As someone whose introduction to economics was Basic Economics, I don't think the statement reflects poorly on either the book or academia. The book is a pithy

As someone whose introduction to economics was Basic Economics, I don't think the statement reflects poorly on either the book or academia. The book is a pithy, digestible introduction to a bunch of basic topics in economics. It is also lacking a lot of the detail and mathematical explanation of introductory university courses. For example, I understood the basic concept of comparative advantage after listening to the book, but when I later revisited the topic using a textbook, the graphs and worked examples gave me a clearer picture and it was better related to adjacent concepts like marginal cost, the production-possibility frontier, etc. I don't have the impression that academic economics as presented to undergraduates diverges greatly from the book, although it has been years since I heard it and my recollection is fuzzy.