Top "Popular" Books in Economics
The Death and Life of Great American Cities - Jane Jacobs

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Paul Krugman once argued that economists are confusing to non-economists because they are not swayed by how distinguished a writer is, but rather by their ideas. I think this over-romanticizes economists. However, the example he gave was great. It was that economists respect Jane Jacobs, even if she didn't have PhD, because she had coherent and articulate theories, while few 20th Century figures are as distinguished as John Kenneth Galbraith, who did have a PhD in economics, yet economists have little time for his economic theories that have been so effectively robbed by reality (he was a good writer, though). This Jane Jacobs book is a classic, although you may find you get the point by, say, page 150. ( Edited by jcmorley)

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