What are some good books about economics?

Also, here's the Economics section from Amazon:

LINK

This was the first econ book I read when I had no idea what the field of economics covered.

Freakinomics was dumb. Just a lot of correlation and causation stuff.

I don't know of any leisurely Econ books you could go after, but I would make sure you go with macro topics. Micro is a lot of sociological rationality, which helps someone to be a more rational consumer, but not talk about global economics.

The commonly accepted theory in the world is Keynes theory, so that is a good start. Maybe something about economic growth after that.

Good question.

I would start with Wealth of Nations.

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Good question.

I would start with Wealth of Nations.

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Everybody says this, but unless you want to subject yourself to a detailed exegesis of the varying price of corn (by which he means wheat) in various Scottish villages throughout the 18th century I think there are better choices. No doubt Wealth of Nations is a Great Book (tm) but it is not what I would recommend as an introductory text to someone looking for a basic intro to economics.

Seriously, I'd recommend buying an econ 101 textbook - if you buy used, and are willing to accept last year's edition, you can get it for under $10. Mankiw's text is the gold standard.

got dat covered

behavioral, but i figure if i want to speak of the subjects, i need to get a base-level across the board

no. can a person who hates baseball make it through moneyball?

i tend to enjoy lewis's writing style

Shiller is the king of behavioral econ/fin. In terms of "speaking about the subject," running through an econ 101 textbook isn't going to get you there, unless you're talking about talking to people who don't know what they are talking about.