First off, this is not a book to read if you want to know how Marx critiques capatalism. Sure that's touched on a little, but most of the book is devoted to pure economics, without any talk at all about how the economics comment on the way society, and capatalist firms function. The book is locked into numbers, and I'm guessing that it was meant to be used in a college course as a supplement. He says that his math is on the level of intermediate economics, and he's probably right, but don't expect him to do any explanation, he just plows on through, leaving those who aren't so lucky as to have taken up to intermediate economics courses left in the dust. No empirical analysis whatsoever, except for a calculation of the social surplus and the labor value of money. If your an economist you'll have a ball.

This book is an excellent introduction to Marx's economic theories (but not his political theories). It has three main merits: (i) it is written in an extremely clear and understandable manner, (ii) it compresses most of Marx's economic ideas into a short book, and (iii) it introduces the notion of the monetary expression of labour value, which is a key concept to understanding Marx's labor theory of value. The recent renaissance on labor value theories is partly due to the author's efforts. If you think that labor value theories are nonsense, then read this -- it may change your mind. Similarly, if you are convinced of the foundational importance of labor time in understanding captialist economies (as opposed to, say, marginal utility) then you may still learn something new.

The mathematical content can be understood by anyone who can read an algebraic equation and follow some simple manipulations.

In sum, this is a book for those interested in Marx's economics, but may not want to wade through all three volumes of Capital.