Rating: 
Summary: Anointed
Review: Dr. Sowell offers a very readable argument for the proposition that people should make political choices on the basis of what is actually good for them, and not on the basis of what their self-appointed "betters" think that they ought to want. Required reading for anyone whose political feet are not already set in concrete. Love it or hate it, it will force you to think. (Your brain is more important than your abs.)
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding. Belongs on every bookshelf in America.
Review: Every serious reader has his own list of the most influential books in his life. This spectacular, monumental volume is second only to "Atlas Shrugged" on mine. "Knowledge and Decisions" has focused my thinking on human social and economic behavior in a way few works before or since have, giving me a clearer outlook and new insight into how societies and economies function. Closely reasoned and meticulously argued, it still finds room for countless small gems of Sowell's ironic wit, making it entertaining as well as enlightening. The free-market, libertarian conservative viewpoint has found such an eloquent voice in Thomas Sowell that Steve Forbes would do well to choose Sowell (a Forbes columnist) as his running mate in his next stab at the Presidency. If you like to think, buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: This book is excellent, but must be read VERY carefully.
Review: I have read about 12 of Thomas Sowell's books now, give or take. They do tend to be over-wrought with detail, but in this case it may be that he really did need as many pages as he used to say what he did and could have used more by filling in specific examples. Kudos to Sowell for using the very accurate idea of *social behavior* as a basis for explaining intergroup difference (rather than something so tenuous as IQ), and the separation of the actions of specific agencies from "society." Most writers do not bother to clearly delimit their operational terms and working notions. Also particularly clever was his observation of how institutions work as a matter of *self-interest* and create problems because it is in their best interest to have these problems. The book must be read LINE by LINE. When he uses some of his very abstract statements to characterize a social process it is often NOT filled in with details. A theme that appears in many of his books is: "If it has happened once, it will happen again independent of settings." While you go through and read some of his statments, you will have to think back through your experiences of life and see if you have seen the same situation. And THAT is what makes this book take such a long time to read--expect it to take a month if read properly. The index is excellent and I found it particularly useful for referencing subjects like black IQ research and things like that. Well researched if nothing else, and it goes a LONG way in explaining current situations by extrapolations of things in the book itself. Perhaps it could have been made just a bit easier to read. Again: this is NOT light reading, and while it is chock full of information, it is WAY over the heads of most people. This book is *required reading* for young black Americans. If paid careful attention to, it will do great things to break some of the bad habits that have infected us for a long time now. Really, it is a good book for any people who are looking for concrete reasons for group differences. And maybe in the case of the readers who would be the greatest beneficiaries of it (black Americans, from my view), it would undo some of the damage caused to young Blacks by Black Studies departments across the nations. Feel free to email me with any questions/ comments.
Rating:
Summary: This book is excellent, but must be read VERY carefully.
Review: I have read about 12 of Thomas Sowell's books now, give or take. They do tend to be over-wrought with detail, but in this case it may be that he really did need as many pages as he used to say what he did and could have used more by filling in specific examples. Kudos to Sowell for using the very accurate idea of *social behavior* as a basis for explaining intergroup difference (rather than something so tenuous as IQ), and the separation of the actions of specific agencies from "society." Most writers do not bother to clearly delimit their operational terms and working notions. Also particularly clever was his observation of how institutions work as a matter of *self-interest* and create problems because it is in their best interest to have these problems. The book must be read LINE by LINE. When he uses some of his very abstract statements to characterize a social process it is often NOT filled in with details. A theme that appears in many of his books is: "If it has happened once, it will happen again independent of settings." While you go through and read some of his statments, you will have to think back through your experiences of life and see if you have seen the same situation. And THAT is what makes this book take such a long time to read--expect it to take a month if read properly. The index is excellent and I found it particularly useful for referencing subjects like black IQ research and things like that. Well researched if nothing else, and it goes a LONG way in explaining current situations by extrapolations of things in the book itself. Perhaps it could have been made just a bit easier to read. Again: this is NOT light reading, and while it is chock full of information, it is WAY over the heads of most people. This book is *required reading* for young black Americans. If paid careful attention to, it will do great things to break some of the bad habits that have infected us for a long time now. Really, it is a good book for any people who are looking for concrete reasons for group differences. And maybe in the case of the readers who would be the greatest beneficiaries of it (black Americans, from my view), it would undo some of the damage caused to young Blacks by Black Studies departments across the nations. Feel free to email me with any questions/ comments.
