Yanis Varoufakis

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Yanis Varoufakis, the world-renowned economist and #1 bestselling author, uses personal stories and famous myths to explain what economics is and why it has the power to change our world. Why is there so much inequality? In this intimate and accessible book, world famous economist Yanis Varoufakis sets out to answer his daughter Xenia’s deceptively simple question. Drawing on memories of her childhood and a variety of well-known tales – from Oedipus and Faust to Frankenstein and The Matrix -- Talking To My Daughter About the Economy explains everything you need to know in order to understand why economics is the most important drama of our times. It is a book that helps to make sense of a troubling world while inspiring us to make it a better one.

A Brief History of Capitalism

Talking to My Daughter About the Economy

Helen 

But to what do we owe the evolution of our character and our desires? Conflict is the short answer. Yes, we owe our character to our confrontation with the world and its refusal to grant us all our wishes at once, as well as to the conflict within us made possible by our capacity to think to ourselves, I want X, but should I want X? We loathe constraints but at the same time understand that they liberate us, if only by helping us question our own motives. Authentic happiness is impossible, in other other words, without dissatisfaction as well as satisfaction, well as satisfaction.

Yanis Varoufakis, the bestselling author of Adults in the Room, uses personal stories and famous myths to explain what economics is and why it has the power to change our world. Why is there so much inequality? In this intimate and accessible book, world famous economist Yanis Varoufakis sets out to answer his daughter Xenia's deceptively simple question. Drawing on memories of her childhood and a variety of well-known tales - from Oedipus and Faust to Frankenstein and The Matrix -- Talking To My Daughter About the Economy explains everything you need to know in order to understand why economics is the most important drama of our times. It is a book that helps to make sense of a troubling world while inspiring us to make it a better one.

Talking to My Daughter about the Economy

laid out the basics that I needed in re: talking about economy & market societies & commodification – as someone who has -1 knowledge & interest in knowing about econ [bad when you are very political, as he said: 

"If you wish to have any say in that future, then you and your contemporaries will have to form an opinion on this matter and articulate good arguments with which to win others to your point of view."

] – however without taking a a decisive step towards the capital S / C word LOL. so this would be good baby steps for somebody who needs a redirection in a mentality constricted by capitalist realism & anti-communist propaganda. i docked points bc as 

 pointed in their review, it oversimplifies the march of capitalism as if it was the inevitable logic... & also eyebrow-raised on the offhand comment about the inevitability of artifical intelligence triumphing over (which tbh just shows the attitude re: the field in the mid-2010s).

but god I loved the part on debt as time-travel magic bc it just shows how absurd the concept is & now I truly understand why interest is considered haram. + i truly love the framing of this book... filled a [parental specifically paternal-shaped] hole in my heart.

madina

laid out the basics that I needed in re: talking about economy & market societies & commodification – as someone who has -1 knowledge & interest in knowing about econ [bad when you are very political, as he said: "If you wish to have any say in that future, then you and your contemporaries will have to form an opinion on this matter and articulate good arguments with which to win others to your point of view."] – however without taking a a decisive step towards the capital S / C word LOL. so this would be good baby steps for somebody who needs a redirection in a mentality constricted by capitalist realism & anti-communist propaganda. i docked points bc as @jiaqi pointed in their review, it oversimplifies the march of capitalism as if it was the inevitable logic... & also eyebrow-raised on the offhand comment about the inevitability of artifical intelligence triumphing over (which tbh just shows the attitude re: the field in the mid-2010s).

but god I loved the part on debt as time-travel magic bc it just shows how absurd the concept is & now I truly understand why interest is considered haram. + i truly love the framing of this book... filled a [parental specifically paternal-shaped] hole in my heart.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Why is there so much inequality?' Xenia asks her father, the world-famous economist Yanis Varoufakis. Drawing on memories of her childhood and a variety of well-known tales - from Oedipus and Faust to Frankenstein and The Matrix - Varoufakis explains everything you need to know in order to understand why economics is the most important drama of our times. In answering his daughter's deceptively simple questions, Varoufakis disentangles our troubling world with remarkable clarity, while inspiring us to make it a better one. 'Utterly accessible, deeply humane and startlingly original - a potent democratic tool at the perfect time' Naomi Klein

Talking to My Daughter

Reiza H

Ekonomi terlalu penting untuk ditinggalkan hanya pada para ekonom. Begitu inti pesan dari buku ini. Hal yang lucu, mengingat Yanis Varoufakis sendiri adalah seorang ekonom dan juga Menteri Keuangan Yunani tahun 2015.

