I've been following the career and writings of Yanis Varoufakis since he came to my attention during the Greek financial crisis and the role he played in the Syriza government. Varoufakis takes Stanley Cavell's mantra of talking about complex things in simple language, with easy to understand analogies and metaphors and puts his perceptions of economics into a book written to his daughter. The writing is sharp and crisp and book can be digested in an hour or two, the translation is solid as well (the original was written in Greek a few years back). Many of the explanations come with biased perspectives, but are explicit about the bias and are not trying to be presented as objective fact. Varoufakis is a smart and capable economist, but there are a few instances where he takes some intellectual leaps without stable footing, which, if you are reading this book with little understanding economics, may confuse; however, if you have an understanding of basic market economic theory you can pass over in silence. An excellent starting point for teenagers, novices, and those looking for an introduction into Varoufakis' ideas, but if you're more advanced perhaps The Global Minotaur or the The Globalizing Wall (both by Varoufakis) would be better options. Recommended.

I was intrigued by the title and premise of this book. I picked it up in part to potentially learn some new nuances of economics and, in part, to potentially glean some ideas about how to explain economic concepts to my own daughter. I found it to be a mixed bag. Some of the essays were clear and clever, but others were a bit convoluted and the chosen metaphor or example was a bit complicated and/or didn’t quite match back up to the concept it was illustrating quite seamlessly. But, on the whole, his examples and explanations were accessible and memorable.