Naked Economics

For what it's worth, I really enjoyed Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan, even though it may be considered a popular economics best seller. I though it offered a great introduction to a field I knew very little about.

Naked Economics - A great book on understanding how the world works in simple economic terms

Bookwise, some places to start for general overviews of economics are: "New Ideas from Dead Economists" by Todd Buchholtz "Naked Economics" by Charles Wheelan Blogwise: http://www.marginalrevolution.com/ is entertaining and filled with good insights from a libertarian point of view. http://economistsview.typepad.com/ has more centrist/liberal views on a variety of economic issues and has a good set of links to daily economic-related blog posts from various points of view. The above blogs have enough links to other blogs to get you started, and they will give you different points of view on current topics.

I second this rec. The author breaks down economics with common language and regular, everyday topics (no charts, graphs or formulas).

Naked Economics by Wheelan http://www.amazon.com/Naked-Economics-Undressing-Dismal-Scie... (http://www.amazon.com/Naked-Economics-Undressing-Dismal-Science/dp/0393049825)

For an overview of mainstream modern econ, if you read nothing else, read Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan. For a good introduction to the major economic schools of thought check out Economics as Religion by Robert Nelson (he has written a new one on the same subject that I haven't yet read). To get into behavioral economics, I'd recommend Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely and The Winner's Curse by Richard Thaler. Tread carefully, there is a lot of polemic posing as economics on bookstore shelves.