Rating: 
Summary: Prepare for Disappointment
Review: I'm the kind of guy who loves to sit down with a rigorous economics text that requires hours of study per page to even begin to grasp the concepts involved -- as long as the concepts are worth it. I have only found a few economics texts in existence that failed to get me keyed up, and I regret to report that this is one of them.The book is HUGE. I drooled as I brought it home from the bookstore. (This book was not required reading for me -- my grad. class used Varian's Microeconomic Analysis, 3rd Ed. -- a MUCH better book. I just picked it up after I had finished all my economics coursework because it looked fun and complete.) Unfortunately, the book is a complete bore, and the authors fail entirely -- at least in my opinion -- to convey to the reader the fascinating dynamics that make high-powered economic theory worth studying. Far too much emphasis is placed on game theory and far too little on the kinds of classical models contained in Varian's text. Plus, if you don't REALLY like real analysis for its own sake, you'll be hard pressed to make it through 70% of the text. Bottom line: Pick up Hal Varian's 3rd Ed. Microeconomic Analysis instead. It may only be 506 pages, but its very rigorous and you'll actually recognize it as a microeconomics text, as opposed to an extensive exercise in draining the joy you get out of economic theory. 20 years after its first publication, it's still a masterpiece.
Rating: 
Summary: A lot of work and time spent on nonsense mathematical demons
Review: I'll write my comments in Spanish so readers must make the same effort as I did to try to understand a mathematical cuasi microeconomical book in English (I suppose it was English between equations). (Notice that I spent a whole 1st. graduate year trying to figure why the most simple concept in economics must be proved by math. I'm proud to say that I almost read, better, studied the whole book) My comment in my native language: Desgraciadamente el libro se pierde en pura demostración matemática de cosas intrascendentes, dejando de lado la escencia económica de la microeconomía. Se pierde el tiempo demostrando cosas que muchas veces no son ni ciertas. (I know Andreu speaks Spanish)
Rating:
Summary: Ugh!
Review: We are using this book for my Ph.D.-level microeconomics class, which happens to be taught by one of the authors of the book. I have been struggling with the text for two months now, and find it more and more frustrating at every turn. I think this book spends far too much time turning simple economic concepts into arcane mathematical formulae without nearly enough attention to drawing out the important economic issues behind the math. I've had econ classes before. I know there are issues out there, and that economics is not just math, but you would never know it from this book!
Rating:
Summary: great after you learn it, but a steep learning curve!
Review: We were told there would be no math. They lied!
Rating: 
Summary: Very complete treatment of the core of microeconomics.
Review: This is an excellent book written at a level which should be understandable to the average first year graduate student in economics. Nearly all important introductory topics in microeconomics are covered (to some degree).
Rating: 
Summary: Best book ever!
Review: This text is brilliant! Thorough, yet not quite comeplete, the phrase 'this is too adavanced for treatment here,' appeared much too often. However, working through this book offers confidence and courage to the otherwise meek student (just be sure said student doesn't kill herself along the way). Kudos to the authors. Though the typos can make it tricky....
Rating:
Summary: Math or economics?
Review: Part of the problem with the book is that it's a first edition. But the other problem is that it's too terse for the average reader. It's a book written for mathematicians, not economists. As I implyed before, simple concepts like WARP are made a mystery by the near endless amount of notation and proofs. I wish someone would explain to me (after thoroughly trying to work problems and understand the book) what any of it has to do with economics. Maybe a joke would illustrate my point better: a simple man told an economist about a current economic phenomenon, immediately after which the economist said, "That can't possibly be true!" "Why not?" the simple man asked. The mathematician (er, economist) replied, "Because my model didn't predict that!"
Rating:
Summary: It is excellent mathematical econimics
Review: Up-to-date economics without math formulae is impossible. I only have looked over the book and find it splendid. Of cause it's too tedium for grandfather but contents background for seriously studing of economics, not in words and curves appeared from somewhere. The book is very good for my students in Belarus (as well in Russia). I suppose American Professors use it too.
Rating:
Summary: You'd better be a mathematician...
Review: Put it this way: my Dad opening the book, thinking that it might be interesting, and said, "Yaaahh!!", not in ectasy but in agony. There's more notation in the book than words. It's terse. It's huge, and it's scary. I really hate this book. It gets worse as you go farther along. (Otherwise) simple concepts are made a mystery by the tricky wording and endless proofs. I'm sure that the trio made a lot of money off the book, yet another example of those who know that they can profit from the misery of others. JERRY TOOK THE FALL!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: "Mas-Colell"
Review: Microeconomic Theory - known simply as 'Mas-Colell' to affectionate graduate students - is a difficult text on which to impossible a single "star" rating. The text is divided into several sections. The first of which introduces the reader to choice theory and the theory of the firm. This section is easily the worst treatment I have read in an educational work in any field. Useless diagrammatical references, pathological exercises, and absurd notation typify the first section. This section of the text is preferred by specialized theoretical microconomists and by predominantly non-American first year graduate students who have already been introduced to the material in a tractable text (such as Varian). This section gets 1 star for its comprehensive references. Conversely, the general equilibrium section is excellent. The author actually introduces concepts and explains their relevance. This section is still dense, complicated, and comprehensive: sufficiently "graduate" enough for any program. Overall, the text book is comprehensive, and makes a fairly good reference source. Nevertheless, learning from this book is akin to learning medicine from the Physicians Desk Reference; I suspect the book retains popularity across academia solely as a fraternal rite of passage: "I survived this ridiculous book!
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