On The Wealth of Nations: Books That Changed the World

On The Wealth of Nations: Books That Changed the World
by P. J. O'Rourke

On The Wealth of Nations: Books That Changed the World
List Price: $13.00
Our Price: $6.49
You Save: $6.51 (50%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.97 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: P. J. O'Rourke
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-12-21
ISBN: 0802143423
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Grove Press

Book Reviews of On The Wealth of Nations: Books That Changed the World

Book Review: That's Entertainment!
Summary: 5 Stars

As Thurber said (I think/paraphrase?) "Only humor can safely approach the burning column of truth" so it is possible that the ~180 pages of O'Rourke can safely approach the 900 pages of the Wealth Of Nations.

You will either "get it" or you won't but I doubt *you* will ever pack so much info as O'Rourke manages into so few words and paragraphs so entertainingly - this trick is *only* possible with humour.

Thus any sort of critique cannot approach these columns safely so let the man speak for himself!


...For example, a passage from the aforementioned digression on silver:

Labour, it ust always be remembered, and not any particulare commodity or set of commodities, is the real measure of the value both of silver and of all other commodities.6


This can be powerfully condensed: 'Labour... is the real measure of...value.' In quoting Adam Smith,'...'is sometimes the most trenchant thing he said. And it may be that just such a trenchant ellipsis in The Wealth Of Nations was what sent Karl Marx off his rocker. Notice, reading Smith's original sentence, that no grand Marxist 'value theory of labor' was created. The more so because, three hundred pages later, Smith makes the same kind of argument about food grains: 'The real value of every other commodity is finally measured and determined by ...the average money price of corn.'7 Smith thus maintains that work (or something akin to it, such as our daily bread) provides a sensible index for determining how much other things are worth to us. Deciding whether to mow the lawn ourselves or pay the kid next door to do it - factoring in the likelihood that he'll eat us out of house and home at snack time and run the Toro over his foot, sue us, and we'll have to get a second job to pay the legal bills - is something everybody does all the time. Marxism, as various Marxist regimes have discovered, is something nobody ever does if he can help it. (Incidentally, if the labor theory of value were true, certain children would be less worthless than they are.)

Summary of On The Wealth of Nations: Books That Changed the World

In On The Wealth of Nations, America?s most provocative satirist, P. J. O?Rourke, reads Adam Smith?s revolutionary The Wealth of Nations so you don?t have to. Recognized almost instantly on its publication in 1776 as the fundamental work of economics, The Wealth of Nations was also recognized as really long:  the original edition totaled over nine hundred pages in two volumes?including the blockbuster sixty-seven-page ?digression concerning the variations in the value of silver during the course of the last four centuries,? which, ?to those uninterested in the historiography of currency supply, is like reading Modern Maturity in Urdu.? Although daunting, Smith?s tome is still essential to understanding such current hot-topics as outsourcing, trade imbalances, and Angelina Jolie. In this hilarious, approachable, and insightful examination of Smith and his groundbreaking work, P. J. puts his trademark wit to good use, and shows us why Smith is still relevant, why what seems obvious now was once revolutionary, and why the pursuit of self-interest is so important.

Economic History Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Books I read in 2008
What It Means to Be a Libertarian ImageWhat It Means to Be a Libertarian
by Charles Murray
Broadway; Published: 1997-12-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.68
Price in other shops: $15.00
The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist ImageThe Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist
by Richard P. Feynman
Basic Books; Published: 2005-04-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.85
Price in other shops: $13.95
Homage to Catalonia ImageHomage to Catalonia
by George Orwell
Harvest Books; Published: 1980-10-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.50
Price in other shops: $14.00
No One Left to Lie to: The Triangulations of William Jefferson Clinton ImageNo One Left to Lie to: The Triangulations of William Jefferson Clinton
by Christopher Hitchens
Verso; Published: 1999-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops: $18.95
The Replacements' Let It Be (33 1/3) ImageThe Replacements' Let It Be (33 1/ 3)
by Colin Meloy
Continuum International Publishing Group; Published: 2004-08-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.36
Price in other shops: $9.95
On The Wealth of Nations: Books That Changed the World ImageOn The Wealth of Nations: Books That Changed the World
by P. J. O'Rourke
Grove Press; Published: 2007-12-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops: $13.00
Illiberal Education: The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus ImageIlliberal Education: The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus
by Dinesh D'Souza
Free Press; Published: 1998-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.60
Price in other shops: $19.50
Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Never Learned (Don't Know Much About...) ImageDon't Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Never Learned (Don't Know Much About...)
by Kenneth C. Davis
Perennial; Published: 2004-04-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.44
Price in other shops: $14.95
Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription: Notes and Asides from National ReviewPM ImageCancel Your Own Goddam Subscription: Notes and Asides from National ReviewPM
by William F. Buckley Jr.
Basic Books; Published: 2007-10-22; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.94
Price in other shops: $24.00
A Midsummer Night's Dream (Signet Classics) ImageA Midsummer Night's Dream (Signet Classics)
by William Shakespeare
Signet Classics; Published: 1998-05-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.04
Price in other shops: $4.95
Similar Books and other products
The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World ImageThe Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World
by Tim Harford
Random House; Published: 2008-01-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.14
Price in other shops: $25.00
Peace Kills: America's Fun New Imperialism ImagePeace Kills: America's Fun New Imperialism
by P. J. O'Rourke
Grove Press; Published: 2005-04-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.32
Price in other shops: $13.00
The Post-American World ImageThe Post-American World
by Fareed Zakaria
W. W. Norton; Published: 2008-05-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.98
Price in other shops: $25.95
Eat the Rich ImageEat the Rich
by P. J. O'Rourke
Published: 1999-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.12
Price in other shops: $13.00
Holidays in Hell: In Which Our Intrepid Reporter Travels to the World's Worst Places and Asks, "What's Funny About This" (O'Rourke, P. J.) ImageHolidays in Hell: In Which Our Intrepid Reporter Travels to the World's Worst Places and Asks, "What's Funny About This" (O'Rourke, P. J.)
by P. J. O'Rourke
Grove Press; Published: 2000-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.61
Price in other shops: $12.00
The Wealth of Nations (Bantam Classics) ImageThe Wealth of Nations (Bantam Classics)
by Adam Smith
Bantam Classics; Published: 2003-03-04; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.46
Price in other shops: $7.95
Give War a Chance: Eyewitness Accounts of Mankind's Struggle Against Tyranny, Injustice, and Alcohol-Free Beer ImageGive War a Chance: Eyewitness Accounts of Mankind's Struggle Against Tyranny, Injustice, and Alcohol-Free Beer
by P. J. O'Rourke
Grove Press; Published: 2003-10-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.85
Price in other shops: $13.00
All the Trouble in the World: The Lighter Side of Overpopulation, Famine, Ecological Disaster, Ethnic Hatred, Plague, and Poverty ImageAll the Trouble in the World: The Lighter Side of Overpopulation, Famine, Ecological Disaster, Ethnic Hatred, Plague, and Poverty
by P. J. O'Rourke
Atlantic Monthly Press; Published: 1995-08-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops: $15.00
Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning ImageLiberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning
by Jonah Goldberg
Doubleday; Published: 2008-01-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.16
Price in other shops: $27.95
Parliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government ImageParliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government
by P. J. O'Rourke
Grove Press; Published: 2003-01-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.90
Price in other shops: $14.00
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories