My introduction with Austrian Economics came with Hoppe’s Democracy the God that failed, as back then I was a monarchist, and was looking for a coherent defence of monarchy - which Hoppe did offer - but I was blown away by the content of the book. Amazing stuff, but way above me at the time that I read it. Once I’m done with Callahan’s book I will be moving on to Menger’s Principles, and then Human Action or MES.
Kirznerian, thanks for the article on Reisman BTW; I can see now why one would want to leave Capitalism for later reading.
Thanks for the article on Reisman from me also. I’ve had the book now for a number of years but haven’t finished it yet. He also has a number of tapes that I have listened to many times, but I was not aware of exactly how he differs from the true Austrian theory. I still think he has a lot of excellent points to make. I disagree with his fundamental philosophy from Rand, but his econ is well thought out. Eventually I will finish his book, but as Kirzner points out, it’s very intimidating.
I began with “Economics in One Lesson” back in 1985 and haven’t looked back. It always amazes me that there are always more great books to read that I will probably never find the end of them. I’ve read HA and MES three times each and still am not tired of them. Each time I do, I find some insight I either forgot of missed the other times. I think it’s worth it to review them occasionally.
I stumbled upon Reisman when I didn’t know much about Austrian economics. I wasn’t really aware of Ayn Rand either. I knew she wrote Atlas Shrugged, but that’s it. Anyway, Reisman held her in such high regard (the suggested reading section) that I bought all her books. Haven’t read them yet, though.
Since Atlas Shrugged is such a huge tome, I’d recommend “We The Living” as a start on Rand. It paints a very realistic picture of what life must have been like under early Stalinism. In some ways, its a more devastating attack on collectivism than Atlas Shrugged, which is a bit far-fetched. Did she really think people would sit by a radio long enough to hear a speech that runs over a hundred pages in the book? Perhaps the best bits are that speech itself, and the hobo’s story told to the heroine on the train. I believe these sections are also found in “For the New Intellectual”.
A bit off topic, but personally I found Ms Rand’s Virtue of Selfishness to be her best nonfiction work. I haven’t read her fiction yet.