Good Reads

“Men read by way of revenge.” – Thomas Paine

My Recommendations:

• The Road to Serfdom, F.A. Hayek
  • Hayek explains how Nazi Germany happened, and it is not as most assume.  This book is a warning for all social planners.
• I and Thou, Martin Buber
  • Deeply simple, Buber’s philosophical signature is a triumph of empathy and compassion.
• Common Sense, Thomas Paine
  • The booklet that made America.
• Rights of Man, Thomas Paine
  • Perhaps reason’s greatest manifestation against tyranny.
• 1984, George Orwell
  • No one should get out of high shool without reading this book.  Frighteningly starting to come true, just a few decades later than Orwell anticipated.
• Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
  • “Who is John Galt?”  Rand teaches us that the ”human element” of corporation is self-destructive, bringing to mind different issues at different times, i.e., carbon credits today.
• Animal Farm, George Orwell
  • This allegory clarifies the appeal of socialism, revealing it as totalitarian.
• Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, Harold Bloom
  • What are we without Shakespeare?  I hope we never learn.
• Illusions, Richard Bach
  • This book is a reset button.  When life seems too much to handle, read this to refresh your perspective.
• A History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell
  • Explores history’s why.
• The Myth of the Robber Barons, Burton Folsom
  • A fresh look at the supposedly evil capitalistic emperors of American history.
• Human Action, Ludwig von Mises
  • The big book of how the market actually works on a human level.
• Blowback, Chalmers Johnson
  • Explains how foreign interventionism builds hatred toward the U.S.
• Walden, H. David Thoreau
  • Learn what it means to live deliberately.
• All the Shah’s Men, Stephen Kinzer
  • The politically incorrect (but true) history of U.S. – Iranian relations.
• The Creature from Jekyll Island, G. Edward Griffin
  • On the curious founding of the Federal Reserve.
• The End of America, Naomi Wolf
  • Ten steps to closing down an open society.  This is compelling and frightening.
• The Law, Frederic Bastiat
• The classic blueprint for a just society
• The Discovery of Freedom, Rose Wilder Lane
• A look at history as the story of mankind’s struggle against authority