Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy: Tim Harford - Softcover

I love these fact-filled micro-documentaries, steeped in history... A masterclass in socioeconomic storytelling (Financial Times on BBC World Service's Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy)

They are real masterpieces of brevity and audio storytelling . . . brilliant sideways glances . . . I've been surprised by every episode (Monocle Arts Review on BBC World Service's Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy)

This is what BBC radio is for. The series is utterly compelling and low-key... Just brilliant ideas, told simply. A wonderful, wonderful programme (The Times on BBC World Service's Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy)

Harford's script is immaculate and so is his presentation (Times of India on BBC World Service's Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy)

Short chapters are a delight in this frenetic age . . . Best of all, the book is constantly surprising. It brims with innovations I didn't know about, as well as ones I thought I knew about but did not (The Times)

Packed with fascinating detail . . . Harford has an engagingly wry style and his book is a superb introduction to some of the most vital products of human ingenuity (Sunday Times)

Harford's richness of detail bespeaks skill both as an economic analyst and as a popular commentator. His sections on barbed wire, passports, the contraceptive pill, infant formula, the bar code and even that IKEA staple, the Billy bookcase, are well researched, racily written and genuinely thought-provoking. His five page essay on the pill is infinitely subtler (and more feminist) than the usual stuff about empowerment . . . This is an entertaining book that might distract you from your gramophone for more than an evening and will find a secure place beside Harford's other books on your Billy bookcase (Times Literary Supplement)

Tim Harford, always excellent, turns his eye towards inventions. The plough, the gramophone, the pill, the Billy bookcase. Over and over, Harford shows us, inventions have all sorts of knock-on effects (Evening Standard)

Tim Harford is a master at picking out the perfect little story that explains some huge economic principle ... he's been my go-to guy for learning about the economics and math behind the world at large... perfectly crafted to light up the pleasure centres of my nerd brain (Roman Mars, 99% Invisible)

Fifty Inventions that Shaped the Modern Economy paints the epic picture of economic change in an intimate way, by telling the stories of tools and ideas that had far-reaching and unexpected consequences.