Book excerpt: A rare reproduction of Nobel Prize Winner Paul Samuelson's original 1948 Classic economics textbook. For 50 years, Samuelson's Economics has been the standard-bearer for the field. Now in it's 16th edition, Samuelson is probably the most successful economics book ever published. The book has sold several million copies throughout the world, and has also been translated into more than 40 languages. The reproduction is far more than just a historical curiosity and an interesting object; it contains the original words of arguably the most influential and most widely read textbook economics author of the 20th century. This 1948 edition represents the orignal spark that ignited the Samuelson revolution--a movement which has endured for half a century, and influenced millions of young minds in hundreds of the world's best learning institution.