I've been digging deep in the many free books of Austro-libertarian literature here on the Mises website, and I was wondering if anyone could share their favorite collection of books from that library.
Also, the reason for this is that I really need to catch up on my Austro-libertarianism science studies, so I'm looking for reading material that some of the experts on here favor that I can find on this website.
So you're not looking for singular "books", just "collections"?
Whichever one. I just need some learning material. I don't want to be "ignorant of economics and voicing my opinions" to paraphrase someone popular here.
mises - socialism
nothing else you will ever need to know about actions of government.
What have you read?
You mean all of my Austro-libertarian readings in total?
Yup
Let's see here:
The Revolution: A Manifesto
Anatomy of the State
Organized Crime: The Unvarnished Truth About Government
The Rise and Fall of Society
How Privatized Banking Really Works
Pictures of the Socialistic Future
Let's Abolish Government
Economics and the Public Welfare
1. Lessons for the young economist
2. Economics in One Lesson
3. Human Action
4. Theory and History
5. Man, Economy, and State
If you're looking for a real economics crash course, anyway.
How was "Pictures of a Socialistic Future", anyway?
Quite hard to follow from what I recall, but it got it's message across to me that socialism is pure slavery.
And should I read them in that order?
And...Human Action is over 900 pages. *Does the Sign of the Cross*
Yep, and MES is 1500 pages if you include Power and Market :)
The fact is that if you want to really understand AE that's just about the only way to do it, and even then there's some important elaboration upon the business cycle and certain nuances which you won't understand unless you read Hayek, De Soto, and Bawerk. It's quite a complicated subject and I'm sorry to say that there's still really no intermediate works on the subject. Just a lot of advanced and beginner stuff. Don't read what you don't want to; reading the first two will give you a fairly good understanding of AE and Theory and History wouldn't be too big a stretch from that point.
Uh huh. And was that you who just sent me a question about a short story of mine?
Nah, it's that other guy named Neodoxy with the Alucard avatar
EDIT
1700th post
Oh. Well as I stated, I sent you an e-mail.
Bastiat Collection
Economics In One Lesson
Defending The Undefendable
Human Action (actually the size doesn't matter, parts 1-3 and 5-7 are some of the most fun reading I've ever had. Part 4 is a tough slog)
everything by Hoppe
This might be an unpopular proposal but I heavily discourage reading Human Action or MES if you are just starting up economics. I would recommend picking up Principles of Microeconomics by Mankiw (older editions are available cheap). He's by no means an Austrian, but he does a good job setting up the microeconomic framework. After you've read him you can go onto Human Action or MES. In fact I argue Human Action and MES become much more enjoyable once you realize the differences between them and the mainstream. That's just my opinion at least.
Wow really? I pretty much breezed through human action (with the exception of the chapter on money) and then as soon as I hit part six I had a lot of problems because I felt that the book got a lot more dense. Whenever Mises talked about taxes I wanted to tear my hair out.
Well Neodoxy, you stated that you started in this whole thing when you were 15 or something, so give us some background on how you joined up and got to where you are today.
^
You really want the full story?
@Mich
Hmm, I've never really heard that suggestion before. I agree that AE and ME complement one another, but I'm not so sure how one would interpret ME outside of an Austrian framework, while doing so inside an Austrian Framework is quite valuable.
HA is definitely "the Bible" of AE. However, I don't think you need to read the whole of HA to understand the basic concepts of Austrian Economics. In fact, I would like to see a compressed version of HA (roughly 150 pages) by someone like Bob Murphy... it would be a tremendous contribution. Of course such a book could not even begin to defend against all the objections and counter-arguments but if someone is new and already "open" to AE, they don't need to hear all the objections answered, they just need a brief and to-the-point overview.
If you read HA or MES, don't forget the study guides.
Clayton -
@ Neodoxy
Sí, señor Neodoxy.
@ Clayton
Study guides?
And I sort of thought the bible of AE was Menger's Principles of Economics.
http://mises.org/document/3810/Study-Guide-to-Human-Action
http://mises.org/document/3318/Study-Guide-to-Man-Economy-and-State
@Clayton & SM
For whatever it's worth there's this. It seems to be pretty good.
@SM
Alright kids put on your seatbelts were going for a quick trip into the past.
Well once upon a time a young orthodoxian male starts playing Bioshock. Around the same time his friend starts reading the fountainhead and he had to read Anthem for class. He is captivated by the ideas within the game and decides to read Atlas Shrugged. And sot he boy became a minarchist. As time goes on the boy becomes increasingly interested in libertarian ideas and finds the Mises Institute. The boy listens to a great deal of the material on the Mises website. The boy decides to become very educated on the subject of liberty. The boy reads For a New Liberty while around the same time listening to Stefan Molyneux. The boy becomes an anarcho-capitalist. Around the same time the boy joins the Mises forums.
