Curtis, Irvine, Begg has built on the philosophy of the Begg book that has dominated the UK market in recent years. CIB is more focused and slightly more compact than the majority of principles books in the Canadian marketplace. In contrast to some encyclopedic books, it makes choices on what issues and topics are important in an introductory course. Consistent with this approach, there are no appendices or "afterthought" chapters. If challenging material is important, it is included in the main body of the text; it is not relegated elsewhere for a limited audience. This philosophy has resulted in a Micro book of just 15 chapters, one of which, International Trade, is common to both Micro and Macro. The examples used in the text are domestic and international and are from the modern era - consumers buy iPods, snowboards and jazz, not so much coffee and hamburgers. Globalization is a recurring theme. Microeconomics provides concise, yet complete coverage of microeconomic theory, application and policy in a Canadian and global environment. The book has the customary panoply of figures, tables and illustrations, and occasional linear equations that are carefully explained and developed.