A book for burning
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I love books but over time I have come to think that book burning has been given a bad name. The problem is not books that you disagree with - they can be stimulating. Its books that are a complete waste of paper. They are rare but they exist. This is one. Rourke may be a top humourist in the US but he seems to know nothing much about economics, nothing much about Adam Smith and he is simply not funny here. What do you do with a book that is too bad to sell, pass on or give a way? Rourke does at least point out that Smith's view of the market is based on a moral theory of sympathy with our fellow humans. If you have bought this book you have my sympathy. If you are considering buying it I would opt for checking out a library copy. Mine is on the fire.
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A mixed bag
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I am a fan of P J O'Rourke's writing and sympathetic to his libertarian stance. Never having read Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, I thought I could take a short cut by reading this. Overall I am not sure that I have achieved my original objective.
You are likely to be interested in economics to want to read either Wealth of Nations or P J O'Rourke. The rest of this review is written on that assumption.
Overall, the book is untidily written (particularly the first chapter) and for the non-USA reader, some of the references seem beyond obscure. The author fails to avoid getting between you and the subject matter. At times (thought not always) it is unclear whether we are reading about Adam Smith's opinions regarding economics or those of the author.
Which is not to say that the book is without merit, I think I know more about the topic than I did, P J O'Rourke's comment is often funny, it just doesn't obviously meet the objective of reading one into "Wealth of Nations"
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