Tetapi karena statusnya sebagai seorang ekonom lah, buku ini mendapatkan justifikasinya untuk berkata seperti itu. Menurutnya, karena perekonomian adalah hal yang melingkupi keseharian kita sehari-hari, dan di mana kita hidup di dalamnya, maka persoalan ekonomi adalah hal yang perlu pula kita singgung dan diskusikan dalam perbincangan. Ekonomi bukanlah sebuah menara gading di mana hanya segelintir orang yang berhak berbicara tentangnya. Tetapi ia seperti sebuah ladang, di mana setiap orang bisa menanam banyak hal, dan menghasilkan banyak hal pula.

Saya pikir, buku ini akan hadir dalam bentuk yang lebih intim, mengingat judulnya. Tetapi, buku ini cukup hangat dalam menjabarkan informasi menarik mengenai sejarah perekonomian. Kenapa kita bisa mempercayai sistem fiskal yang sedang berjalan saat ini, kenapa kita beralih dari sistem barter, mengapa ada ketimpangan, bagaimana hutang dan bank berjalan, dan hal-hal lainnya yang biasanya kita dapatkan hanya dari buku-buku ekonomi berhalaman tebal. Meskipun, saya akui, di beberapa bagian saya sempat terkantuk-kantuk membacanya. Mungkin karena ada beberapa hal yang masih sulit saya cerna secara literal.

Untuk memunculkan "sparks" lebih lanjut mengenai ekonomi, buku ini cocok untuk dibaca.

Lila R E

“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”

I really enjoyed this; we hear words like ‘capital’, ‘markets’, ‘exchange value’ etc. so often without fully understanding what they mean/their implications and Varoufakis explains it all so brilliantly. Must-read if you’re looking for something thought-provoking, educational AND engaging (a rare find). Time to democratise the economy!

A simple explanation of what is going on in world of economics and anything that has relation with it.

Davood Ghanbarpour

Interesting and well explained but a bit cheesy and puerile sometimes (which I feel was to be expected from the title). I do wish he'd gone a bit more in depth about certain topics though.

Beau

A strong 3.5 stars. As someone who didn't study economics but has become interested and eventually fascinated by it over time, I found Varoufakis' exploration of economic theory via simplistic language and vivid story telling to be a really entertaining and informative read.

**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER** Yanis Varoufakis, world renowned economist, writes to his daughter to teach her the hazards of capitalism. ‘Why is there so much inequality?’ asked Xenia to her father. Answering her questions in a series of accessible and tender letters, Varoufakis educates her to what economics and capitalism is and why it is so dangerous. Taking from memories of her childhood and a variety of well-known tales – from Oedipus and Faust to Frankenstein and The Matrix – Varoufakis turns Talking To My Daughter into an enjoyable and engaging read, without ever shying from the harder truths. Greece’s former finance minister explains everything you need to know to understand why economics is the most important drama of our times. In answering his daughter’s deceptively simple questions, Varoufakis disentangles our troubling world with remarkable clarity and child-like honesty, as well as inspiring us to make it a better one. 'Utterly accessible, deeply humane and startlingly original - a potent democratic tool at the perfect time' Naomi Klein

Hrishikesh Bhaskaran

Cams Campbell

Outstanding. I’d love actually to get my daughter (15) to read this, but it’s unlikely I suppose. 

I might just read it again in a year or so, as I’m a bear of very little brain and it would do me some good I think. I’m not saying it’s a difficult book — quite the opposite in fact, but I find these concepts a little challenging to grasp fully. 

