Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book to learn microeconomics from.
Review: I wanted to learn some microeconomics, and went through the university library, examining their shelves of books on the topic. Varian's book was the best of them (note: I read the third edition).It explained the concepts clearly, and was much more readable than all of the others. The organization and chapter arrangements were such that the material was broken into nicely-sized pieces. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: If you read one micro book in your life, read this one
Review: I'm an economics graduate student at the Uni of Chicago and have worked as an economist for several years. Believe me, this book is going to be invaluable in being able to apply microeconomic thinking to real world issues. Read it and then read it again. It is a rigorous and accessible exposition of all the major tools in microeconomics and the mathematics content is perfect, illuminating and no more. A firm grasp of all the concepts in this book are a must if you want to be able to think like an economist, and a prerequisite for anyone considering graduate studies.
Rating:
Summary: Nice book with little math.
Review: It is a good introductory book. I major in Electrical engineering and can read this book without big trouble. However, I hope this book can give more analysis in math.
Rating: 
Summary: weak
Review: lowered my utility and it is a pain to read i hope the next ed is better
Rating:
Summary: it is for undergraduates
Review: Of course this textbook is not without it's flaws, maybe the major one is it's wordiness and lack of rigor. But if you could stick through it and read most of it then perhaps you could get something out of it. It is quite unfair to say that this book is one of the "worst," "a pain to read," or "dull" It is probably a standard textbook used in most universities at the undergraduate level. The fact that it is widely-used and is on it's sixth edition means that most undergraduate students are comfortable with Varian's approach. I'm in graduate school already but I still refer to it once in a while whenever I forget some concepts. It is aimed at sophomore/junior students who may not have been exposed to multivariable calculus and optimization yet; or who may still have a weak foundation in the mathematical tools required, so maybe that is the reason the author has placed the more rigorous (calculus) treatment in the appendices, as further reading material for students who want to know more. Serious students of economics who would like to pursue postgraduate degrees should realize that there are lots of other reference books out there to satisfy their curiosity and their need for more mathematical rigor. Finally, I would like to say that although the study of economics could have a tendency to be pedantic or just an exercise in mental gymnastics, understanding and applying concepts in neo-classical economics may somehow help us understand how (and why) the world works.
Rating: 
Summary: A casual reader
Review: Sorry about the epithet, but in the election season, I couldn't resist! The book's detractors (relatively speaking) obviously aren't "stupid", but they do miss the point---which Varian tries to explain in the preface. So let's try a different tack. Today writing a computer program to do the math used in graduate economics is an undergraduate CS project. Let's let computers do the heavy lifting, and save people for the creative work.
That's what Varian is about. What the world needs is not more people who can manipulate derivatives of implicit functions, but more people who can connect data and stylized facts to appropriate (already known) theories. That's what this book tries to teach, and it is best of breed. Although it's not clear to me that "thinking like an economist" can be taught with great effectiveness (it's a "knack", not an algorithm), Varian over and over again demonstrates that he can clearly express the "inner working" of that mode of thought. As in Information Rules, he demonstrates that he can bring these ideas to those who are not going to be professional economists, but need to understand the analysis.
Of course, some in the audience for this book will make careers in which they seek, and find, data and facts that defy existing theory. For them, of course there are better ways to prepare for the technical prerequisites for graduate school. But years later, none of those books will be nearly as much help in avoiding a dissertation proposal that crumbles into dust, too dry to support itself.
Belongs with Samuelson's classic introductory text on your bookshelf.
Rating:
Summary: It's the economics, stupid
Review: Sorry about the epithet, but in the election season, I couldn't resist! The book's detractors (relatively speaking) obviously aren't "stupid", but they do miss the point---which Varian tries to explain in the preface. So let's try a different tack. Today writing a computer program to do the math used in graduate economics is an undergraduate CS project. Let's let computers do the heavy lifting, and save people for the creative work.
That's what Varian is about. What the world needs is not more people who can manipulate derivatives of implicit functions, but more people who can connect data and stylized facts to appropriate (already known) theories. That's what this book tries to teach, and it is best of breed. Although it's not clear to me that "thinking like an economist" can be taught with great effectiveness (it's a "knack", not an algorithm), Varian over and over again demonstrates that he can clearly express the "inner working" of that mode of thought. As in Information Rules, he demonstrates that he can bring these ideas to those who are not going to be professional economists, but need to understand the analysis.
Of course, some in the audience for this book will make careers in which they seek, and find, data and facts that defy existing theory. For them, of course there are better ways to prepare for the technical prerequisites for graduate school. But years later, none of those books will be nearly as much help in avoiding a dissertation proposal that crumbles into dust, too dry to support itself.
Belongs with Samuelson's classic introductory text on your bookshelf.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good Text Book - Don't Miss on It
Review: The presentation of the theory is superb - straightforward simple english and to the point, and occassionally laced with humor!!. Many many examples to articulate concepts. The depth of coverage for an intermediate course is clearly sufficient. The book makes very interesting reading. My suggestion to students: read the book with just some basic knowledge of calculus, and a bit of scalar algebra, you will fully agree with all what I said above.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent microeconomics book, but falls short on math.
Review: This book is an excellent bridge from principles of microeconomics. However, while I am very good at applied economics, it falls short on explaining the mathematical concepts it introduces in the appendices. The most calculus I've had experience with is Brief calculus, but if you are to understand the equations in the appendices you'll need a little more calculus (unless you're born a math genius). The theories introduced in the book are clear and precise and make for easy reading and studying. If you want more concise understanding of the concepts, then I highly recommend purchasing the companion workbook.
Rating:
Summary: could be better
Review: This book is used everywhere by everybody. It is the most popular undergraduate text on the continent. I, however, was disappointed when I first looked into it. I found the book to be very sketchy. The way I see it, Varian had some lecture notes that he thought he would slap together and make a textbook out of. He doesn't appear to have put much more work into it than that. What is the purpose of those pathetic chapter summaries and the end of chapter questions, and, last but not least, the deplorable mathematical appendices? I also found Varian's occasional attempts at humor to be misplaced. Varian's text is good for some things (no textbook is ALL bad). Chapter 10 on intertemporal choice, for instance, or chapter 12 on uncertainty are both covered with clarity. <
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