netbook and the tools are awkward. I also explored the Kindle eBook reader, an it was no better. I am convinced if I want to read ebooks, I have to buy a Nook or a Kindle.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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0 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

what. a page turner

nice work

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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