- Thread starter Texgal_338
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Hume has a lot of good things to say, and unlike many others, he does not try to be difficult to understand, but his writing is awful to read. Smith was a very good writer, and some people still see it as economics, but it really is more political philosophy, since much of what he said has been superseded with better knowledge. It is like reading Xenophon on Economics. Neat, but a bit outdated. I know this is sacrilege, but reading some of the stuff that influenced the founding fathers is interesting, but it shouldn't be seen as biblical truth. A lot of knowledge has been gained since then, a lot of questions filled in.
That said, I would recommend everybody to read every foundational book they can get their hands on, from the Bible and the Iliad, which are really the dual foundations of Western culture, through everything else. Nobody wants you to read them these days, so it makes sense to get cracking. I think focusing too much on the founding period, while interesting from an American point of view, gives you a good idea of what people in that period thought of Plato, Cicero, Augustine etc, but it doesn't give you the chance to know what you think of them.
Any thoughts on Contending Economic Theories: Neoclassical, Keynesian, and Marxian? Pretty decent one stop shop for an overview of things imo.
good suggestion
i would suggest to those that find that a bit daunting might read the Riverworld series.
I've never read it, but I would generally shy away from anybody who actually thinks Marxism is an economic theory to be taken seriously.
ETA: I don't mean that snarkily, but seriously. Even Keynesianism is so far removed from the low brow analysis that dominated the WW2-Carter USA. I think it is worth understanding, but as reference. Marxism, though, is barely taken seriously outside of English and Gender Studies departments. I know everybody here thinks Dems are commies, but there is precious little Marxist about them. I do think there are a lot of popular misconceptions that people, even conservatives, have that happen to be Marxist in origin, like the idea that pay is related to labor value, or how many hours of hard work something takes, but I don't think they got that in econ class. I think they probably got it in Comparative Genital Analysis, or some such.
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Great series of books, read them in my teens. One thing that stuck with me in later life was just how amazing some people are, namely Sir Richard Francis Burton. Have several biographies and many of his books including a complete seventeen volume set of "The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night", 2nd printing from 1886.good suggestion
i would suggest to those that find that a bit daunting might read the Riverworld series.
Even the story on how these volumes were printed and sold then is interesting. They books say printed in Benares, India but were actually printed in England but only for members of the Kama Shastra Society by subscription. It was the only way around the Victorian Obscenity laws in place at the time. He and the printer risked prison to produce them.
Most of the complete dumbasses I've met have the highest levels of academic education.
An academic education doesn't make a person smart.
Same thing with a lack of formal education. It doesn't automatically make a person dumb or even ignorant.
In fact, my experience has shown that some of the most INTELLIGENT people on the planet have very little to zero Academic education.
And not to leave out the other group, they are the intelligent ones that also have a great education and use it to make the world a better place instead of trying to tear a great society apart.
It felt like it was there as a way to highlight some of the common threads in how you might think about economics, but it was also the least grounded for obvious reasons. Everyone loves a comparison in 3s.
my buddy's wife has a masters from ucla.
we stop at a gas station on the way to the lake havasu and she decides to buy mike a big coolie cup.
she's walking around a big pyramid of these cups looking for something...
i ask her what she's looking for.."they are all the fucking same!".
"mike's left handed and all of them are right handed!"
my buddy's wife has a masters from ucla.
we stop at a gas station on the way to the lake havasu and she decides to buy mike a big coolie cup.
she's walking around a big pyramid of these cups looking for something...
i ask her what she's looking for.."they are all the fucking same!".
"mike's left handed and all of them are right handed!"
How does she look in a bikini?
Maybe there's a reasonable explanation for having her around?
She was in a videoHow does she look in a bikini?
Maybe there's a reasonable explanation for having her around?
meh, like a skinny monica lewinsky with b-cups.How does she look in a bikini?
Maybe there's a reasonable explanation for having her around?
If you're into deep economic dives, you might find this book interesting, politics aside: Capital in the Twenty First Century, by Thomas Piketty. He uses historical data to explain where society sits today. Warning, it's close to 700 pages.
Cliff notes on where we are?
Page 600
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