Economics is called ‘the dismal science’. Why? Because it doesn't seem to go anywhere or get anything done. It is always hanging around – like a younger brother or sister – stopping us having fun!      It is tedious because it is never ending – it goes on and on. It is all about naming things, measuring things, and then giving the ‘measurements’ names.      It is all about robbing Peter to pay Paul – or in the case of Robert Maxwell, robbing Peter AND Paul in order to rob just about everyone else!      It is about everything and nothing – it cannot explain everything and it can ignore nothing.      To understand it fully is beyond even the best human brains. To understand it a little should be enough for most people – and the more people who understand it a little, the more useful it can be.     It's like being able to tell the time: we don't have to be able to grasp the concept of infinity in order to turn up at 2:30 on a Saturday for a football match.      I started writing this book believing it would be useful to halfwits like me who didn't understand the first thing about governments and big business.      I soon discovered that economics is not just all about money, it is all about human nature as well.      Seen through the eyes of economics, human nature is mostly self-interest, swiftly followed by greed, panic, and the primitive urge to throw stones at what we don't understand.      After of lifetime of ignorance, and lobbing the odd pebble, I found economics fascinating – and I hope you do too.