Book excerpt: Microeconomic Principles and Problems offers a comprehensive introduction to all major perspectives in modern economics, including mainstream and heterodox approaches. Through providing multiple views of markets and how they work, it will leave readers better able to understand and analyse the complex behaviours of consumers, firms, and government officials, as well as the likely impact of a variety of economic events and policies. Most principles of microeconomics textbooks cover only mainstream economics, ignoring rich heterodox ideas. They also lack material on the great economists, including the important ideas of Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Thorstein Veblen, John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek. Mainstream books neglect the kind of historical analysis that is crucial to understanding trends that help us predict the future. Moreover, they focus on abstract models more than existing economic realities. This engaging book addresses these inadequacies. Including explicit coverage of the major heterodox schools of thought, it allows the reader to choose which ideas they find most compelling in explaining modern economic realities. Written in an engaging style focused on real world examples, this ground-breaking book brings economics to life. It offers the most contemporary and complete package for any pluralistic microeconomics class.