DECEMBER 2017 - AudioFile
Tim Harford starts his list at the modern economy's absolute beginning—the plow. Narrator Roger Davis takes listeners through it with wit and enthusiasm, building interest in Harford's choices—such as the passport, the shipping container, and the disposable blade—and the logic behind them. He can amuse listeners with his reading of a convoluted train timetable, his voice helping to make the case for standardized time. Davis switches mood with ease. As he discusses concrete, his voice shifts from disdain for soulless buildings to delight in the Sydney Opera House, created from the same material. Davis infuses his reading with Harford's mix of marvel and cynicism toward human nature and ingenuity. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
From the Publisher
One of the joys of Tim Harford’s Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy is that it presents this perspective on economic growth so that the most casual reader can grasp it... It's great fun to dip into individual chapters of Fifty Inventions. Mr. Harford succeeds in teaching about productivity, economic growth, monopoly, regulation and other essential topics without resorting to technical terminology and intimidating charts and tables. Such a feat requires a kind of inventiveness in itself.” —Wall Street Journal
“Tim Harford is a master at picking out the perfect little story that explains some huge economic principle... He’s been my go-to guy for learning about the economics and math behind the world at large... perfectly crafted to light up the pleasure centers of my nerd brain.” —Roman Mars, 99% Invisible
“This is a lovely book: the kind of thing whose bite-sized morsels add up to a whole meal, but can be enjoyed and shared on their own.” —Boing Boing
“Fantastically enlightening... Harford effortlessly leaps across time and continents to show readers various inventions in a new light, revealing unexpected insights into 21st-century society.” —BookPage
“Tim reaffirms his status as one of the great (greatest?) contemporary popular writers on economics, this time turning his attention to technology.” —Tyler Cowen, author of The Complacent Class
“[Harford’s] zest for his subjects makes them hard to resist; his lively, humorous style and wide-ranging curiosity make hard topics go down easily…Harford's contagious delight in his subject reminds readers not to take for granted the impact of objects and ideas so familiar they're easy to overlook.” —Kirkus Reviews
Praise for Tim Harford and MESSY
“Every Tim Harford book is a cause for celebration.” —Malcolm Gladwell
“One of the best writers who also happens to be an economist.” —Stephen Dubner
“Harford’s argument goes beyond aesthetics, resurfacing over and over in his engrossing narrative.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Utterly fascinating. Tim Harford shows that if you want to be creative and resilient, you need a little more disorder in your world. It’s a masterful case for the life-changing magic of cluttering up.”—Adam Grant, New York Times–bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take
“Masterful.” —The Economist
DECEMBER 2017 - AudioFile
Tim Harford starts his list at the modern economy's absolute beginning—the plow. Narrator Roger Davis takes listeners through it with wit and enthusiasm, building interest in Harford's choices—such as the passport, the shipping container, and the disposable blade—and the logic behind them. He can amuse listeners with his reading of a convoluted train timetable, his voice helping to make the case for standardized time. Davis switches mood with ease. As he discusses concrete, his voice shifts from disdain for soulless buildings to delight in the Sydney Opera House, created from the same material. Davis infuses his reading with Harford's mix of marvel and cynicism toward human nature and ingenuity. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2017-08-06
A well-known British economist shapes his radio broadcasts into chapters of a diverting collection of what he considers humanity's greatest inventions.Best taken in small doses, the chapters sometimes cover the expected territory but more often head off in surprising directions. For Financial Times senior columnist Harford (Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives, 2016, etc.), an invention might be a concrete object, like a plow or a battery, but it's just as likely to be a more abstract idea, like intellectual property or index funds. Fortunately, the author has a knack for making potentially dry and demanding concepts spring to life. For example, in a chapter on management consulting, Harford darts from a messy factory in contemporary Mumbai back to the 1930s to introduce the first cigar-chomping management consultant and the creation of a consulting company requiring its employees to wear white shirts and hats—and then back to Mumbai, pointing out telling details along the way. The author shines when tackling seemingly homely topics. Writing about barbed wire, he weaves together the philosophy of John Locke into a discussion of a material that its marketer called "lighter than air, stronger than whiskey, cheaper than dust." Some might quibble that Harford awards a disproportionate amount of attention to relatively modern inventions. However, he makes it clear that these are personal choices, and his zest for his subjects makes them hard to resist; his lively, humorous style and wide-ranging curiosity make hard topics go down easily. And while the essays stand on their own, he has a broader point to make. "Inventions shape our lives in unpredictable ways," he writes, "and while they're solving a problem for someone, they're often creating a problem for someone else." Harford's contagious delight in his subject reminds readers not to take for granted the impact of objects and ideas so familiar they're easy to overlook.
