Books everyone should read

Duke Leonal Felmet

Valmont wrote: »

Duke Leonal Felmet wrote: »

Yes, everyone should read this homophobic, racist and bigoted tome. A fine read from the greatest minds of the bronze age.

I think you might glossing unnecessarily over the massive historical importance of the Bible. Just a smidge.

I never said it wasn't important. Doesn't mean it's not contemptible.

Duke Leonal Felmet

SupaNova wrote: »

Duke Leonal Felmet wrote: »

An old classic is 'Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy' by Schumpeter, who was an 'Austrian School' economist.

Also, for those enquirying about Friedman, 'The Road to Serfdom' by Hayek is worth a read, again a extreme libertarian.

Schumpeter although from Austria is not an 'Austrian School' economist.

No? The Mises Institute seem to adore him. I made the assumption. It's a flaky term anyway.

Valmont

Duke Leonal Felmet wrote: »

No? The Mises Institute seem to adore him. I made the assumption. It's a flaky term anyway.

Not really-Austrian economists write about Austrian economics. That's about it.

Duke Leonal Felmet

Valmont wrote: »

Duke Leonal Felmet wrote: »

No? The Mises Institute seem to adore him. I made the assumption. It's a flaky term anyway.

Not really-Austrian economists write about Austrian economics. That's about it.

Right. Because Austrian Economics is really unambiguously defined.

As good as 2+2=4.

I hold no hope of getting through. So I will leave you have the delusional last word.

LuckyLloyd

Suryavarman wrote: »

Finally I'll recommend the infamous Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. A survey once found that it was the most influential book behind the Bible. When it was first released it was widely panned by critics. A widely divisive book but one that I personally consider a masterpiece.

Valmont wrote: »

Great idea for a thread! I can think of a few I want to read already.

It's a work of fiction but also a philosophical treatise and a meditation on the real nature of the engines of progress: rational self-interest, individual rights, and a free economy.

I'm personally shocked that anyone who has read this would recommend it to others. It's such an acquired taste and, frankly, an absolute slog that I don't think it is the kind of thing that could be considered "essential".

I'd echo that to a lot of the books recommended here. Niche interests or the capacity to devour incredibly demanding works are no doubt excellent things - but they do not fit comfortably with a thread titled "Books everyone should read".

SupaNova

Duke Leonal Felmet wrote: »

No? The Mises Institute seem to adore him. I made the assumption. It's a flaky term anyway.

I really don't know how you got the impression the Mises Institute adores him, they give very little coverage to his work. I will agree the term is flaky though.

nesf

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

I'd echo that to a lot of the books recommended here. Niche interests or the capacity to devour incredibly demanding works are no doubt excellent things - but they do not fit comfortably with a thread titled "Books everyone should read".

Welcome to everyone having very biased views about the world, myself included.

alejandro1977

Robert Caro's Lyndon B Johnson Biographies are epic. Really enjoyable.

His biography of Robert Moses is also excellent; obviously these books aren't purely political but the JBJ books in particular are just so enjoyable - a real social history as well as a study of a great character.

Conrad Black's biographies (of Nixon and FDR) are worthy, but by comparison rather boring (they are so long it's a struggle at times).

Duke Leonal Felmet

SupaNova wrote: »

Duke Leonal Felmet wrote: »

No? The Mises Institute seem to adore him. I made the assumption. It's a flaky term anyway.

I really don't know how you got the impression the Mises Institute adores him, they give very little coverage to his work. I will agree the term is flaky though.

I dunno, I thought I spotted him in there a lot when I was in Uni. I don't go there much now. It is possible that I confused his birthplace with his writings. Anyway, an interesting read, nonetheless. Very esoteric type economics, way ahead of his time on things like the economics of innovation.

LuckyLloyd

Read this and you'll understand the underpinnings of the financial crises and the world's current economic malaise. Easy to read, boils down some very complex ideas and events into a very palatable (and enjoyable) bite sized chunk.



Read this and you'll understand why America is a very different place in terms of its politics. It is seven years old now, and the conservative landscape has definitely moved on some, but it serves as a very good introduction.



Read this and you'll have a window into the realities of a low skilled / low wage existence outside of the EU.



