Rating: 
Summary: Possibly the most underrated book of all time.
Review: Amazingly easy to read yet he puts forth profoundly important ideas. He does not need the security blanket of copious footnotes. What a concept. Those few reviewers that have trouble with its readability must be terrified by the power of its ideas and do not know where to turn. This book provides an understanding of mankind's true nature and how the private sector performs better than government functions. Even if you are a modern day left winger, you need to read this book because the people's ideas are increasing drawn from Milton Friedman's views. This book is full of ideas that are so compelling despite being minority views that they will not go away. Forty years later his ideas still are discussed as remedies needed for the future of the world not just the USA. The most powerful and easy to understand is free trade. How anyone can be intelligent enough to be elected to congress and not understand the power of free trade is very mystifying. Yet about half of them seem clueless of the mathematics.As you can see from some reviews , Friedman's ability to use simple little examples to clarify issues is so effective that it gets some reviewers angry. The examples are nonetheless liberating to the mind that hesitates to think more deeply. His clarity is the reason for the power of his ideas through the decades. Realistically, this book can be recommended to anyone that is searching how to write on complex subjects and yet be understood. He is accurately critical of the Federal Reserve. If written today he may say that the Federal Reserve did a very bad job in the last 10 years, It was not true that all we had was inflation of 2 to 3 percent per year and that is nothing to worry about. This excess money supply was sucked up into a stock market that is still overpriced. Reading this book may help you understand this viewpoint. More importantly, if you take a measure of the few ideas that have been accepted from Friedman versus the many that have not I can not help but wonder if another forty years from now Friedman will be seen as even wiser than he is currently. Freedom is not easy to hold unto and that was the greatest concern of the nations founders. If you share this fear even today then you will readily see how Friedman has such great appeal to those that love freedom and are willing to pay a short-term price to build on our freedoms. Despite the age of this book their is little that is out of date. While the USA educational system has this great fear of teaching economics in the high school, the fact remains if you do not understand economics you do not understand America. Read this book and you will understand why economics belongs in the high schools. In the forty years of studying the markets, I remain in awe of how the best answers come from free markets. Every time the government steps in saying yes but in this case the market is wrong, it ends up the government was really wrong. Many times I thought the market mechanism was wrong, but I was wrong. If you read this book you could save a lot of time on your experience curve. Today, capital moves around the world at lightening speed if your country does not provide the rule of law and free markets your prospects for attracting capital and retaining it are greatly diminished. If the country is not a democracy the stability of its laws is doubtful because the government's stability is suspect. This makes capitalism or free markets, the most likely path to freedom and the most likely protector of freedom. As democracy has become so widespread, each country provides an environment that is attractive to stock market investors or the money quickly goes elsewhere. Increasingly, governments must respond to subtle difference in the investment climate because there are so many attractive countries to consider. Free markets can not be turned back without experiencing withering capital flight. Capital is no longer the prisoner of governments, citizens are far less mobile than capital. Throughout modern history government is constantly trying to expand its power at the expense of the individual, capital is increasing the ally of individual freedoms and democracy. Doing business with a powerful undemocratic government has become to risky with so many democratic nations to chose from. In the long run big government is in deep trouble. If you do not understand market forces you will not understand the future. This book is easy to read written by one of the all time great thinkers on the subject.
Rating:
Summary: Freedom
Review: I read this book twice in a week (its not that long, but requires some thought, and concentration). How one can possibly argue with the points Friedman makes is beyond me. Individual chapters address specific issues (suh as foreign trade, fiscal and monetary policy, and education) and he uses logic and simple math to "prove" his illustrations. The idea is that people certainly would chose freedom over slavery (socialism), and that any unnecessary governmental intervention threatens freedom. Political freedom is only attainable through capitalism (leave the markets alone {S=D}).
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Summary: Economics for the non-economist
Review: I purchased this book as an adjunct for a course I was taking. Though I am not focused on economics career-wise, I found this book took the subject and expanded it to areas that made me realize how interconnected the basic tenets of economics are in our every day life. It was a very interesting read and still would have been even if I was not taking an economics class.
