I’ve come into a bit of cash and really wanna spend it on some meaningful reads, but I’m stumped as to what to get. I’d be interested in anything regarding liberty, free market economics or Austrian Economics in general. All opinions welcome.
Since your topic title says, “Which books would YOU get right now?”, here’s what I personally would do.
I don’t need more convincing on the merits of free market. I am already convinced enough on non-intervention, having read enough economics books with enough examples and enough explanations. I already read enough articles here on mises.org on recent contemporary issues of government intervention and their effects.
Pick up books of libertarian philosophy instead. Those are lighter, more interesting, and more fun and entertainment than the typical book on economics (although there are plenty of entertainment-oriented economics books like Economics In One Lesson).
For this I’d suggest Two Treatises of Government by John Locke or Isaiah Berlin’s writings.
I have a list of books not available on the internet or in the library that I plan on getting once I get some more money. Most wouldn’t interest you but the three that might are called JFK and the Unspeakable, Family of Secrets and The Affirmative Action Empire.
Thanks for the suggestions so far. I’d be also be interested in books about free trade, the WTO and foreign aid etc. if anyone has some good ideas about related titles.
Me personally? If I hadn’t read them I would be sure to get
The Bastiat collection
For a New liberty
Man, Economy, and State
And then probably pick up one of Hayek’s books or two.
Also if you haven’t already I think it would be way better to get a hard copy of human action because taking notes and highlighting would have helped me out to no end with that thing.
Capitalism and the Historian
Libertarian Forum
Omnipotent Government
For Foreign Aid :
The White Mans Burden (my personal fav)
The Elaborate Quest For Growth
The Blue Sweater (more of a bio/micro finance)
Books topping my wishlist at the moment:
Ethics of Money Production (Hülsmann)
The Myth of National Defense (Ed. Hoppe)
Bastiat Collection
The Rise and Decline of the State (Creveld)
Thanks for all the suggestions. I’ve gone through the Mises store and settled on the following:
Omnipotent Government: The Rise of Total State and Total War
Economics for Real People
Requiem for Marx
Meltdown
The Mystery of Banking
And all that conveniently comes in at $79 [8-|]
I should add that I have an extended wishlist now thanks to this thread. I’ve included Against Leviathan and Democracy: The God that Failed to the list as well. [Y]
I see that you have Picard’s syndrome. [:P] I won’t try hooking you up with a .pdf of the last remaining work on your list then.
It’s not so much that I dislike ebooks as it is that I have figured out no good way to consume them. Reading them on a computer screen is a prescription for an eyesore. I do have a laser printer, and I could print out all 1000 pages of the Bastiat Collection, but having a thousand sheets of A4 paper in a binder isn’t as aesthetically pleasing as having two bound, hardback books on my shelf. But I’m not against the notion at all. In fact, I am saving up a bit of cash to get this come April. I have amassed quite an insane amount of books in pdf and epub format that I just can’t read on a conventional screen, but I’m hoping these newfangled “epaper” displays will allow me to enjoy many of these works without searing my eyes. But I don’t think any electronic device could ever replace the experience of flipping through the pages of a real book for me. I’m too much of an ink-and-paper fetishist for that.
Highlighting? You put marks in your books? shivers
(I’d mark up the e-copy, but real books? Never!)
You don’t?!
A buddy of mine just got me interested in The Fourth Turning.
Going to have to go out and get that soon, me thinks.
Is this a common practice? I know I don’t. All of my books are pristine. All the marks are up here points to head I’ve always seen highlighting as the reading equivalent of memorizing witty one-liners heard on the telly. It always struck me as something that public schools inculcated into the students as a means of getting them to memorize the “right” answers without regard to understanding and context. Why would you need to highlight the “important parts” unless you had not thoroughly understood what was being discussed in the reading? Why not make the extra effort and make sure that the points are 100% clear in your mind before continuing on? That way, you will have what is (as close as possible) an almost 1:1 copy of the author’s idea in your own mind, ready to be applied elsewhere if need be because you have actually gained understanding and have not just memorized a well-worded sentence.
casually steps off of high horse
My girlfriend commented that my books look like they’ve never been read. Sometimes I won’t even open up the book all the way (so it’s 180 degrees, at the most it’s 125). I take the best care of my books. I won’t let people borrow them either. I act as if it’s blasphemy to ruin it in anyway.
As for what books pertaining to economics/politics I’d like to own next:
Bastiat Collection
Meltdown
The Failure of New Economics
Socialism
Human Action (glad I waited for the new cover)
Well I see it as since I am building my personal library, I will be the last owner of these books. Highlighting is a good way to recall main points of a book/chapter. Something that will refresh impressions.
I plan to have a library in my house (when I own a house) and all my books will be in there for my children and grandchildren. I also plan to own a good amount of land and have a secret room filled with guns and gold bricks, so how much of this plan goes fulfilled is unknown.
That’s just crazy! Gold bricks? Coinage is more portable![:P]