I was wondering if this book was mentioned on this website.
A friend told me to read this book. I liked it. Here is my review of it:
I have read Economics in One Lesson, the Concise Guide to Economics, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism, Meltdown, and other pro-capitalist literature. I learned more about economics from Viception than all my previous capitalist readings combined. The liberty message is explained in an argument/discussion in the middle of the book. It is the longest political argument I have ever heard, but it was enjoyable. It started with free speech, lies, blackmail, shouting ‘fire’ in a crowded theater, firearms, the Marshall Plan, the Great Depression (including Austrian business cycle theory, inflation, and money), and concluded with the power of ideas, the broken window fallacy, the U.S. Civil War, the World Wars, the Cold War, and more.
Viception was a surprising way to defend liberty, since the book’s defender is a crime boss, but he economically explains crime. Here is an excerpt: “The CEO of the local grocery store died recently. After his death, the store still provides good and services. This is expected by buyers. When there is a news story about a captured illegal powerful drug dealer, there is an expectation the illegal drug supply will decline noticeably. My point is not managers are unimportant. That is why they are paid well. If managing a company was easy why is not anyone hired to do it? Management is hard. A good manager has to divide decision-making while remaining in control, maintain morale, know who to hire, who to fire, who to promote, monitor competition, and speculate about the future. My point is non-small businesses, are bigger than one person. They still work, despite the departure of the leader.”
I almost forgot (the book covered many topics) that near the beginning was a religious debate. Every argument I know for the existence of the supernatural, including God, was countered. Religion appears later in the text. I speculate the religion debate is more important than the author thought. A common justification for tyranny is a religious argument. I know there are religious libertarians (not seeking for an argument with you all), but by countering religious arguments, the author denies the validity of a past and present argument for power, especially government power.
There are many topics in the book I have not mentioned: beauty, human nature, lie detection, fictional future technology, humor, etcetera.
Without giving away too many details, the plot is the relationship between Vincent, a criminal apprentice, and Vice, a crime boss. Vincent’s apprenticeship is affected by his memory, the discussions/arguments, his physical choices (especially the ones made on a timer) and finally the choice of moral consistency or compassion for a friend, a moral dilemma.
I recommend this book to anyone. There are no bad words (f-word, n-word, the whole alphabet of bad words), although profanity is discussed. You likely will not need to google anything because the text explains itself sufficiently. There are some violent scenes that may be inappropriate for children, but nothing like a horror book that will make you fear going to bed at night.