Sane Reading for Troubled Times

A recent article from World magazine titled Sane Reading lists some of the greatest economic books (in my opinion) ever written to help wade through today's financial insanity.

I generally disagree with many of John Maynard Keynes' economic conclusions. However, I respect his ability to explore new theories, his support of free markets, and his contribution to some of the great economic quotes. I find the following quote a bit ironic because I think many people have become a slave to Keynes himself,

"The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist."

Without further ado, here is the list of books:

• The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes
• Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
• The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek
• Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman
• Economic Facts and Fallacies by Thomas Sowell
• The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
• Human Action by Ludwig Von Mises
• Book of Proverbs by King Solomon and miscellaneous contributors

I have read about half of these books and I am eager to read the other half. The ones that I have read are excellent, so I don't doubt that the rest are great reads. World magazine is what I consider to be a respectable and unbiased weekly news source as opposed to Time magazine which is full of liberal bias.