As time goes on the boy expands his interests slightly. He starts reading more economics and philosophy. The boy reads Economics for Real people. Nothing happens. The boy gets his hands on Economics in One Lesson and Beyond Good and Evil. The boy becomes an Austrian. The boy becomes a moral subjectivist. The boy jumps into Human Action and is caught over his head. The boy has an incredibly hard time understanding the work and so he puts it to the side for a while. The boy reads Skousen's "The Making of Modern Economics" The year goes on, he starts reading again. It makes a lot more sense this time around. By the time the summer roles around the boy re-reads the entirety of Human Action in no time at all. The boy is, by this time, a bright, young, and attractive Neodox male.
The man goes on to read several other books; Theory and History, Man, Economy, and State, another book on economic history, and Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy are all eagerly read. Time passes and the man reads little else in the form of Austrian Economics, instead familiarizing himself with history, mainstream economics, current events, and some political theory. The summer comes and the man reads Power & Market, more history, re-reads much of Human Action, Theory and History, Man, Economy, and State, and reads some Hayek. The man is currently busy and immersed in a wide variety of projects both related to economics, political theory, a variety fiction, and history, all of which he should be working on, but instead he's usually too busy writing on a particular economics forum!
Further installments about our protagonist; the handsome, sexy, and talented Neodox male to be released!
"young Orthodoxian male"
What in god's name does that mean?
"The boy reads Economics for Real People. Nothing Happens."
Man, you really hate that book, don't you?
"The boy is, by this time, a bright, young, and attractive Neodox male."
I vomited blood and shat myself with diarrhea at this line.
""Further installments about our protagonist; the handsome, sexy, and talented Neodox male to be released!"
Okay, at this point, the diarrhea is explosive. Where the duce is my bleach bottle?
But nevertheless, cool story, thanks for sharing.
"What in god's name does that mean?"
A young man who believes in an orthodoxy
"Man, you really hate that book, don't you?"
It's a bad book and it made me think I undestood a lot more economics than I actually did.
"I vomited blood and shat myself with diarrhea at this line. Okay, at this point, the diarrhea is explosive. Where the duce is my bleach bottle?"
I'd go visit the doctor's office if I were you
My therapist already perscribed me seven bottles of FDA-approved Ritalin to combat my "extreme ADHD" as they call it, so everything's k.
But you still haven't e-mailed a response back to my short story.
MES is all you need bro.
I just started it too, chapter 2.
I havent been reading itmuch thats why with the slow progression.
Buy it, and when you get it we can study together.
“Since people are concerned that ‘X’ will not be provided, ‘X’ will naturally be provided by those who are concerned by its absence.""The sweetest of minds can harbor the harshest of men.”
http://voluntaryistreader.wordpress.org
How the heck would we do that?
While the choice is, of course, yours, I would advise against reading MES before Human Action unless you don't intend to read any other economic books for the foreseeable future. You're at the pretty easy stuff now but it'll get more complicated once you hit chapter 4 or 5.
Also, as for the original question of the thread: Read For a New Liberty. It's a great book and a great application of political and economic theory.
I see, thank you. And I did start to read the .pdf version of For a New Liberty, but I'm not sure what happened, I guess I just put it down and never really continued. But I'll start back up again soon.
And also, I just wrote an article on something I came up with called Austrian school film theory. I was hoping to get it on The Voluntaryist Reader, but I have absolutely no clue on how to do that.
Skeptical,
sign up for a forums account at mcb.boards.net
post a forum thread asking for them to send you an email. They will send you an email and you will have to make a wordpress account and become a contributor.
Then you will need to post your draft to the editorial section, (ant if you want) post it here for editing/feedback.
Then you may post on voluntaryist reader.
Dont forget to put a nice picture of your article.
The tale of the Sexy Libertarian
The boy is very bored. DUring summer school he visits the computer to watch random youtube video. Kid is a christian, and finds a website called carm.org. He gets interested in things such as philosophy, the meaning of life, etc, etc. The kid is very interested in the failures of the public education system, and buys the book called: < i forgot the title>. Kid watches various videos on youtube, <the RSA video, etc>, and documentaries on public education. One day on youtube, he stumbles on ron paul video. Watches more ron paul videos. The kid becomes a minarchist. Though a very ignorant one. Kid buys 2 books. 1 is a book containing a few works from Thomas Aquinas, and the other is Anatomy of the State, as the kid is also interested in the state. Kid reads the book, and gets interested. From then on, kid has not found mises institute yet, and nothing much happened. Kid has various conversations with another friend that is politically interested though not really a minarchist (hes more of a status quo person). He then thinks of a girl that is a socialist at his school, and wants to one day fight her in a debate. He remembers that Ludwig von mises logo on anatomy of the state, and goes on the mises forum at which then he posted this: http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/28953.aspx
that was his first step into turning into an anarchist.
