
Hayek's Road to Serfdom #1 on Amazon Today - chasingsparks
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/ref=pd_ts_zgc_b_books_more?pf_rd_p=475709271&pf_rd_s=right-3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=283155&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1C5TCPF2KBR9JDN8M7DX
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pigbucket
"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.

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DanielBMarkham
Great 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.

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Volscio
To be fair, wasn't the Road of Serfdom more of a political theory book than an
economics one?

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hugh3
Can't it be both? (I haven't actually read it, but it's on my to-do list.
Apparently not very soon, since every copy in the US has just been sold three
times over...)

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Artifex
At 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>

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nickpinkston
Aaah - 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.s...](http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/books/04/27/ayn.rand.atlas.shrugged/)

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mistermann
Ok, 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.

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barrkel
She'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.

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roel_v
Is 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.

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barrkel
Yes, 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.

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davidmathers
Illustrated: <http://mises.org/books/trts/>

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jrockway
Sometimes I think HN should rename itself to "The Hacker Factor".

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replicatorblog
I 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".

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noarchy
It 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.

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mbateman
Any particular reason why?

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elidourado
I heard that Glenn Beck did a show about it.

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mhd
That was actually my first thought when I read the headline. Might I cynically
hazard a guess that most buyers won't read it?

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patrickgzill
I own plenty of books I haven't read (yet). Don't you?

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waterlesscloud
Harlan 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?"

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lionhearted
Having 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.

