# Libertarians (of either L size): what books influenced your views the most?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libertarians-of-either-l-size-what-books-influenced-your-views-the-most/292990
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 4, 2005, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libertarians-of-either-l-size-what-books-influenced-your-views-the-most/292990 "2005-03-04T23:03:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Paladud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paladud)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2005, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libertarians-of-either-l-size-what-books-influenced-your-views-the-most/292990/1 "2005-03-04T23:03:47Z")
Just curious.
In my case, it was largely Ayn Rand (_Atlas Shrugged, Anthem, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal_), as well as Huxley’s _Brave New World_.
Also, is _The Fountainhead_ worth reading?
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2005, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libertarians-of-either-l-size-what-books-influenced-your-views-the-most/292990/2 "2005-03-04T23:10:04Z")
_Road to Serfdom_, Hayek
_Free to Choose_, Friedman
_Capitalism…_, Rand
> [@Paladud](#):
>
> Also, is _The Fountainhead_ worth reading?
Yes. I think it’s her best novel-- much better (and less preachy) than A.S.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2005, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libertarians-of-either-l-size-what-books-influenced-your-views-the-most/292990/3 "2005-03-04T23:17:35Z")
Oh yeah, and I’m the small 'l" variety.
And the _Capitalism…_ book should be: Rand, et al (including Greenspan)
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### Author:  [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libertarians-of-either-l-size-what-books-influenced-your-views-the-most/292990/4 "2005-03-04T23:21:44Z")
[There’s more than one libertarianism/Libertarianism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_socialism). I’d suggest Rudolph Rocker.
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libertarians-of-either-l-size-what-books-influenced-your-views-the-most/292990/5 "2005-03-04T23:26:13Z")
_Human Action_, Ludwig von Mises
_Liberalism in the Classical Tradition_, Ludwig von Mises
_The Law_, Frederic Bastiat
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2005, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libertarians-of-either-l-size-what-books-influenced-your-views-the-most/292990/6 "2005-03-04T23:31:53Z")
> [@Liberal](#):
>
> _Human Action_, Ludwig von Mises
That one, too. I knew I had left out something.
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### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libertarians-of-either-l-size-what-books-influenced-your-views-the-most/292990/7 "2005-03-05T01:17:20Z")
The one that honestly got me thinking?
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. R.A.H.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2005, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libertarians-of-either-l-size-what-books-influenced-your-views-the-most/292990/8 "2005-03-05T02:09:54Z")
hmmm?
**Cafe Society** (books)?
**IMHO** (poll)?
Based on the probability that there will be more political discussion than critical review, I’m sending this to **IMHO**.
[/Moderator Mode]
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### Author:  [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2005, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libertarians-of-either-l-size-what-books-influenced-your-views-the-most/292990/9 "2005-03-05T03:30:44Z")
**Free to Choose** - by Milton and Rose Friedman
**Capitalism and Freedom** - by Milton Friedman
**The Road to Serfdom** - by F.A. Hayek
**Human Action** - by Ludwig Von Mises
Numerous Ayn Rand books - I started with **The Fountainhead** , then started on her non-fiction collections like **Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal** and a few others, then I read **Atlas Shrugged**.
Tons of Heinlein. In fact, I’d have to say Heinlein more than anything else, because I started with him when I was very young. By the time I was old enough to read serious philosophy, I was already completely sold on the virtues of personal responsibility, freedom, self-governance and other pre-requisites for a classical liberal outlook. When I read **Free to Choose** it just made complete, obvious sense. It still does.
From there, I started reading more widely in economics and philosophy. That probably moderated my thinking a bit, as did Ayn Rand’s increasingly obvious looniness.
In the 1980’s I subscribed to **Liberty** and **Reason** , which ensured that I got a good Libertarian spin on current events before there was widespread availability of such thought on the Internet.
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### Author:  [@MRirian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MRirian)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2005, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libertarians-of-either-l-size-what-books-influenced-your-views-the-most/292990/10 "2005-03-05T04:41:52Z")
Thoreau’s Walden. I was fifteen when I read it and it really gave me a new perspective on society vs. _my_ life.
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2005, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libertarians-of-either-l-size-what-books-influenced-your-views-the-most/292990/11 "2005-03-05T10:48:55Z")
> [@MRirian](#):
>
> Thoreau’s Walden. I was fifteen when I read it and it really gave me a new perspective on society vs. _my_ life.
Gah! How could I have neglected \*that \* one? An excellent choice!
“If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.” — HDT, _Walden_
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### Author:  [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libertarians-of-either-l-size-what-books-influenced-your-views-the-most/292990/12 "2005-03-05T15:59:53Z")
THE REVELATION TO JOHN (if Ch XIII isn’t a blast at Statism, with an economic emphasis in the last few verses, I don’t know what is).
Bastiat’s THE LAW
Clarence Manion’s THE KEY TO PEACE
Various essays on economics from AMERICAN OPINION (the monthly journal of the John Birch Society), late 1970s
George Charles Roche III’s LEGACY OF FREEDOM
Rand’s ANTHEM & then ATLAS SHRUGGED. Oddly enough, I’ve only skimmed THE FOUNTAINHEAD, but yeah, I’d say it is worth reading. I just have never got around to fully doing so.
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### Author:  [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libertarians-of-either-l-size-what-books-influenced-your-views-the-most/292990/13 "2005-03-05T16:04:33Z")
BTW, two Sundays ago, Feb 20th was Ayn Rand’s Centennial.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2005, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libertarians-of-either-l-size-what-books-influenced-your-views-the-most/292990/14 "2005-03-05T19:02:46Z")
A second for Heinlein’s **The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress**. Then \*\*Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, \*\* and L. Neil Smith’s **The Probability Broach**. 😃
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### Author:  [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libertarians-of-either-l-size-what-books-influenced-your-views-the-most/292990/15 "2005-03-06T02:38:27Z")
For me it was **Atlas Shrugged** , **The Fountainhead** , and Ayn Rand’s various nonfiction books, all of which I first read in high school.
I used to be a big-L Libertarian, but these days I’m more the small-l variety.
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### Author:  [@Plan\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plan_B)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libertarians-of-either-l-size-what-books-influenced-your-views-the-most/292990/16 "2005-03-06T04:21:44Z")
Milton Friedman, first on the Donahue TV show, then reading Free to Choose.
But more important, I was working for the federal government at the time. That was more persuasive than anything.
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### Author:  [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/libertarians-of-either-l-size-what-books-influenced-your-views-the-most/292990/17 "2005-03-06T04:58:46Z")
Thomas Sowell’s _A Conflict of Visions_ and Harry Browne’s _Why Government Doesn’t Work_ made a big impact on me.