He reads the various books listed in that thread. Meltdown, etc, etc. He eventually reads For a New Liberty and becomes more educated in his studies.
He reads the holy trinity: Econ in 1 lesson, For a new liberty, Lessons for the young economist, and various other books.
He buys man economy and the state, and legalizing capitalism by kel kelly. He is currently reading these 2 books.
The sexy, attractive, and strong man, is now 15 years of age.
His tales are still continuing...
@ Kelvin Silva
Okay, I guess this is my queue.
The progressive 13-year-old boy is in the car with his Dad going to the auto shop. Dad persuades boy to learn about the Republican candidates. When the boy gets home, he starts to Google random things about the candidates, hearing nothing but rhetoric about "999," and the like. Suddenly, a video with an old guy named Dr. Paul catches his eye. He clicks on it, listens to what he says. Finds out he's anti-war. Learns a bunch more stuff about him. Learns that the good 'ol USA is not the kick-ass nation that everyone is brought up to think it is. Becomes a small-government libertarian. Picks up The Revolution: A Manifesto. Reads it. Takes Paul's advice and goes on the Mises.org website, and starts to read the literature on there. Starts to follow YouTubers like Adam Kokesh and Peter Schiff. Becomes a member of the Mises forums. Becomes an anarcho-capitalist, now 14.
Oh and this boy is an agnostic, by the way. And I'm not going to be an arrogant ass by saying that I'm sexy.
Oh and Silva, thank you very much for the information.
HA is certainly the "orthodox" starting ground, at least the first few hundred pages. It has a study guide as well.
For a couple different starting points maybe Theory and History, or Individualism and the Economic Order? I'm half tempted to say Theory and History is a possible better start point.
I would also say (even though it isn't really AE) Capitalism Socialism and Democracy is a great classic read.
If you want to go crazy you could probably read Mengers Principles of Economics, but that would probably be a bit eccentric
For "simple" start points:
Economics in 1 Lesson.
I know neodoxy hates it, but a lot of people like Economics for Real People
"As in a kaleidoscope, the constellation of forces operating in the system as a whole is ever changing." - Ludwig Lachmann
"When A Man Dies A World Goes Out of Existence" - GLS Shackle
That was actually the second AE book I ever read (I'm pretty sure I read Economics in One Lesson before that).
But for the OP:
Gordon, Introduction to Economic Reasoning
Murphy, Lessons for the Young Economist
Focus on those two before going into MES and HA.
I was reading Mises - Ultimate foundation of economic science.
But then I started reading a book on the battery called Henry Schlesinger - How Portable Power Sparked a Technological Revolution. On top of that I have to study computer related topics so I find it difficult to make time for economics. I tend to more likely listen to a mises lecture than a carry on with my economic readings.
But I would recommend Henry Hazlitt’s - Economics in one lesson and I like Rothbard - The Ethics of Liberty.
MES is definitely a valuable read, especially the chapters on Production theory constituting the heart of the book. I find Rothbard a little bit pedantic on Value theory and methodology, though most of the first 200 pages I think may be a little boring for anyone who's read Human Action in depth first.
On the other hand, as an alternative you could try the following plan (in order):
Menger might seem an idiosyncratic choice, but I think it is one of the best introductions to the sine qua non economic reasoning. If you don't read all the footnotes it is a very quick read (many of them are not really relevant since they largely concern redundant academic controversies criticisms contemporary at the time). It is one of the most logically written books I've ever read, even inspite of the long sentences.
At the same time you should make yourself educated in mainstream economics. I have a dislike of most undergraduate textbooks, as I think Neoclassical economics is essentially a mathematical subject and should largely be approached in at least a somewhat mathematical way even at the beginning. I would use Jehle and Reny's Advanced Microeconomic Theory if I were you. If you're not at an adequate level in mathematics though, you may not want to try it. I would advise that you learn some however, instead of trying to "wing it" with subpar undergrad textbooks.
"When the King is far the people are happy." Chinese proverb
For Alexander Zinoviev and the free market there is a shared delight:
"Where there are problems there is life."
I'm going to need an 80s-style montage to do this.
But seriously, thanks for the info.
There is an acceptable reading list of history in the history section of the forums. If a topic peeks your curosity in that realm, then I can surely help you with some works.
'Men do not change, they unmask themselves' - Germaine de Stael