Unless otherwise noted, this is a list of books I am reading or have read and I think worth-while (though I may not agree with all their points)
readings
The Road to Serfdom (in cartoons)
Hayek’s central thesis is that all forms of collectivism lead logically and inevitably to tyranny, and he used the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany as examples of countries which had gone down “the road to serfdom” and reached tyranny. Hayek argued that within a centrally planned economic system, the distribution and allocation of all resources and goods would devolve onto a small group, which would be incapable of processing all the information pertinent to the appropriate distribution of the resources and goods at the central planners’ disposal.
external link: The Road to Serfdom (condensed version) 796k download
Common Sense by Thomas Paine
Common Sense had a significant influence on persuading the early North American colonists to declare independence from England the mother country.
In the first 4 pages Paine gives an sublime explanation on the origins of government, which I have reproduced below:
Common Sense
Addressed to the
Inhabitants of America
Man knows no Master save creating Heaven,
Or those whom Choice and common Good ordain.
Thomson.
February 14, 1776
INTRODUCTION
Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet sufficiently
fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong,
gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable…
Marx in 90 mins
If you understand any of my views you will know I oppose compulsory collectivism, yet still I think it's important to try to understand other's views.
This book is about Karl Marx, an essential figure in early Communism, co-author of the Communist Manifesto with Engels.
One of the first things I learned was that Marx sponged off Engels, who in turn got his wealth from capitalism. It sounds a little like socialism today - it denounces free trade, yet starves without it.
I think he has a point about the poverty of the working class - something that I believe comes from lack of equality before the law - different laws for different socio-economic levels. IE in those days if a poor irishman…