Rating:
Summary: Possibly the best book about economics for lay people
Review: No one in my lifetime has penetrated with more authority the nature of the political process. One can almost picture him in the closed room with Jefferson, Monroe, Adams, etc. debating the nature of man and his appropriate relation to the state. The big difference between Sowell and those men is his prodigious mastery of the facts of worlwide history and culture. His almost anatomic dissection of the decision making process in this book was frighteningly perceptive. Would that our political decision makers were required to absorb his ideas before playing with our freedoms.
Rating:
Summary: Knowledge and Decisions---A Knockout
Review: Seen through the clarity of Sowell's empirical analyses, the modern liberal politician and her/his totalitarian leaning institutions are both rendered nakedly self-serving. The rise of the unaccountable, omnipotent government agency and the willingness of the Supreme Court to make policy rather than protect the Constitution degrade the principles of democratic representation in America. Individual freedom is reduced as established authorities succeed in expanding their grip on the free market process in economic, political and social venues. Sowell believes in the efficiency of private self interest rather than the articulated, unverifiable product of "intellectuals" to deliver us into a future where individual liberty is paramount. I agree. Please read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Knowledge and Decisions---A Knockout
Review: Seen through the clarity of Sowell's empirical analyses, the modern liberal politician and her/his totalitarian leaning institutions are both rendered nakedly self-serving. The rise of the unaccountable, omnipotent government agency and the willingness of the Supreme Court to make policy rather than protect the Constitution degrade the principles of democratic representation in America. Individual freedom is reduced as established authorities succeed in expanding their grip on the free market process in economic, political and social venues. Sowell believes in the efficiency of private self interest rather than the articulated, unverifiable product of "intellectuals" to deliver us into a future where individual liberty is paramount. I agree. Please read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Simply a Masterpiece -- and Easy to Read, Too!
Review: Sowell, an economist by training, assumes the economist's standard definition of a scarce resource: "At zero price, there is greater demand than supply." Nothing special here. Then he applies this axiomatic principle to knowledge and decisions based on knowledge. The fun begins. Page after page, he uses this intellectual insight to shoot sacred cows. I have never read any book that offers a greater number of fascinating insights, page for page, based on a seemingly noncontroversial axiom. Modern social policy and far too much of modern social theory are based on this premise: "Accurate knowledge is, or at least should be, a free good. When it is not, the civil government should coerce people to provide it." It is a false premise, and it produces costly errors -- another implication of his premise that accurate knowledge is not a free resource. Buy this book. Read it. Twice. Maybe more. (As an author, I will say this: Sowell makes brilliant writing look too easy and the rest of us look too lazy.)
Rating:
Summary: Required reading.
Review: This book (or perhaps a condensed version) should be required reading for all high school students or college freshmen. The breadth and depth of his arguments, and the great diversity of his examples are all breathtaking. I find myself constantly talking about this book and especially the examples to friends and family. Buy this book. Read it. Give it as a gift to friends. It will help clarify your thinking on any number of issues.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: This is a brilliant book - as Milton Freidman said. My favorite of all T. Sowell books, it does more than any other to exemplify the genius and sensibility behind Sowell's thought - and is the intellectual foundation for everything else he has written. The reading may sometimes be heavy - but the effort is well worth the prize. If you only read one Sowell book, make this the one. No matter what your political dispositions, it will certainly change the way that you look at the world...
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