Read this and - aside from finding the author to be incredibly arrogant and obnoxious - you'll look at most everything from a different perspective and be able to pick holes in well worn cliches and truisms.

nesf wrote: »

Welcome to everyone having very biased views about the world, myself included.

That is, of course, true. Everyone should always know that no matter what you read, you can probably find a book or series of arguments that contend the opposite to every line. Got to keep your head on the swivel so to speak.

There are many excellent books also recommended in this thread, but many probably require prior knowledge, education or a certain disposition to be properly taken on board.

Laminations

Expert Political Judgement by Philip Tetlock

Hopefully when you do read it -a book actually based on the collection of evidence over a 20year period- you'll step back from boards politics and stop wasting your time with self-deluded, self-obsessed posters who are in love with their pet ideology (or as nesf more nicely puts it, are biased). Banging your head off their hedgehog spines quickly loses it's appeal... I mean to seriously call someone's philosophical and ideological musings 'non-fiction' is as legitimate a recommendation as Gene Roddenberrys Star Trek and the utopia he envisioned. Read books based on experimentation and evidence not just on opinion and ideology.

From Tetlocks evidence it is fact that people generally make ****ty judgements about future political and economic trends, ideologically driven and biased people even moreso. Boards politics isn't a place for foxes.

Permabear

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nesf

Laminations wrote: »

From Tetlocks evidence it is fact that people generally make ****ty judgements about future political and economic trends, ideologically driven and biased people even moreso. Boards politics isn't a place for foxes.

The evidence I've seen is that experts tend to be slightly better than ordinary people at calling the future but they are still wrong most of the time. Tim Hardford's latest book I think has a section on this.

As to the latter point. Well two things, one this is a general interest site so one expects there to be plenty of not hugely informed ordinary people on this forum and not just political geeks. The second is that many of the long timers here are here because they enjoy chatting about this stuff. They avoid the unwinnable debates and don't take things too much to heart.

My idea behind this thread is that people can come on, see a poster whose posts they enjoy and get an idea of what kind of books that person recommends. It's of course going to be biased and ideological but I hope people reading this thread will be smart enough to figure this stuff out for themselves from reading this forum.

nesf

I suppose I should give a proper list of books I'd recommend:

Anything by Tim Hardford. Learn about economics in a fun and relaxed way and see how it can explain quite ordinary behaviour. There's a lot more to it than just big macro-economic forecasts.

Steven Pinker's "The Blank Slate" and "The Stuff of Thought", both do away with some myths about human nature and how we think.

Reinventing the Bazaar - A Natural History of Markets is another I'd go for. An excellent and simple explanation of markets big and small, how they work, why they work and where they're a bad idea.

The Red Queen - Sex and the evolution of Human Nature. Essential reading for understanding why we are the way we are which is key to many political positions.

Guns, Germs and Steel, not everyone's cup of tea but a good read nonetheless. It investigates why the West is on top and everyone else on the bottom in an interesting way.

The Wisdom of Crowds. To be read very carefully. He shows where crowd thinking works very well but you must pay attention to where he shows it doesn't work. It'll make you radically rethink how good an idea democracy really is (though there isn't a better model out there for a nation).

Empire - How Britain Made the Modern World, a controversial one this one but a nice antidote to the traditional anti-British Empire stuff you're taught from the cradle. Plenty to disagree with here but "Whatever did the Brits ever do for us?" etc. (The idea here being to have a more balanced view of Britain rather than the rar, rar 800 years of OPPRESSION!!11! kind of view)


I'll think of more later maybe.

LuckyLloyd

Permabear wrote: »

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Eh, wow. I'll resist commenting on that.

Suryavarman

Permabear wrote: »

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It could be considered demanding in so far as it is a very long book. John Galt's speech could also be considered quite demanding as well, it's not often that you would find a 70 page speech in a book

coffee_cake

Suryavarman wrote: »

It could be considered demanding in so far as it is a very long book. John Galt's speech could also be considered quite demanding as well, it's not often that you would find a 70 page speech in a book

and i thought terry goodkind was bad for that

Ostrom

Duke Leonal Felmet wrote: »

No? The Mises Institute seem to adore him. I made the assumption. It's a flaky term anyway.

