"This impassioned critique aims to show how economic laws have limited scope compared with the laws in natural science. To be effective, Skidelsky argues, economics must include institutions and their power, and move towards social sciences such as politics and sociology."--Andrew Robinson, Nature

"[T]his book is a staple for trying to quench curiosity and a great bridge from a bachelor's in standard economics to economic methodology and the philosophy of economics."--Ella Needler and Maria João Pimenta, Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics

"Trenchant and highly readable. . . . Should be required reading for anyone new to the field, students and general readers alike."--Simon Torracinta, Boston Review

"Robert Skidelsky has written the book that anyone who wants to learn economics--and anyone who thinks that they know economics--should read."--Meghnad Desai, author of Hubris: Why Economists Failed to Predict the Crisis and How to Avoid the Next One

"This is a cogent and highly readable exposure of economics as a discourse, often free from the constraints of history and politics, and therefore free to inhabit an imaginary world underpinned by the seductive verities of logic and mathematics. It also helps to explain why 2008 took the whole world by surprise."--Gareth Stedman Jones, author of An End to Poverty?

"Skidelsky gives a wonderfully readable, compelling and compassionate account of where economics goes wrong. This is an urgent message for all sides to hear."--Nancy Cartwright, professor of philosophy, Durham University