Highly recommended and thank you Waterstone’s for having this as a book of the month, else I wouldn’t have seen it.

Economics is a blackbox to many and I really appreciate this book for bringing helpful analogies to understand how the economy and market societies work. It’s the right amount of information to understand the news (like why raising interest rates is associated with inflation) without delving deeply into economic theories.

Rahma Ali

jiaqi kang

really brief and well-explained, and shows how important it is for economists and scientists to be well-read, but probably TOO well-explained - it oversimplifies issues to such an extent that it appears to justify the inequality and cruelty of capitalism by using history to make it seem as if it was inevitable, a fundamental human logical progression :/

also this is basic econ and i'm still kind of shocked that people don't know this....

Rebecca

Grace O'Callaghan

I didn't particularly enjoy this one very much, and not just because of it's subject matter.
I was expecting it to be a relatively simple book to get through seeing as the author is talking to his 11 year old daughter about the economy. But it wasn't. He seemingly pulled economic words out of thin air without explanation. The format of the book was all over the place and I didn't really know what he was talking about.

My biggest gripe with this book was there were so many analogies and metaphors that it left me more confused than to begin with. As someone who understands the bare minimum of what the economy is, I was hoping this would enlighten me a bit more on the topic. However, this frankly left me with more questions than answers. This really was where the book fell short for me and didn't really achieve the main purpose of what the book was about.

I should probably give it one star but I listened to this as an audiobook and perhaps it would make more sense to physically read it.

Laura Mitchell Hutchinson

Brilliant. 

I never thought I would be able to understand anything about the economy (even though I have a business degree... Econ101 was not my forte). This book was an absolute gem to find — an economist explaining the history of economies to his young teen daughter. The language is simple enough and there are lots of familiar pop-culture stories and metaphors woven throughout to explain theories and shifts. 

I learnt so much about the economy obviously but also race, history, money, technology, literature, philosophy, cryptocurrencies, happiness, the environment, power, democracy... the list goes on. Many things shocked me, and I found myself babbling to relay the stories to my long-suffering husband and friends.

It’s worth noting that this book also gave me a serious case of ‘stop the planet, I want to get off’. It’s heavy and really messed up how humanity got to this point. Confronting content. 


I am aiming to read 21 different genres in 2021. This one ticks the boxes #economics #nonfiction

Vicki Hesketh

I don't usually read a lot of none fiction - I have always thought that I needed a character and plot driven story to make a book a page-turner for me. 

That being said I picked this book up as somebody who understands the basic concept of capitalism but not much more. I wasn't really expected to enjoy reading it but I did want to understand more about the topics the book covers. I was pleasantly surprised to find this book was really accessible and easy to understand and kept me interested all the way through. I learned so much through the first chapter alone and by the time I finished it I had a much better understanding of our market society. 

The author uses well-known stories and pop culture examples to explain his points and I think this is perhaps one of the most successful parts of the book - it's not too much of a chore to understand economy and capitalism in these terms. Frankenstein, Bladerunner, Star Trek and The Matrix all make this book digestible and show the core subjects for what they are - fascinating and interesting. I think this book contains many lessons that everyone needs to know.

Jawahir M

Description Summary: A philosophical outlook to the beast that lurks in everyone’s lives regardless of your social class or profession: capitalism. Varoufakis’s style reminds me of a cross between Robin Williams’s characters John Keating and Dr. Sean Maguireto.

Score: 4/5 

This is one of the few “mainstream” books about complicated subjects that was written for the clueless reader or total amueter in said complicated subject done very well. The fact that Varoufakis writes this as if it’s like some sort of memoir to his daughter makes it more “human” in a way. It brings Varoufakis down from stern financial minister and economist professor to a man trying to explain to his daughter the realities of life and the living. 

This leads to a simple form of writing style that entertains and educates you at the same time; it's like being taught by your favorite high school teacher.

Book Summary: Varoufakis starts his book by grasping his daughter Xenia’s clear yet not so straight forward question: “Why so much inequality Dad?”. This root question is what ultimately leads Varoufakis to revert to the system that he's always known: capitalism and the economics of it. 

