I just finished The Road to Serfdom, I have to now decide which of these two books I’m going to read next: Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money or Mises’ Human Action. Any suggestions as to which one I should read first??
Obviously it depends on how long and challenging of a book you are up for. The Money book is really short.
Enjoyable reading. So far, every essay has been about how the government lowers the quality of life (e.g. toilets, shower heads). I downloaded it to my phone.
Finished reading: Jeffrey Tucker’s “Bourbon For Breakfast.”
Currently reading: Stephen Hawking’s “The Grand Design”
Planning to read: Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s “Democracy: The God That Failed.”
Wow, bold praise. I don’t see it mentioned very often, so I didn’t think it was a huge deal; still, as I seem to lean towards Misesian utilitarianism, I’ve had my eye on it for a while now. Eager as I am to get TMS under my belt, I will read Hazlitt first.
I really liked Jeffrey Tuckers Book. I think it’s amazing how the most common and seemingly insignificant aspects of life can be analyzed through an Ancap perspective. Plus Jeff is a pretty nice guy in person so the book is double good in my view.
keith richard’s life
when i’m not reading selgin’s theory of free banking.
Well, as wonderful as they are, most present day prominent Misesians (God bless 'em), due to Rothbard’s influence, subscribe to natural rights/natural law doctrine (either that or argumentation ethics), so you wouldn’t expect them to cite it often.
Economics in One Lesson. Then I’m taking a break from an-cap to read Child of God by Cormac McCarthy. He’s one of my favorite authors, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.
still, as I seem to lean towards Misesian utilitarianism
on a nitpick: Despite what Mises may have claimed I don’t think he is technically a utilitarian, though he is a consequentialist (the two terms are often confused.)
He was. He just wasn’t a Benthamite deontological “act” utilitarian (what Hazlitt refers to as “ad hoc utilitarianism”). He was an individualist, consequentialist, “rule” utilitarian.
Just ordered Hoppe’s Democracy the God that Failed, I can’t wait =)
“The Google way: How One Company Is Revolutionizing Management As We Know It” by Bernard Girard, which is nice although I enjoyed far more David Thielen’s “The 12 simple secrets of Microsoft management”. As soon as I’m done I want to pick up something on organized crime. If you need some streamlined management tips, that’s the lace to look.
Just got a $25 BN.com gift card from my sister, so I’ll be reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Simarillion on my Nook soon! Now I have to figure out what to spend the remaining $15 on…
^^ Any specific genre on your mind?
Not really. I just need to plumb my brain for mental notes on non-free books I’ve been meaning to read.
Re-reading Plato’s republic with specific reference to his educational ideas.
I’m not a Misesian utilitarian per se - I do think the concept of a ‘natural law’ is a valid concept, although I consider 'The Ethics of Liberty’s relationship to political philosophy as ‘economics in one lesson’ is to economics - but I don’t think Hazlitt makes the typical rule utilitarian mistake of saying that there can be no science of ‘ought’. There can be and he makes a damn good case for it. Weakest chapters in the book are, imo, however ‘the ethics of capitalism’ and ‘the ethics of socialism’.
I’m currently reading - Justice and its Surroundings by Anthony de Jasay, and rereading Human Action. For anyone else that has read Justice and its Surroundings what do you make of Chapter 5 (the very short chapter). Unless I’ve read it wrongly it seems a little incongruous, and quite statist.
I’m also reading a fascinating fiction book called Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde. It’s a vision of a future dystopia in which society is organised and formed into a hierarchy by the citizen’s colour perception. I’m not very far through it so I don’t want to make a judgement yet.
Poke min in a private message if I don’t get back to you on this in 24 hours.