Tomas Sedlacek has shaken the study of economics as few ever have. Named one of the “young guns” and “five hot minds in economics” by the Yale Economic Review, he serves on the National Economic Council in Prague, where his provocative writing has achieved bestseller status. How has he done it? By arguing a simple, almost heretical proposition: Economics is ultimately about good and evil.
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A compulsive read ... Beautifully written
(Samuel Brittan, Financial Times)
ECONOMICS OF GOOD AND EVIL
The Quest for Economic Meaning from Gilgamesh to Wall Street
Sedlacek’s debut became the No.1 non-fiction title in The Czech Republic in 2009. The book was translated and published in English by Oxford University Press in 2011 (click for US or UK catalogue here). Within few months, it has received many positive reviews both by US/UK press and by globally recognized academics.
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•The book is came out in Germany, Poland in early 2012.
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•Chinese, Italian and other versions will follow soon (see here).
The 3rd Beer Magic
(see what’s the book about)
Tomas in Davos 2012
(click here for a TV shot)
The Economics of Good and Evil was turned into a witty drama, which has been selling out The National Theater in Prague after over 80 repeats across Czechoslovakia. An international tour in English is about to start in September in Bucurest. See a five-minute video-trailer here.
Vaclav Havel, Czech ex-president: In my presidential office, Tomas Sedlacek belonged to the generation of young colleagues who promised a new view on the problems of the contemporary world, one unburdened by four decades of the totalitarian Communist regime. I have the feeling that my expectations were fulfilled, and I believe you, too, will appreciate his book.
This site is run by Czech publishing house 65. POLE, which produces Tomas Sedlacek’s books
in Czech and owns the global rights on Economics of Good and Evil.
Tomas Sedlacek (34) has excelled in various fields during his short, yet rich and multi-track career, with impressive achievements in the areas of public policy, finance, academics and arts. As a writer, he has touched off a wildfire of debate in his home country about what is really driving economic behavior, not just now, but since the beginning of the human race. See what Tomas did in Davos 2012.
Samuel Brittan, Financial Times: It would be a great pity if potential readers of this book were put off by the word “economics” in the title. Many people regard the subject either as dry and technical or, worse, as an abject failure because of the inability of its practitioners to anticipate the recent financial tsunami and prescribe effectively for its aftermath. But Tomas Sedlacek’s Economics of Good and Evil, an unlikely bestseller when it was published in Czech in 2009, is none of these things.... unlike most books with large pretensions, this one is beautifully written and at least for the first two-thirds I could not put it down or turn my mind to anything else.... a compulsive read.
Deirdre McCloskey, Distinguished Professor of Economics, University of Illinois: Tomas Sedlacek proposes no less than a “humanomics”, a view of our fate in this world of scarcity that takes account of human stories and philosophies. Economists have crippled themselves by their lack of scholarly breadth, and their “scientific” disdain for human words. Sedlacek cannot be accused of that. What is most impressive, though, is his depth, drilling down into the soul of economics
Germany and Poland became the first markets where The Economics of Good and Evil appeared in non-English translations. The Bavarian publisher Hanser, which brought The Black Swan to Germany, hopes to repeat its success with another challenge of mainstream economics. 15,000 copies sold within a month. More translations will come, click here for info.
