Behold Bob Duggan’s review.

Some choice quotes:

“Economix eliminates stupidity in the face of economics-speak.”

“Goodwin writes in a clear, vibrant style. He gives you not just the basics, but also the forgotten or misremembered bits of economic history that muddle it for so many of us.”

“Burr’s illustrations make what Thomas Carlyle called “the dismal science” after Malthus’ grim economic prognosis not just as visually clear as Goodwin’s prose, but also good fun.”

“You’ll come away from Economix with a slew of newly understood concepts, from mixed economy to stagflation, but the most important thing you’ll come away with is a newfound confidence in your ability to understand how the economic world works for and often against us.”

“Just when the world seems to have fallen apart thanks to the economy, Goodwin and Burr’s Economix comes along to give us some understanding of the immense, yet still “delicate machine” that controls our world so that we can be the rulers with our votes and not the uninformed (or disinformed) ruled.”

It was hard to select just a few quotes. You should read the whole thing.

And I think “Economix Eliminates Stupidity” needs to be an ad campaign.

I confess that I was unaware of the existence of the website Brewsandbooks.com, even though I love nothing more than brews and books.

Brewsandbooks is the website of one Josh Christie, who has excellent taste in both brews and books. I know because he likes Economix. Here’s the review:

The graphic format is often associated with kids, but it’s a fantastic way to communicate complex ideas to people of all ages. Economix puts the often-confounding world of economics (both as a whole and the current state of the US economy) into an easy-to-understand book. It’s fun, it’s clever, and it’s a better primer on the dismal science than most of the ECON one-oh-whatever books in our history, business, and current affairs departments.

Mark Frauenfelder on BoingBoing reviewed Economix; it’s titled “Economix: Terrific Cartoon History of Economics.” So, he liked it.

It’s an in-depth, thoughtful review, so you should all read it, but here are some highlights:

“Dan E. Burr’s appealing illustrations add punch, humor, and clarity to Goodwin’s already-excellent storytelling skills.”

“Economics books usually bore me, but in the hands of Goodwin and Burr, the subject was engrossing (and like Gonick, often funny). Light switches flicked on in my mind every few pages or so, and after reading Economix I felt like I understood many fundamental aspects about the way the world works that I had been too lazy to learn about before.”

“Economix is a book I’m going to buy and give to people.”

“This witty and elegant volume takes on a number of complex issues — in this case, economics, history and finance — and makes them comprehensible for mere mortals. Burr’s illustrations are clear and sharp, ably complementing Goodwin’s narrative. If you want to gain a better perspective on our ongoing monetary tribulations, you could do far worse than turning to this dense but highly enjoyable book.”

So says Richard Pachter at the Miami Herald.

The review, which includes some other interesting books I hadn’t heard of, is available here.

Mark Miller at Reuters has an article, “The Top Six Myths About Medicare.” It’s a model of clear thought and clear writing. You should read it.

That is all.