Yes it does. Cheers. [:)]
Kind of got caught up on some things last night. I’m going to compile a list of everything everyone posted here and than I will need some help ordering that list from beginner-advanced. Thanks guys!
I have a friend that I’ve been working on for years…
Last month I had him and his wife read Why Government Doesn’t Work by Harry Browne.
Solid conversion to Minarchism.
last week he read Chaos Theory by Robert Murphy.
He is now an Anarchist.
wow, that easy? Can you elaborate on the experience at all. Basically our project needs to be catered to accomplish what you did.
I was a liberal, three books specifically helped me get to an anarchocapitalism position I am in today
First I read a short book Economic is One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
That got me onto a more minarchist path, then I read a short article The Anatomy of the State by Murray Rothbard which really got me questioning why we need a state at all.
Then I read the Market for Liberty by Morris and Linda Tannehill, a short book which helped me explain how a anarchic society really could function practically. That was the final bullet that put death to any belief in the necessity of any state whatsoever. They were are relatively short, so I what recommend it for people who want to start out, idk, it helped me a lot.
Well like I said , I’ve been working on him for YEARS. It seems to me that no person with a brain can make a case for government being able to accomplish squat after reading Harry Browne’s book.
After that I think people simply (Ha!) have to fill in some of the gaps in their imagination and answer the what if’s. Who will provide service X? What would happen in situation A? That is why I asked him to read Chaos Theory. It is very short and provides a very basic map of how a free society might function.
Not sure how this would work with a mass audience, I’ll leave that up to you.
By the way, I think this is a great idea. Good luck.
Alright I think we have a good list. Now comes part 2. Organizing them from Beggining, Intermediate, Advanced. Here is what I have as a preliminary list.
If you haven’t done so yet you should read what we are trying to accomplish on this thread here.
That said I want to take the following list I will post below and attempt to filter them out to the most relevant reading list pertaining to a modern liberal. My concept was to find the books they will most relate to first and gradually tear down the walls over time. Here is the list you all provided for me in a rudimentarily organized by me. Let me know what needs to be changed/moved/removed/added. The list will act as a reading guide/lesson plan. I’d like to keep the books limited between 15-30 if possible so we can leave room for video’s and other types of media.
Introduction and Beggining
- Roderick T Long’s Seminars
- Animal Farm - Orwell
- Why Government Doesn’t Work -Harry Browne
- (Perhaps some literature specifically addressing extreme altruism and welfare concepts at a philosophical level, not necessarily at an economic level))
Intermediate
- Capitalism and Freedom - M. Friedman
- The Road To Serfdom -Hayek
- Economics in One Lesson -Hazlitt
- That which is seend, and that which is not seen -Bastiat
- Constitution of Liberty - Hayek
Advanced
- Fatal Conceit - Hayek
- Socialism -LVM
- Human Action -LVM
- Democracy: The God that Failed -HHH
- No Treason - Spooner
- What Has Gov’t Done To Our money - Rothbard
- Power and Market - Rorhbard
- For A New Liberty -Rothbard
- The State - Oppenhiemer
- Chaos Theory -Robert Murphy
- Lysander Spooner Let’s Abolish Government, Natural Law
- Ludwig von Mises Liberalism, Marxism Unmasked, Theory and History
- Defending the Undefendable - Walter Block
Other or Final
- Enterprise Of Law - Bruce L. Benson (Where should I place this?)
Obviously things need to be weighted out a bit. I don’t have many books in the beggining and have too many in advanced. I am reluctant to introducte something too radical however too soon as some folks may not understand Murphy’s “Chaos Theory” if they are still stuck on other beleifs.
Also most moder liberals seem to follow some type of philanthropist or altruistic ideology. I am wondering if we need to add some literature specifically addressing those issues early on so they can see that economic growth will not best be realized under such a concept.
In addition the Intermediate section may be split up into sub-categories. So we may want to categorize the literature out for what it will most specifically address. Specifically (History, Philosophy, Economics). If you have read any book on the above list I’d appreciate your recommendations on where a book should be placed and what category tag or tags it should have. Thanks!
Economics in One Lesson and Bastiat’s essay are both beginner level material - they are very easy to understand, all it takes is the willingness to read through them and consider the positions, and the lesson they teach is essential to distinguish economic truth from nonsense.
Also, I think these are intermediate, not advanced:
- No Treason - Spooner
- What Has Gov’t Done To Our money - Rothbard
Snow Crash, The Diamond Age and Cryptonomicon (all by Neal Stephenson) served as good introduction to libertarianism for me. They work especially well on people who are into Science Fiction. Also, The Cathedral And The Bazaar by Eric S. Raymond, although I should stress that this one will only work on people with a computer science background.