At first, just holding this book and running my thumb across its 500 pages showed me how well-bounded and well-organized it is. The publishers did a good job.
Similar commendation goes to its author for ensuring that the contents are nicely written, well-indexed, and thus very easy to find and read. Contemporary language was used throughout. Successive chapters often compliment the preceding ones: giving one a clear insight into the professional minds and souls of experienced economists.
Designed especially for students, the texts of this book are supported by a generous amount of charts, tables, and graphs: all of which facilitate comprehension. In addition, each of these illustrations provide valuable revision tools for test and exam preparations.
One topic after another, this book discusses its business without beating about the bush. It employs simplified and logical econometrics wherever it is needed. These derivations and calculations were explained bearing mathemaphobes in mind. They make a pleasurable read.
But one downside of this book is that its author can be opinionated in certain issues. Not that this matters much (to me), but the fact that the book was primarily designed for students makes such an attitude less ideal. Another issue is that the author's efforts to keep his narrations simple and concise resulted in some topics not receiving the kind of in-depth analyses, which some advanced readers would like have. Overall though, there is frankly very little to complain about this book.
Its content-organization and information-consolidation are enough to assuage its few shortcomings. The same could be said concerning its price. Indeed, it is not exactly a give-away at price ranges of 70 to 90 dollars (depending on when and where you shop). But if one considers the fact that comparable texts (from authors like Robin Stonecash and Gregory Mankiw) sell for about 65% more, one would not complain too much about it. This Stephen Slavin's "Macroeconomics" is by all means, a plausible value: bearing in mind the current market standards.
VALENTINE ODUENYI.
