A readable book on economics?

Economy-focused titles might generally be thought quite inaccessible.  But Professor. Thomas Picketty is apparently challenging the norm The French professor's new book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century isn't a short one, but its pages are said hold the burden of an economic revelation.

That is, as Picketty has told The Guardian, "I have proved that under the present circumstances capitalism simply cannot work."

If that seems like a read which might not be up your street, you may yet be convinced. New Yorker contributor Branko Milanovic (formerly a senior economist at the World Bank) believes the title is "one of the watershed books in economic thinking".

Not the most persuasive perhaps, but that the title is currently causing a stir in academic and wider circles, hints at the strength of a book which The Guardian's Andrew Hussey calls "surprisingly readable".

And that's a relief. At 640 pages, and costing £30 in its hardback form, it's probably not a book to tempt everyone. But Prof. Picketty does hope it will reach more than the usual audience for economics-themed titles:

"I did deliberately aim the book at the general reader", Picketty has said. Adding, "although it is obviously a book which can be read by specialists too, I wanted the information here to be made clear to everyone who wants to read it."

Because here's  a man who knows inequality simply won't do.