Review of A World of Wealth: How Capitalism Turns Profits into Progress (Hardcover)

I find it very easy to accept the Washington Times review posted here.It is a very good overview of Mr. Donlan's book.Too good, perhaps, as it almost convinced me not to bother writing one of my own, but this book deserves some comments.

Tom Donlan has done an exceptionally good job of describing the capitalist system and its operation in terms that are, at one and the same time, sufficiently sophisticated to attract specialists, yet intelligible to a much broader public.Mr. Donlan's viewpoint is very obvious; he's "pro-capitalism" and not ashamed to say so, yet he does not beat you over the head with it.When discussing climate change, for example, he presents Vice President Gore's viewpoint and his own, but without the overly-emotionally, anti-intellectual verbiage so common these days from both sides of this issue.Rather, he discusses what Gore's conclusions may mean in terms of the capitalist system's response.As he says, "Global warming is not just an environmental problem; it is also an economic problem."Donlan rightly emphasizes a subject that will become increasingly important as we move from debate to action.

"A World of Wealth" is not a polemic so much as it is a patient and intelligent explanation of a system that most of us think we understand, but few of us can explain in any detail.By focusing on how capitalism and free markets work in a straightforward manner, Donlan brings us back to the basics of the system that has provided is with so much wealth to enjoy and to squander.His emotional commitment to capitalism is clear, but it is his plain-spoken analysis that makes this book worth reading by anyone, socialists included.

I enjoy reading books on finance and economics.Books like Mohamed el-Erian's "When Markets Collide," Nicholas Taleb's "Fooled by Randomness," and Robert Shiller's "Irrational Exuberance" inform me and provide deeper insight into important ideas and trends.But I would liken Thomas Donlan's "A World of Wealth" to Fareed Zakaria's "The Post-American World".They stand in a somewhat different class.They are intelligent, thought-provoking, and deal with very important topics, yet they are also eminently readable and understandable by anyone with a decent education, regardless of their technical training.This should be no surprise.Both Zakaria (formerly editor of Foreign Affairs and currently editor of Newsweek International) and Donlan are professional journalists and both have many years of editorial experience for publications that demand excellence.They know how to communicate their thoughts clearly and succinctly on topics of great importance.That is worth the price of a book like "A World of Wealth" in itself.



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