The Invisible Heart: An Economic Romance

by Russell Roberts and Russel "Russ" Roberts

Book Overview

A lively, unorthodox look at economics, business, and public policy told in the form of a novel.

A love story that embraces the business and economic issues of the day?

The Invisible Heart takes a provocative look at business, economics, and regulation through the eyes of Sam Gordon and Laura Silver, teachers at the exclusive Edwards School in Washington, D.C. Sam lives and breathes capitalism. He thinks that most government...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0262681358
• ISBN13: 9780262681353
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: MIT Press
• Length: 282 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Learning Economics has Never Been This Enjoyable

This book was brilliant. I bought it before going on vacation and I couldn't put it down. It is a very fast read (maybe 2 or 3 hours total reading time) and taught me about 15 economic lessons that are incredibly valuable. I find myself quoting the lessons of the book constantly.Perhaps the most valuable element of the book is that the author cleverly uses the characters to argue both sides of each economic argument. You not only learn the "right" answer, but you learn the holes in the most common arguments that are advanced by those that don't subscribe to more "free market" thinking. This should be required reading for anyone involved in business or economics. Note that the book will be very interesting even to those marginally interested in economics as the love story is exceptionally well written and thought provoking.

Russell Roberts' heart made visible

This is not a book which will change the mind of a dedicated collectivist. Nor is it likely to fully satisfy the Club for Growth crowd. It is a simple love story which will appeal immensely to the non-idealogue while explaining in plain language the undeniable economic realities which guide human behavior. Were I to follow my dream and teach a high school civics class, this would certainly be on my required reading list.

An economist in love

It's every economist's nightmare. Being forced, at a party or a diner, to discuss economic policy with non-economists. Surrounded by bright intellectuals - lawyers, artists, scientists - the economist has made the error of taking off his (or hers) political correct mask. He has digressed upon his views on society. Having too much to drink, he explained why minimum wages harms unskilled workers, why electricity companies should be privatized, or (god forbids) why `globalization' is a good thing. Whatever the topic, nobody understood. Everybody has turned against the him. How can someone be so right wing, so inhumane, so myopic?A passionate economist is seldom appreciated. The main character of The Invisible Heart learned that the hard way. Sam Gordon teaches economics at a high school in Washington, and is an economist who would make Milton Friedman look a liberal sissy. Gordon believes passionately in the market mechanism, and abhors government intervention, and just can't shut up about this.The problem is that Sam is in love. The object of his love is an English teacher named Laura Silver. But he is definitely no Don Juan. Sam tries to woo Laura by relentlessly discussing economics. He understands he has a problem. "It would be a good idea to talk about something else than economics", Sam sighs after one of his semi-successful attempts to lure Laura. "But what could it possibly be?" This book is not the first attempt to take boring economic theory and bake it into crusty and tasty fiction. Other economists have tried to sell economics by writing it into a detective story or a thriller. Writing a love-story about economics is without doubt the boldest attempt. And the most successful. O.K. the pages aren't filled with sizzling sex and pulverizing passion, so an experienced reader of the genre may be a bit disappointed. But the upside is that the conversations (quarrels would perhaps be a better word) really are about something. Sam's provocative assertions about the free market and interventions of government are both convincing and intriguing. The author, Russell Robert did the impossible. He wrote a crystal clear, and very readable book about hardcore economics, that keeps you reading until the final page. A must for every frustrated economist. And perhaps even more so for the other 99.9 percent of humanity that thinks that economics is a weird and dangerous science.

Provocative and Entertaining

If you've ever wondered how otherwise decent people can believe that free markets and private property promote human flourishing, you should read this book. It uses a love story to present the case that a free society is a good society. So if you worry about globalization, homelessness and corporate profiteering, but find economics boring, try this book.

No better way to learn economics

This book is good. It does two things, each of which is difficult, and almost impossible in combination--explain economic concepts and policy in clear language and tell an compelling love story with a couple of interacting plots, with an interesting surprise at the end. If you are interested in economics but would like to get it with something more exciting than supply and demand curves, read this book.