Rating: 
Summary: Probably one of the best
Review: I am a student in economics. This book covers the essential of the principles of microeconomics. The best one I have ever read on the subject.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for the basics
Review: I have read three graduate level Microeconomic Thoery texts: Mas-Colell, et al. Microeconomic Theory, Varian's Microeconomic Analysis, and Krep's A Course in Microeconomic Theory.
Mas-Colell is generally the most detailed, inclusive book that must be on the shelf of any serious economist. It has its weak points; however, it is the best that there is for learning the microeconomic theory. Note that this book is generally the text of choice for the first year of graduate study at most all of the top econ programs.
The math requirements for getting the most out of this book are fairly heavy. With out a good math for economists course, this book is very difficult to use.
Kreps book takes on more of the game theory approach. This is very interesting for the game/decision theorist, and is a highly recommended in addition to Mas-Colell for those with these interests.
Varian is often used in masters degree level graduate programs, non-econ graduate programs, and lower-level econ phd programs.
It is not as intense as Mas-Colell. However, it is often very helpful in its own right. For students who are using Mas-Colell in their courses, but are struggling to grasp all of the concepts, Varian presents the information in a more "user-friendly" way. He spends more time explaining the concepts using english rather than math, which can be very helpful to someone just starting out.
At Cornell, Varian was helpful during the first semester of my microeconomic theory course, but provided virtually no help after that.
Additionally, I found the practice problems and examples in Varian very helpful when studying for exams.
In summary, all serious economists usually have Mas-Colell. Other than that, choose your additional books based on your needs and interests.
Rating: 
Summary: High level of abstraction. University math degree needed
Review: I read this book, and I have a pretty good level in mathematical calculus management. But in this book you are meant to know very well matters like topology, theorem construction and demonstration, and so on. People who need something like a handbook in economics may have difficulties when comparing this material with real world situations. But academics seem to like very much this book.
Rating:
Summary: Tremendous!
Review: If you are hunting for a terrific graduate-level text in microeconomic theory, pick up Varian's 3rd Ed. Microeconomic Analysis. The book is rigorous, but not at all overwhelming, and is replete with the kinds of exciting results that made you major in economics as an undergraduate. Moreover, the book is concise -- the author seems to recognize that taking a long time to explain relatively straightforward concepts is not a way to endear onesself to one's readers. (Unlike a certain very large and cumbersome graduate microeconomics textbooks that came out recently.)I saw some comments about the book requiring topology. I beg to differ -- while the math requirements are nontrivial, they are not so severe as topology. Anyone with a good background in linear algebra and multivariate calculus will find the book approachable. A course in rigor and proof, such as "Foundations," might be useful, but one can pick up such details from Varian's text itself. Differential equations and Real Analysis help, but are by no means essential. This is a terrific text for graduate and highly advanced undergraduate economics students. However, I suspect many graduate business students will find the mathematics unweildy and perhaps a bit unnecessary for their purposes.
Rating:
Summary: You are not buying this book for fun anyway
Review: Lets be serious, you are not buying this book because you think it would make good holiday reading. You need it for a class, or whatever so who cares about the rating if you have no choice. Just beware that there are a lot of errors in it so dont get too frustrated if you think you just dont get it. Otherwise, good treatment but some very short chapters on some very long topics that should be skipped.
Rating: 
Summary: Mathematized ideology trying to pass as science
Review: Maybe the clearest, most readable description of neo-classical economic belief. I used it to to read about utility (after reading Samuelson's papers), also to learn about the (utility-free) capital asset pricing model, which is presented via a simple derivation. A description of Scarf's counterexample in 'equilibrium dynamics' is also presented, if too sketchy. One would have liked to see Radner's '67 paper discussed here as well, and the proof that even if textbook demand-price, supply-price curves existed individually, the aggregate curves could be anything, including no curve at all, just a scatter of points. Osborne showed earlier that the textbook supply-demand curves do not exist empirically and explained quanlitatively why they do not exist in the individual case. I explained quantitatively in a paper 'The Futility of Utility' (Physica A, 2000) why such curves do not due to nonintegrability of the underlying dynamics of production, thereby resolving Mirowski's thesis in an unexpected way. So what's the problem? The theory is presented as if it would qualify as an internal logic system, not as science, it's presented as if data did not exist (theory without data, whereas econometrics is data without theory). There is essentially no comparison with empirical data in this text, and there is a good reason for that: all comparisons with real markets show that the utility-based theory is totally wrong. Not only is the standard assumption of 'equilibrium'(and the implicit assumption of stability) not a good zeroth order approximation to markets, these ideas do not even provide a BAD zeroth order approximation to market dynamics, which markets are totally unstable and far from equilibrium in every known case. The retort of the academic economists (the empiricist Greenspan does not belong to that school) that 'we are only trying to understand the ideal case' is so far off the mark as to be ridiculous. One might compare neo-classical economic theory with Aristotelian 'physics', except that the latter has one advantage: it does take into account a (wrong) qualitative description of air resistance, whereas utility maximization describes nothing that happens in real markets. To the claim that, 'but we need utility maximization to derive the CAPM' (which also does not describe real markets!), I reply, nonsense! ... . For the story of how this state of affairs came to be, see Mirowski's 'Machine Dreams'.
Rating:
Summary: Not good if MWG is your main text
Review: My graduate micro text was Mas-Colell,Whinston, and Green, and I bought Varian hoping it would help fill in some of the gaps since micro wasn't my thing. But Varian didn't help me at all. It explained the very basic content, but those aren't too bad to get from MWG. As for anything not surface level, it didn't help at all. If you're looking for help with MWG, try Kreps or Sundaram.
Rating:
Summary: Noone else describes economics so easy!
Review: Thanks to Varian for this wonderful, easy to read book - he explains complex subjects with humor and in a clearness that can't be beaten.
Rating:
Summary: This is the RIGHT textbook
Review: The book reads like someone's perfect lecture notes would: concise without compromising on quality or content. If you want to learn doctoral-level economics, this is the right book to start with. (Or try Varian's Intermediate econ firt if you have little econ background)
Rating:
Summary: I am a senior editor.Our press will print the Chinese copy
Review: This book is a highest text of microeconomics.Our press,The Publishing House of Economic Science will print Chinese copy of the book.Wellcome to order. Your sincerely Zhang Hong
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