Schumpeter's position is a bit difficult to pin down. I would place him as essential reading (along with any of Joan Robinson's papers of the time) due to the balanced nature of his critique. He neither rejected Marx outright on methodological grounds as with the neoclassicals, nor outright endorsed the liberalism of others such as Von Mises or Hayek; although ultimately his prognosis for the future of capitalism (in c,s & d) was pessimistic.

I think the reason he is categorised as such is because those divisions were considered relatively clear-cut at his time of writing, whereas his commentary endorses much of Marx's method, yet emphasises the necessity of preserving space for entrepreneurialism, creativity etc.

For these reasons, he is an essential read.

oscarBravo

Permabear wrote: »

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Having read Atlas Shrugged twice and failed miserably both times to finish John Galt's monologue, I'll echo the sentiment that it can be hard work. I don't find it a particularly compelling exposition of a political philosophy, to be honest.

Neal Stephenson: The System of the World

Out of curiosity, why pick that book in isolation? It doesn't work outside of the Baroque Cycle as a whole (which I love to bits).

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Read this and - aside from finding the author to be incredibly arrogant and obnoxious - you'll look at most everything from a different perspective and be able to pick holes in well worn cliches and truisms.

I've read his Black Swan - I didn't find him arrogant or obnoxious at all; I really enjoyed the book.


All The Devils Are Here by Joe Nocera and Bethany McLean is a book I recommend frequently to anyone who wants to understand the current financial crisis all the way back to its roots several decades ago.

nuac

Re economics and politics - very interesting lists. Congrats to all on your erudition. Have some of those tomes, but little time to study them

I remember articles by George Schwarz in the Sunday Times in late fifties - very readable and clear exposition of economic theories. Apart from some of Garret Fitzgeralds articles never came across anything so good..

Regarding some suggestions above I agree re Schumpeter and Galbraith.

Would iinclude Richard Douthwaite ( sadly just died _) always very readable - a modest friendly man and he actually tried to put theory into practice e.g. LETS scheme in Westport..

Thucydides - read him in UCG, but regarded it as history rather than politics.

The Bible, of course. Have several English editions, and Latin, Greek and German versions. Going to throw out the German version, which cost me all of two euro off a barrow in Berlin. Some guy called Martin Luther has scrawled his name all over the title page, and the typeface is really old fashioned..

Mein Kampf (AH) - a rant

My library is all over the place currently in boxes be cause of some building work, but have biographies on many politicians, plus a lot of history ( social, naval, military, land war, struggle for independencl, exploration)

I find Michener's novels re various parts of the US very interesting - giving a picture of how the US developed.

Proud to say that over the years I have bought more books than I can get around to reading. Children threatening a cull ( of books, not kids )

Permabear

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oscarBravo

Permabear wrote: »

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I'd argue that the collectivist characters are portrayed as untermenschen. The overdone contrast between them and Galt (and even Taggart and Rearden) gave the book an almost cartoonish quality for my taste.

I will confess that the story is pretty compelling, I had more than a few late nights reading it.

nesf

Another one: The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies choose bad policies. Controversial, a bit heavy but fascinating.

MagicMarker

nesf wrote: »

Another one: The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies choose bad policies. Controversial, a bit heavy but fascinating.

lol, the cover speaks a thousand words.

nesf

MagicMarker wrote: »

lol, the cover speaks a thousand words.

Yeah, it basically deals with how people for some reason hold firmly to beliefs that are totally at odds with reality. Like that we're worse off now than we were in the past generally (untrue), free trade is bad, protectionism is good (untrue) and so on.

Manach

nesf wrote: »

Like that we're worse off now than we were in the past generally (untrue).

In terms of technology, social freedom or in general?

nesf

Manach wrote: »

In terms of technology, social freedom or in general?

Health, material wealth and general safety and security.

Permabear

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Suryavarman

nesf wrote: »

Another one: The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies choose bad policies. Controversial, a bit heavy but fascinating.

Good to hear, I have it on my to do list after I finish the Road to Serfdom!

snafuk35

anymore wrote: »

The Bible - self explanatory,

The passage in the Bible where Solomon assumed the throne and knocked off all of King David's enemies inspired the christening scene in The Godfather. It's actually quite entertaining.

This book is the best political book I have read in years: