Last night I finished Hayek's The Road to Serfdom. I came to be familiar with the book during my sophomore year in college as I became more enthralled with classical liberal economic theory. As it is well known, the work is a mainstay in this field and is considered by many to be the ultimate critique of socialism and totalitarianism. I have encountered the arguments and ideas of this book through many economists, political theorists, journalists, businessmen and others over the past few years, but never encountered the primary source itself. Well, after finally completing the short but extremely dense book, I can say I am thrilled to have taken the time and effort to absorb it.
I would very much like to write a critique of certain parts of the book, and its message entirely, but my father has borrowed it so it will be a little while before I can do so. A couple brief thoughts though:
1. There is little doubt in my mind that I will constantly consult this book for the rest of my life. Whether for research or pleasure, it is a treasure chest of insight on the human condition.
2. The prose is absolutely marvelous. Hayek writes like a world class historian, his complex and insightful ideas supported not only by historical example, careful reasoning and logic but also extremely persuasive language.
3. Speaking of logic, Hayek's ability to link abstract ideas like the role of language and importance of Rule of Law is brilliantly done. A separate post needs to be devoted to this very idea.
All right, I'm off to Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom. I shall see how it holds up.
No comments:
Post a Comment