I really haven’t tackled Mises, other then reading some of his collections (I read “Planning for Freedom” many years back, and a few others).
I have been getting most of his books. But am at a quandry of what to tackle. Obviously some of his works can be tackled at any time, such as his collections of articles (Planning for Freedom, Economic Policy, Economic Freedom, etc).
So, any recommendations on what to read? Any order for any books?
Ie, are certain books better to tackle for someone starting out reading Mises? Any that can be read at any time? Should certain works be read before or after others (ie, work X builds off of what was in work Y, so read Y before X).
If you’ve read Man, Economy, State then I’d suggest you go straight into Human Action. I haven’t read any other books by Mises yet, so I couldn’t recommend any.
Theory and History is just a wonderful book in itself especially if you are a historian. Its kind of iffy on the ethical evaluation portion but that is just because I’m a Rothbardian. However, he is very solid on projecting the ideal type for a historian.
Really??? I had gotten the impression from other comments that some of those works would be read in a different order (ie, work X builds/improves on work Y, so read Y first).
Are those in order of reading preference as well?
Thanks.
By this I guess is other works can be read in any order?
In that case, I would read X first. For example, in Human Action, the monetary theory portion is more mature than Theory of Money and Credit, the economic calculation portion is more mature than Socialism, and the methodology portions are more mature than Epistemological Problems in Economics. So, I would read Human Action first to get the theory at its soundest, and then, if I had time, read the earlier books to see the evolution of his thought, and also perhaps pick up interesting nuggets of theory that didn’t make the cut into Human Action for reasons of space.
The only reason to read in the opposite order would be if you were approaching his work as an antiquarian, rather than as a student of economics/philosophy.
But, again read Theory and History first. Regarding methodology, it is even more mature and complete than Human Action. And you should get your methodological lens crystal clear before you dive into economics proper.
(And you should get both methodology AND economic fundamentals squared away before you dive into thymology and history, which is why you should read Human Action before Omnipotent Government; Nation, Economy, State; etc.
I can highly recommend reading Socialism and Liberalism.
Mises demolishes socialism and shows his conception of liberalism. It is inspiring and give you insight in to his thought. Rothbard of course was an anarchist and disgrees with certain parts of liberalism. Anyway I thought they were both amazing and good education for anyone.
You should read his essay on the economic calculation problem too.
I read part of Omnipotent Government.
I believe Nation State and Economy was one of the first things I read http://mises.org/pdf/NSE.pdf
It is an interesting history book to be sure.
I have the same question myself. I bought Epistemological Problems of Economics as a present for myself, but I wonder if I should’ve bought On the Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science.
The first four are just my reading preference for his best works. You don’t have to agree with me. I would read Socialism first because it is the most practical for every day life. Meaning, it will immediately give you the intellectual ammunition to understand what is wrong with all types of Socialism, and the arguments against them. It does a very good job at getting you up to speed with why Austrians oppose economic interventionism.
Even though Theory and History came out after Human Action, I feel that it does a great job of expanding on the epistemological first part of HA, and makes it easier to understand when you get to it. So it would help to read it before HA. Plus, it’s short and very well written. I would read TMC after HA so you can see the evolution of Mises’ thought on money.
The other four, and really, any other works by Mises, can be read in any order at any time. It really depends on your interests. For instance, I am more interested in epistemology than economics, so I tend to prefer reading his epistemological works over his other stuff. Find out what interests you, pick up a book, and read!
I started off with smaller works like Profit & Loss and other published essays. You can always read his books online to see what strikes your attention first incase you can’t just dive right into his material. His best known works would be the best to get into.