In the series of chapters afterwards Varoufakis unravels and dissects Xenia’s question by looking back at the history of our world. How did markets first emerge? How did profit became a necessary goal? What is the difference between exchange and experiential value? What did people do before money? 

Step by step, we see how we became from a society with markets that have a clear distinction between exchange and experiential value to a market society where experiential value is synonymous with exchange value. How when debt and profit got married, they’ve not only sealed their bond but our fates as well. And how machines and AI can ultimately be a salvation or damnation.

All of this is explored through childhood memories that Varoukis shares with his daughter as well as common tales and myths (of course most are Greek) that we generally familiar with to explain concepts that shouldn’t be so complicated. End of Summary.

I think Varoufakis validates a lot of his points in the book, and I absolutely loved the way it was written. This is definitely one of the books that you can discuss with your slightly older kids, and I think it’s a great way to keep them understanding more about how the world works around them. I think the stories and tales that were chosen were smart choices that complemented the theories being displayed. 

Varoufakis when writing if something does change within the timeline of history or if the story has been retold in a different version (kind of like a modern retelling) he makes a point reference back to the past of that history or story which I find highly beneficial because you can easily compare the change and it helps with organizing your thoughts and information received. 

I don’t necessarily agree with the explicit solution that Varoufakis suggests which is to democratize everything. He makes it seem that democracy is the only solution we have or without it humanity will perish. That being said I also don’t agree with privatizing everything and commercializing everything; it's a ticking bomb waiting to go off and one that will ultimately impact our planet and survival. 

I think we can look at the good parts of capitalism; that of entrepreneurship , free markets, word trading and so on. Appliance of conscious capitalism will enforce all parties to work for the collective good (all stakeholders) and not just the few investors (the shareholders). But there has to be an efficient method to handle the Great Contradiction and bring out the middle class once more instead of the dangerous shift that we’re currently observing of “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer”. 

I also like that he pointed out the fact that economics is not true science in the sense of physics and the like. And this will hurt some “scientists” out there but it is logical when you think about it. Economics includes mathematics but even that mathematics is derived from Newton’s laws of action-reaction, and the premonitions that the economists give out are mostly educated guesses because of the golden sentence “Ceteris Paribus” (holding other things constant). So their premonitions are correct assuming that all other things in the economy remain constant which mostly never the case.

This book has definitely made me look at things from the outside a bit, and helped me see the big picture of what all of these gears are working for. 

Do I recommend? Yes it’s one day light hearted read that is perfect for interesting deep discussions.

Ronas K

I have now read the book twice, as my first reading admittedly left me with more questions than answers. Surprisingly, my second read answered all of the questions I had. Varoufakis exposes our aversion to a different economic system as an irrational fear, predicated on ill-founded and poorly understood conceptions about the economy as well as an almost incessant urge to defend power structures that ultimately leave most of us poorer and more desperate than ever. Nobody has managed to teach me so much about economics in such few words and I would highly recommend this book for anyone who is disillusioned with our current system but has yet to understand why or lacks the charismatic vernacular to convey why. I would also recommend it for people who are staunch in their belief in the current economic system as Varoufakis is likely to, and justifiably so, question why you think that way.

Sergiu Mara

Mahtab Sabet

ame 

In this letter to his teenage daughter, one of the world's most famous economists uses vivid stories to explain what economics is and why it is so dangerous. What is money and why does debt exist? Where do wealth and inequality come from? How come economics has the power to shape and destroy our lives? Economics is not a technical science, it is an epic drama: a battleground of ideas, a war between the powerful for our allegiance. In this universally accessible book, Yanis Varoufakis describes how this drama first emerged and has since come to dominate the fate of human societies worldwide. In answering all of the big questions about money and debt, power and inequality, he shows how economics has sought to solve the problems of our world but ended up being a major cause of many of them. Drawing on history and literature, science fiction and personal memories, this intimate and inspiring book shines a light for readers of all ages on some of the most bewildering questions and important challenges that humanity faces.

Talking to My Daughter About the Economy A Brief History of Capitalism

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