Sowell's Basic Economics is the easiest to read one I have seen, and for the math phobic it has no equations. Another really good, if idiosyncratic, book is Da

Sowell's Basic Economics is the easiest to read one I have seen, and for the math phobic it has no equations. Another really good, if idiosyncratic, book is David Friedman's Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life. Also Thomas Sowell's Knowledge and Decisions covers roughly the same ground as Hayek's Use of Knowledge in Society, but is newer and more readable.