What is the most inspirational/greatest book that you have ever read? Yes we know Human Action and Man, Economy, State are great books so let’s try to stay away from them as answers.
Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis
off the top of my head and not counting plays or non-epic poems: The Iliad, Theogony, Ovid’s Metamorphisis, Notes from Underground, The Trial, The Ego and His Own, Beyond Good and Evil, The Anarchists, The Gospel of John, Frankenstein, Eugene Onegin, Candide, A Seperate Peace, Animal Farm, and Sons and Lovers all had some lasting effect on me. There are probably more that I shouldn’t leave out, but tht list seems long enough.
Tolstoy’s War and Peace, by a long shot.
Carl Sagan’s Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candlestick in the Dark
Yes, I know he was a statist, but this book is not about politics. Instead it is about employing the scientific method as a tool for debunking various pseudo-sciences – a good intro to logic. At any rate, it represents a watershed event on my long road towards anarco-capitalism and that is why I recommend it.
Human Action and Man, Economy, State with P&M [:D]
Ok, I jest… it’s actually:
Main Currents of Marxism: Volume I - The Founders by Leszek Kolakowski ..[H]
Most Inspirational?
Green Eggs and Ham - Dr. Seuss (for it’s discoveries in linguistics) or… Where’s Spot? (because of it’s focus on epistemology)
Greatest book ever?
Helicopter Ben’s - Principles of Economics. It was truly mind blowing… I might be biased though, considering the book came with this super neat action figurine.
That book was also key to my intellectual development. But, currently, I’d have to say the best book I’ve read is The Sovereign Individual, written by James Dale Davidson and Lord Rees Mogg.
The greatest book on economics that I have ever read is Jesús Huerta de Soto’s Money, Bank Credit and Economic Cycles, but that is the only major theoretical work of a major Austrian economists that I’ve read (I’ve read parts of Human Action, but haven’t completed it). I have also read parts of the LvMI’s edition of Prices & Production (I have read Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle and The Paradox of Savings); I have put the book down temporarily in order to read Atlas Shrugged. Hayek’s book is fundamental, but it doesn’t match Huerta de Soto’s book in clarity. The best “Austrian” book I have read to date is Rothbard’s An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought (I previously read America’s Great Depression, and although I liked the statistical value of the book, I was not impressed by the writing [although, I’m not one to judge]; after reading Rothbard’s work on economic thought I fell in love with his writing).
Literature wise, I don’t really remember what I’ve read. I hate to say it, but I liked The Jungle. I don’t agree with the message its trying to send, but I liked it as a good story. 1984 is also one of my favorite novels.
Did the first chapter on the origins of dialectical thinking blow your mind? It did for me. I basically didn’t understand anything he said about Kant.
I’ll have to check that out.
That is a great economics book and inspiring too because it is sooooooo systematically thorough!
What do you mean?
Maybe state the answer for yourself so we can see what are you asking about?
Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche, The Ego and its Own by Max Stirner, and No Treason by Lysander Spooner.
You ask the impossible. Man, Economy, State does what state math textbooks fail to do.
Is this a cleaver ruse to get me to say my answer? Just what is your favorite book you’ve read that had a great impact on you?
General science books: “Quantum”- A guide for the perplexed/ Jim Al-Khalili. It changed my life.
A book written for general audiences on the world of quantum mechanics. It explains complicated topics of the dark science (wavefunctions, non-locality, entanglement,… ect) creatively along with beautiful and intelligent pictures. After reading the book, I changed my graduate degree program from molecular biology to theoretical chemistry/applied chemical physics. I had to take a plethora of physics, mathematics, and chemistry courses before I was admitted into the program. It literally took 2 1/2 years of undergraduate pre-reqs to satisfy graduate school requirements (including Real Analysis, Complex Variables, and the hardest of all maths… Group Theory & Differential Geometry). I’ve never had to study so hard ever in my life, but I’ve never truly enjoyed learning as much as I do now.
Others: A brief history of time(Stephen Hawkings), The Black Hole War(Leonard Susskind)
Economics: Very new to the subject: “Economics in 1 Lesson”-Henry Hazlitt.
Libertarian Philosophy: I must choose the book that catalyzed my thirst for libertarian philosophy. Yes, it’s by Ron Paul (The Manifesto).
Economics: Economics in One Lesson by Hazlitt
Life: Compassion and Self Hate by T.I. Rubin
Clear Thinking: Art of Clear Thinking by R. Flesch
Joy of Being Alive: all the Jeeves books by P.G. Wodehouse
After trudging through 12 years of the public school system and becoming totally uninterested/put-off by reading, I can’t say I’ve read any “amazing” books. Of course, most of my favorites are the ones I’ve read on my own (which was the ever-increasingly high number zero until 11th grade). I wouldn’t count these as the “greatest” but they are my favorites:
– The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
– 1984 by George Orwell
– Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott (I remember very little of this book since I read it in 8th grade, but I know I loved the story. Maybe I’ll try to find it on audiobook.)
– Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand (it’s a play, not a novel or book, but I still like it and regard it as one of my favorite pieces of writing)
– The Wall by Jean-Paul Sartre
Most of those are pretty generic, but as I said, before 11th grade I would only read books IN school, FOR school.
I’m reading Economics on One Lesson right now and it’s turning out very well. I’ll probably add it to my favorites once I finish.
Edit - The Revolution: A Manifesto is also a great book, but I think the fact that I picked it up after my mind had already opened up to the topics Ron Paul talked about made its affect less significant. Still, I recommend it to anyone who is new to/interested in libertarianism.
Man, this question is too hard. It seems like every time I read Mises/Hayek I get chills and waves of euphoria.
I really liked Anthem and The Fountainhead. For A New Liberty and Egalitarianism As A Revolt Against Nature and Other Essays helped shape my thought. I can’t really say much. I don’t have many books. I mainly read everything online. I have a lot of stuff in PDF format, but reading PDF files gets annoying really fast, and I end up not finishing whatever I was reading.
Something far from economics or politics, I really liked Hermetic Magic: The Postmodern Magical Papyrus of Abaris by Stephen Flowers. Opened me up into ancient beliefs and paganism. He got me into more esoteric stuff.