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Summary: Read it and we'll talk
Review: Good for starters and initiated alike. Whether you're looking for enlightment or to see your own thoughts in paper, shared and amplified by a nobel laureate, you need to read this. Superb simplicity and depth. FB
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Summary: Political Economy that Aged Well
Review: This book is amazing because it aged so well. Read the books by the 'leftist' economists like John Kenneth Galbraith, whose works are dated (with the exception of the "Great Crash", which stuck to facts), and compare. Almost all of Friedman's ideas are now "mainstream", yet when he proposed them (when top tax rates were 90%), the mandra was John Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" (which Friedman points out is wrong on both counts--the paternistic country and giving service to your country blindly). In short, the book is a gem. As for objectivity, note that economics has been classified as "political economics" because it is possible to defend any system --choose your poison-- including slavery, communism, rigid wage and price controls (caste system, like old India and Byzantium). None of these systems are necessarily unstable (Byzantium lasted 1000 years, India longer, the Soviet Union lasted several generations), but if you value economic output and liberalism in the classic sense (freedom of action), then Friedman's libertarian is the best. Friedman points out that with capitalism you get more inequality because everybody has the ability to prosper, and differences are magnified (nobody measures absolute wealth but relative wealth). A short story by Kurt Vonnegut comes to mind where people were all kept the same in a race of ability (no inequality) by tying lead weights around their legs. If you think handicapping like this is 'fair' then you will not like Friedman's capitalism. Finally note that Friedman is not a proponent of no government, just government to handle "neighborhood effects" (aka 'externalities'), like air pollution, where in theory it is difficult to negotiate away problems like this (actually some modern economists have found many such externalities are not that common--yes you can negotiate with your neighbors, and don't need the government, for many problems that seem like externalities).
Rating: 
Summary: A sad lack of intellect for a Nobel Prize winner
Review: Upon purchasing this book, I was expecting to read a logical argument in defense of free market capitalism, coupled with a defense of liberty and democracy. Instead, I got what could only be called a poor intellectual argument, trying desparately to point out the glories of capitalism, but accomplishing nothing but failed logic and a depressing argumentative style. After reading this book, I marvel at the fact that Milton Friedman actually recieved the Nobel Prize. He uses almost no logic in his ethos, and actually points out many of the failures of capitalism in the process of glorifying it. I would almost recommend this book to a liberal who is looking for concrete proof that conservatism is failed. Here you have a man who is considered to be one of the smartest conservatives of the twentieth century, and he ends up doing nothing but Marxist bashing in this sad little diatribe. I will give you an example: at one point in this book, Milton Friedman tries to attack the Communist ideal that wealth should be shared. He gives the example of four men stranded on islands, three of whom land on islands with no resources, but one of whom ends up on an island with enough resources to nourish dozens of people. He asks the reader, would it be justified if the other three men were to force the lucky man to share his resources? Most readers would be tempted to say yes, as Milton points out. He then moves on to another example to clarify the situation. Suppose four men are walking along on the street, and one of them happens to find a fifty dollar bill on the ground. Although the other three men might think it generous for the man to buy them drinks with this money, Milton claims that they surely would not be justified in forcing him to do so. And he actually thinks that these two examples are synonymous! He has changed the situation from a matter of life and death to a matter of a few refreshments! This is outright sad for a Nobel Prize winner, and frankly I would expect more from a ten year old boy. If you are looking for a review of conservative philosophy on government and economics, I would suggest for you to buy a book that is not as poorly written and sadly illogical as this one. Purchasing this book is nothing more than a waste of money that could be spent on something more useful, and believe me, ANYTHING is more useful than purchasing this book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book.
Review: Capitalism and Freedom is an excellent book. It describes Capitalism very well. I think it is one of the greatest books ever writen about economics and Milton Friedman one of the greatest economics ever. I think everyone will find himself in this book and understand the role of the competitive markets in the economy. As Milton Friedman says: The role of Government in a free society is to set the rules of the game and to foster competitive markets. Enjoy it
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Summary: Compelling and informative
Review: Milton Friedman, far from just paraphrasing Keynes, has given a grand refutation of Keynesian economics as well as argued persuasively for the free-market. "Capitalism and Freedom" dispels the myths about capitalism that have become so prevalent in our society: that the free-market caused the depression (it was actually a tyrannical Federal Reserve), that socialism can be democratic, and others. Milton's prose is clear and the book is good for those who haven't majored in economics. He gives an unwavering defense of personal freedom and individual autonomy from a minimalist government perspective. This book is an important contribution to public discourse and although written about 40 years ago, still has relevance today. Friedman discusses public education, roads, minimum wage laws (which he calls, "the most anti-black law on the statute books," and rightfully so as you'll see if you read this book), as well as the how so-called "progressive" tax system and welfare actually hurt the poor. Friedman's other great contribution is "Free to Choose," which was written about 20 years ago and expounds on the ideas in "Capitalism and Freedom" in a bit more depth. But this is a good, short, concise book to start with that'll get you asking questions.
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Summary: Nothing but lies to justify self intrest
Review: This is nothing but lies by a man who understands nothing about economic inequility and favors the oppresion that is pure capitalism
Rating:
Summary: Persuasive
Review: "Capitalism and Freedom" is certainly a comprehensive and cohesive piece of work that any person, including non-economics majors could pick up and read. Milton Friedman writes in such a straight-forward, minimalist manner that I am looking forward to reading other books by him. The thing that impresses me most with regard to Friedman's work is that he views every issue from all angles, he puts forth the argument and the counter-argument and allows the reader the freedom to choose the best approach.
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