Great Libertarian Novels That Aren't Atlas Shrugged

Started by MrBogosity, October 07, 2013, 07:24:35 PM

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I have to say, I'm REALLY loving the North American Confederacy series by L. Neil Smith (of which The Probability Broach is just the first)!

Quote from: MrBogosity on February 09, 2015, 05:56:21 PM
I have to say, I'm REALLY loving the North American Confederacy series by L. Neil Smith (of which The Probability Broach is just the first)!

I only have two left in the series to read! I just started Brightsuit MacBear, and after that I have Taflak Lysandra.

Here's the order I read them in--it's chronological (not the order he wrote them in), and it works:

The Probability Broach
The Nagasaki Vector
The American Zone
The Venus Belt
The Gallatin Divergence
Tom Paine Maru
Their Majesty's Bucketeers
Brightsuit MacBear
Taflak Lysandra

Can I list non-fiction books?
If so:
1. Organized Crime by Thomas Dilorenzo
2. Nation, State and Economy by Murray Rothbard
3. The Economics of the Colour Bar by William H. Hutt
4. The Vampire Economy by Günter Reimann
5. Economic Controversies by Murray Rothbard
6. Austrian Macroeconomics:
A Diagrammatical Exposition by Roger Garrison (great because Austrians are often accused of having no macro theory
I could list more but I have so many I could list u would be reading this forever
What u can do if u have an iPhone is this: get the ePub reader app, then search for the Mises institute books and click ePub at the top where it says filter. Then u can copy the link to the ePub of each book u want (that's available on ePub) and put the link in the browser for ePub reader and it copies the whole book into your files.
Problem:  there are SO MANY ADS on the app
What is more advantageous is to copy each book to iBooks by pressing and holding on the respective cover of each book, and I suggest turning off your internet connection while doing so in order to not receive ads, especially if you are copying many books at once. This process allows u to basically get HUNDREDS of dollars in books for FREE, except for maybe the slightly excruciating pain of watching mobile strike ads with Rob Gronkowski every 5 SECONDS!


"Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else." - Frederic Bastiat.

Quote from: libertarian__revolution on January 16, 2016, 12:43:36 AM
Can I list non-fiction books?
If so:
1. Organized Crime by Thomas Dilorenzo
2. Nation, State and Economy by Murray Rothbard
3. The Economics of the Colour Bar by William H. Hutt
4. The Vampire Economy by Günter Reimann
5. Economic Controversies by Murray Rothbard
6. Austrian Macroeconomics:
A Diagrammatical Exposition by Roger Garrison (great because Austrians are often accused of having no macro theory
I could list more but I have so many I could list u would be reading this forever
What u can do if u have an iPhone is this: get the ePub reader app, then search for the Mises institute books and click ePub at the top where it says filter. Then u can copy the link to the ePub of each book u want (that's available on ePub) and put the link in the browser for ePub reader and it copies the whole book into your files.
Problem:  there are SO MANY ADS on the app
What is more advantageous is to copy each book to iBooks by pressing and holding on the respective cover of each book, and I suggest turning off your internet connection while doing so in order to not receive ads, especially if you are copying many books at once. This process allows u to basically get HUNDREDS of dollars in books for FREE, except for maybe the slightly excruciating pain of watching mobile strike ads with Rob Gronkowski every 5 SECONDS!

I use Aldiko as my ePub reader, but I don't know if it's available on iPhone. No ads.

Thanks I hate that part of the app I have
"Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else." - Frederic Bastiat.

In my PUBLIC school's lit class, we're reading Anthem by Ayn Rand. I guess there's hope after all. I guess not ALL of the state's actions are anti-liberty
"Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else." - Frederic Bastiat.

I have to say, I've become quite the L. Neil Smith fan. I've read the two Ngu Family Saga books so far, Pallas and Ceres, and I'm looking forward to the others when they come out. I liked Hope, although it more stopped than ended; hopefully a sequel is in the works. Sweeter Than Wine is the only vampire/romance novel I actually like (unless you count the original Dracula by Bram Stoker, of course); not so much libertarian philosophy there, but the main vampire has found a way to do what he does consistent with the NAP.

I can't believe it never actually occurred to me to add the Hitchhiker's Guide series before now!

A blog post explaining why: https://hessenflow.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/655/

Quote from: MrBogosity on November 22, 2016, 05:19:55 PM
I can't believe it never actually occurred to me to add the Hitchhiker's Guide series before now!

A blog post explaining why: https://hessenflow.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/655/
I really need to read that book one of these days.
"When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world—'No. You move.'"
-Captain America, Amazing Spider-Man 537

Quote from: MrBogosity on November 22, 2016, 05:19:55 PM
I can't believe it never actually occurred to me to add the Hitchhiker's Guide series before now!

A blog post explaining why: https://hessenflow.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/655/

I think he misunderstands part of the mindset of Howard Roark, though.  Howard does alter his work to fit the market, or at least the employer he is force to make do with for a time.  He absolutely LOATHES doing so, but he does, until he meets the client who will make his career by buying precisely what Howard wants to supply.  Very few people are lucky enough to get to that stage, but he's a fictional hero, so it's perfectly fine that he does.  At the end, he's building a public housing project and loving it because he's able to do it the way HE wants, which is presented as the ideal way to work.

I'm greatly enjoying Hulu's adaptation of The Handmaid's Tale. If you don't want to read the book, at least watch this series. Margaret Atwood is a consulting producer, and they've actually fleshed the world out a bit more than Atwood did in her original book. The book was just from Offred's point of view, but the series is starting to branch out into things she couldn't have known about, and is also fleshing out the back story quite a bit.

Quote from: MrBogosity on October 26, 2014, 07:22:26 PM
I've read TONS of fanfic that's better than Rand...

Rand learned to write, such as she did, writing Hollywood screenplays in an era where the best films being made were really mediocre by modern standards.  Combine that with being from Russia, where the novel writing tradition is to write these kind of over the top political things that are really just better written versions of the kind of political novels she wrote...

Seriously, when did Atlas Shrugged turn into a GREAT novel?  I read it 30 years ago when I had no taste and still knew it was bad.  IMPORTANT, but BAD.  (I read The Fountainhead as well, and I still really don't see why they decided that was a good name for the adopted homeworld of the Nietzschians.  It also isn't really any better.  And you actually need the omnipotent narrator to explain that no, Howard Roark is not a monster.  Seriously, who would write a hero who acts in such a way that only avoids being monstrous because of entirely incidental facts?) 

(Unfortunately, the only way to come to appreciate great films is to watch great films, and the only way to learn how to make great films is to make great films, so the early decades of any movie industry are going to be nothing but junk.  Seeing some great films from outside will help a bit, but not a whole lot.)