How nice to see Russell Robert’s The Invisible Heart getting some attention. It’s a wonderful novel about a high-school economics teacher and his attempt to explain to others close to him why economics matters and what it teaches us about the world.
Roberts presents the economist as an idealist who chooses his vocation over other considerations like wealth and fame, and sticks to his principles even though it harms him professionally. This image of the economist—as versus the usual one of a calculating, money-possessed opportunist—is one that fits with the economists I know (certainly it applies to most Austrians in history).
It is a very inspiring book, and a great introduction for people who otherwise have no interest in the subject. Roberts’s theoretical orientation is that of a Bastiat-informed neoclassical (his commentaries on NPR stand out as islands of sense in a sea of fallacy), and the book contains very few problems from an Austrian point of view (there is a slight mixed up over cost and price determination, and an endorsement of the phoney market of pollution permits).
Mostly, it is a hugely successful effort, and a great book to give to Mom and Dad to explain why you care about economics. Some Mises Institute faculty have even used it in the classroom to great effect.
