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Where does money come from? Where does it go? Who makes it? The money magicians’ secrets are unveiled. We get a close look at their mirrors and smoke machines, their pulleys, cogs, and wheels that create the grand illusion called money. A dry and boring subject? Just wait! You’ll be hooked in five minutes. Reads like a detective story – which it really is. But it’s all true.
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A brilliant exploration of the moral dimensions of money through a judeo-Christian lens: this book provides a compelling explanation of the many ways in which corrupt money (aka fiat currency) contributes to the corruption of human hearts, human minds, and human societies.
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A dramatic extension of the work of Menger, Mises, Hayek, Rothbard, and others to map out an economically radical and ethically challenging case for the complete separation of money and state, and a case for the privatization of money production. It is a sweeping and learned treatise that is rigorous, scholarly, and radical.
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Mises wrote this book for the ages, and it remains the most spirited, thorough, and scientifically rigorous treatise on money to ever appear. It made his reputation across Europe and established him as the most important economist of his age.
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Written in the same year that he testified before the Currency Commission in Austria-Hungary, and published in English in 1892, Carl Menger explains that it is not government edicts that create money but instead the marketplace.
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This book of extemporizations by philosopher Krishnamurti will change the way you look at the world, the way you look at your own mind, and the way you look at the relationship between the two. Deep and profound in many ways, I found myself moved to tears several times while reading this book.
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The best translation of the classic by philosopher-king Marcus Aurelius. This book is the personal journal of Marcus Aurelius and was never intended to be published: it will teach you many stoic principles for accepting the uncertainty, impermanence, and adversity of life.
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A dramatic interpretation of Plato’s Republic, this book opened my eyes to just how foundational Neoplatonic philosophy is to Western Civilization.
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Just as bones get stronger when subjected to stress, and rumors or riots intensify when someone tries to repress them, many things in life benefit from disorder, volatility, and turmoil. What Taleb calls “antifragile” is that category of things that not only gain from chaos but need it in order to survive and flourish.
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The lesser known second book from author Robert Pirsig, this is one of the best books on metaphysics and morality I’ve ever read. Framing the world in terms of static and dynamic qualities, Pirsig brilliantly lays out his sophisticated view of the world in this novel which combines elements of literature, non-fiction, and autobiography.
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A relatively simple and accessible introduction to some of the counterintuitive aspects of modern physics.
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In River Out of Eden, Dawkins introduces readers to some fairly abstract problems in evolutionary biology, gently guiding us through the tangles of mitochondrial DNA and the survival-of-the- fittest ethos. I especially enjoyed Dawkins’ uniquely indelible description of the process of evolution as a digital river of genetic information flowing across time.
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The Physics of Life argues that the evolution phenomenon is much broader and older than the evolutionary designs that constitute the biosphere, empowering readers with a new view of the globe and the future, revealing that the urge to have better ideas has the same physical effect as the urge to have better laws and better government.
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The book which introduced me to the deep parallels between modern natural science and ancient wisdom. Written in the 1970s, some of the scientific concepts are now a bit dated, and there are some controversial interpretations of Eastern Mysticism by the author, but this book remains eye-opening (for all three of your eyes).
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The book which introduced me to fractals, complex adaptive systems, and chaos theory. James Gleick is a brilliant author that unpacks these complicated domains in an entertaining way all while telling the personal stories of the greatest contributors to this new science.
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Atlas Shrugged is the “second most influential book for Americans today” after the Bible, according to a joint survey of five thousand people conducted by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club in 1991. Peopled by larger-than-life heroes and villains, charged with towering questions of good and evil, Atlas Shrugged is Ayn Rand’s magnum opus.
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A book which challenged my moral intuitions and introduced me to the brutal realities of realpolitik.
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All of world history condensed into 100 pages. With their accessible compendium of philosophy and social progress, the Durants take us on a journey through history, exploring the possibilities and limitations of humanity over time.
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A book which challenged my views on the diseconomies of violence and conquest. The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in twenty-five years than the Romans did in four hundred; yet he also abolished torture, granted universal religious freedom, and smashed feudal systems of aristocratic privilege.
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Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this multi-million-copy New York Times bestseller is the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control. The 48 Laws of Power is ideal whether your aim is conquest, self-defense, or simply to understand the rules of the game.
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Social Sciences
HUMAN ACTION A Treatise on Economics
LUDWIG VON MISES
Mises’s book is the best defense of capitalism ever written. It covers basic economics through the most advanced material. Reading this book is the best way you could ever dream up to learn economics. Every attempt to study economics should include a thorough examination of this book.
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Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics
Henry Hazlitt
Perhaps the best introduction to economics ever written. This book is as accessible and understandable as it is comprehensive and enjoyable to read. This is a “must read” for those new to economics.
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Metaphors we Live By
George Lakoff, Mark Johnson
The now-classic Metaphors We Live By changed our understanding of metaphor and its role in language and the mind. Metaphor, the authors explain, is a fundamental mechanism of mind, one that allows us to use what we know about our physical and social experience to provide understanding of countless other subjects.
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Where Mathematics Comes From
George Lakoff, Rafael Nuñez
For a deeper dive into metaphor as a fundamental mechanism of mind, this book is essential reading. This book argues that conceptual metaphor plays a central role in mathematical ideas within the cognitive unconscious-from arithmetic and algebra to sets and logic to infinity in all of its forms.
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The Origin of Wealth: The Radical Remaking of Economics and What it Means for Business and Society
Eric D. Beinhocker
A brilliant exploration of the nature of wealth, economics, and markets through the lens of systems thinking. According to Beinhocker, wealth creation is the product of a simple but profoundly powerful evolutionary formula: differentiate, select, and amplify.
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