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Hayek's Road to Serfdom #1 on Amazon Today
- mbateman 16y agoAny particular reason why?
- chasingsparks 16y agoNot that I know of, but I was hoping someone on HN might know why. (While today it is #1, it has been in the top 100 a lot recently.)
- elidourado 16y agoI heard that Glenn Beck did a show about it.
- chasingsparks 16y agoThanks. You are correct. http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/41653/ http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/41653/ (Although, part of me would prefer it if you were wrong...)
- mhd 16y agoThat was actually my first thought when I read the headline. Might I cynically hazard a guess that most buyers won't read it?
- jonallanharper 16y agoYou might demonstrate how arrogant you are by voicing that assertion as if everyone here is as elitist as you.
- patrickgzill 16y agoI own plenty of books I haven't read (yet). Don't you?
- waterlesscloud 16y agoHarlan Ellison, who has a large book collection his own, on several occasions has said "What's the point of owning a library full of books you've read?"
- lionhearted 16y agoHaving books across 8 to 20 different topics is good because it's not always possible to predict your day to day goals and energy level two or three months in the future. Having some books on marketing, business, some biographies, some history, some light fluffy fiction, some more intense fiction, some technical books... it means when the inspiration to read about biomechanics and health hits, you've got a book on it, or if you want a light read in the park, you've got a book of good short stories, and so on.
- mhd 16y agoI think the "yet" part is important, though... And if you want enough irony to fill half of Williamsburg: I do own "The Road to Serfdom", haven't read it this far. (It is one of the few books I brought along to the US with me, so as soon as I manage to crawl through frickin' Blood Meridian, it's going to be next).
- mistermann 16y agohaha...I finally broke down and included my "Man, Economy, and State" by Murray N. Rothbard that I've been intending to read for years in my latest delivery to the goodwill centre (like a 2nd hand shop). I'd love to possess the knowledge contained within without working for it, but honestly, it is hard work reading and really understanding books like this, and it is long. Plus, as an regular informed investor, I don't think it is too relevant (or actually, useful) anymore in most ways. The gong show in the financial markets in the last 10 years is obviously predictable from the Austrian standpoint, but how one trades it is beyond me (and they don't proclaim to offer this advice, they are only explaining how the world must work over long periods). There's no way of knowing who to short, for example...a company or now even an entire country can be obviously walking dead, but they can be suddenly bailed out at any time (with money that literally didn't even actually exist the day before), or, rules that have existed for decades can be changed overnight, and can have your ASS handed to you in one hour, for no good economic reason. I can see how books like this will be read by historians who will shake their heads at how stupid we were, as the perils were already laid out in detail with historic references, but how it can help an individual living through it at the time, is beyond me.
- mattmcknight 16y agoStossel also did a show on it on 6/3, but I guess not as many people watch him. http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/06/03/tonights-show-road-to-serfdom/ http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/06/03/tonights-sho...
- Symmetry 16y agoApparently Glen Beck mentioned it. Via Marginal Revolution, http://hayekcenter.org/?p=2719 http://hayekcenter.org/?p=2719
- nickpinkston 16y agoAaah - I was assuming this was similar to the Ayn Rand's books coming back into vogue during recessions, but I guess Glenn Beck works like a recession... Ron Paul probably increased sales of Rand, Hayek, Von Mises, etc. as well. http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/books/04/27/ayn.rand.atlas.shrugged/ http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/books/04/27/ayn.rand.atlas.s...
- mistermann 16y agoOk, I'll bite, what's your top (1, 2, 3) beefs with Ayn Rand? Also, have you actually read any of her books, or only reviews of her books? Not trying to be antagonistic, its a genuine question.
- barrkel 16y agoShe's a terrible writer with huge blindspots, and from what I could make out of Atlas Shrugged, a naive and authority-worshipping view of how the world works. I don't think there's a better antidote to her views than actually reading her books, so poorly are they written.
- roel_v 16y agoIs this the same book we're talking about? What is 'authority-worshipping' in it? I honestly can't name one single aspect that can be interpreted in that way.
- barrkel 16y agoYes, almost every chief executive portrayed in the book is described in ridiculously idolatrous fashion, with the direct implication that business leaders - specifically those at the heads of organizations - were all but supermen, that the world would collapse without them, and that when they alone were sequestered away together, they could create a fantastical wonderland of advancement beyond the ken of the plebeian masses.
- arethuza 16y ago
- Artifex 16y agoAt least Glenn Beck is attempting to educate himself/his audience. Although, he'd probably do better to show everyone this (it's educational, hilarious and very well done): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0nERTFo-Sk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0nERTFo-Sk
- davidmathers 16y agoIllustrated: http://mises.org/books/trts/ http://mises.org/books/trts/
- pigbucket 16y ago"Usually ships in 1 to 3 months." America holds its breath, while somewhere trees are falling for the sake of the free market. Amazon need to conspire with Beck et al. to get these books in stock before the show airs. What would be really impressive would be to see Das Kapital getting to #1 after a Maddow feature.
- DanielBMarkham 16y agoGreat to see a Hayek book at the top of Amazon today! Woo hoo! That's truly great news. Reading the comments here, looks like Glenn Beck recommended it? Hey, I'll take folks reading Hayek for any reason. An informed citizenry and all of that. I don't have a popular cable show, but if I did, I'd do a tour of all the great economists. Talk about raising the discussion level. No matter what their politics, I'll never argue with a talking head that tells his followers to go read some well-known and authoritative work. There's really no downside here.
- jrockway 16y agoSometimes I think HN should rename itself to "The Hacker Factor".
- replicatorblog 16y agoI think you were down voted unfairly. I know what you mean about the number of conservative views and the support they are given on this site. It may not be more than the normal split in the country, but my experience in the world of tech seems heavily biased to the left so HN really pops out. That said I am in the "People's Republic of Cambridge".
- noarchy 16y agoIt does stand out when you have a post on Hayek's book sales(which should only really be of interest to his fans) receiving a number of upvotes. I don't know if I've ever seen the likes of Kropotkin, Bakunin, or even Marx get posts like that here. Then again, should they? Perhaps if we're having a discussion of an author's political philosophy as it relates to current tech-oriented issues. Otherwise, I don't necessarily see the relevance for HN.
- chasingsparks 16y agoI don't think the number of "conservative views" on HN is particularly high. There is an exceptional number of semi-libertarians. Hayek is of particular interest because he is one of the few economists to be at least well-respected thinker by the left and the right. I posted the link because I thought it was a very interesting development, not because I found it self-gratifying. I'd be equally curious if Das Kapital showed up as #1. (It ceased to be interesting once it was pointed out that it was bumped due to Beck.)