> That's funny. As I was reading the quote, I knew I'd read it somewhere
> before. So it's from Blaug. A few years ago I shelled out for a new copy of
> Economic Theory In Retrospect, which is still sitting on my shelf. I was
> dismayed by the preface which explained that the book is cumulative and
> therefore has to be read as a whole, sequentially. I was even more dismayed
> when I realized that it was true - you can't understand the chapter on Mill
> if you didn't read the chapter on Ricardo, etc. Reading the entire book
> seems only slightly less ambitious than reading all of the Wealth of
> Nations. As a result, I find it very difficult to extract any useful
> information from that expensive book at all - and yet I really, really want
> to know everything it says.
>
> So could you summarize it for me?
In fact it's more ambitious than reading the WoN, because it's designed so that you actually read Smith alongside the reader's guide, then Ricardo, Mill, Marx, Marshall, Jevons, Walras, Wicksell, Bohm-Bawerk, Clark, Keynes... I wonder how many people actually use as directed. You really can dip in and out, though - and Marshall is a good second starting point. Of course I haven't read it all myself, it's one of many books on my shelves with a bookmark or two.
Mike