I recently commented on  Educating Economists, edited by David Colander and KimMarie McGoldrick, a volume of interesting essays on the breadth (or rather lack of it) in the education of economists. The publisher has emailed me that it will be on sale for a bargain price of $5 at the upcoming ASSA conference in Atlanta. It ought to sell a copy to every single teacher of young economists attending the conference. The need for reform in the curriculum is urgent given the chasm that has emerged between what's taught in universities and what good economists now do in their own research.

News of the death of Paul Samuelson, at 94, sent me to my bookshelves. There's a beaten-up copy of Foundations of Economic Analysis there (a free download can be found here). Paging through it caused me the odd experience of not recognizing the book at all – did I in fact read it? – and yet finding the material not only familiar but a sort of deep grammar of thought, neoclassically-trained as I am.

When a student I didn't actually use the Samuelson textbook, Economics, whose latest incarnation is written by William Nordhaus. I note, though, that the cover is a definite selling point. It has the fantastic map of the location of economic activity on the planet from Nordhaus's economic geography website – if you've never looked at this, I urge you to do so.