Profound ignorance of economics

I forget where I saw it recommended, but I picked up Francis Wheen's Idiot proof: deluded celebrities, irrational power brokers, media morons, and the erosion of common sense. It's always nice to see a criticism of postmodern nonsense, but I have to second what Michael J Edelman says:

I was [dismayed] by the author's profound ignorance [of] economics, and even more profound ignorance of history. He has the British Left's rabid hatred of Maggie Thatcher, and consequently he is blind to the tremendous economic resurgence of Great Britain under her leadership. Similarly, his analysis of fiscal policies under Reagan consists mainly of reciting old charges of "voodoo economics", and so he blames tax cuts for deficits- instead of actually looking at the record, and discovering that US tax receipts actually increased after the '84 tax reform.

The remainder of the book consists in large part of assorted bits of nonsense found in government and academia, most of it of little consequence. There are some gems buried in their as well, but the bulk of the book is so taken with the author's personal [prejudices] and ignorance that I can't recommend it.