I was very chuffed that my GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History was included in 50 Economics Classics: The greatest books distilled by Tom Butler-Bowdon. This is a mildly eclectic – and so rather interesting – list ranging from Liaquat Ahamed to Max Weber, passing through Becker, Coase, Friedman, Jacobs, Krugman, Malthus, Marx, Sen, Smith on the way.

The book has lots of additional reading suggestions, in fact a bonus 50 at the end. Each book included naturally gets only a few pages, the argument in a nutshell, but it adds up to a nice overview of 250 years of economic ideas and is actually a good starting point for someone new to economics wanting a general overview. The list is alphabetical by author but they are arranged by theme in the introduction and each chapter cross-references other on the same theme. Capturing the essence of a book in 3 pages is a difficult task. Tom Butler-Bowdon is obviously a very well-read person with this rare skill.