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Prosper during the financial crisis.
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Common Sense Economics: What Everyone Should Know About Wealth and ProsperityCommon Sense Economics: What Everyone Should Know About Wealth and Prosperity by James Gwartney
Buy new: $13.57 / Used from: $7.00
This book is a mixture of catechism and primer, and is the best one-volume introduction to macro- and micro-economics.
The Richest Man in BabylonThe Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
Buy used from: $13.95
Personal finance. It presents itself as transcriptions of long lost clay tablets. Not so, but the information is quite helpful.
The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial FitnessThe Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness by Dave Ramsey
Buy new: $14.61 / Used from: $9.75
This book's strength is its aggressive debt-reduction plan.
The Millionaire MindThe Millionaire Mind by Thomas J. Stanley
Buy new: $11.55 / Used from: $3.25
Prosperity is a mindset that can be learned. Rich people are rich because of the choices they make.
The Motley Fool You Have More Than You Think : The Foolish Guide To Personal FinanceThe Motley Fool You Have More Than You Think : The Foolish Guide To Personal Finance by David Gardner
Buy used from: $2.92
This book gets you thinking about you assets and comparative advantage.
The Five Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me About Life and WealthThe Five Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me About Life and Wealth by Richard Paul Evans
Buy new: $11.51 / Used from: $1.83
This is by the guy who wrote the Christmas Box. This is not a good stand-alone book, but it works well in context with other books.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money--That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money--That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert T. Kiyosaki
Buy new: $11.02 / Used from: $0.01
Another book about wealthy mentors.
Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic EconomicsEconomics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics by Henry Hazlitt
Buy new: $9.86 / Used from: $6.87
Now we come to macro-economics. This book untangles the traffic jam of Wall Street, and most of the Washingtonian nonsense.
Basic Economics 3rd Ed: A Common Sense Guide to the EconomyBasic Economics 3rd Ed: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy by Thomas Sowell
Buy new: $26.37 / Used from: $18.00
This was written for college students and home-schooled kids. It is the best introductory book on the subject.
Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage OneApplied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One by Thomas Sowell
Buy new: $23.10 / Used from: $3.82
A coda to the above book.
Capitalism: The Unknown IdealCapitalism: The Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand
Buy new: $8.99 / Used from: $4.49
Good essays on free markets, with a coherent philosophy.
Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of EverythingFreakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt
Buy new: $14.48 / Used from: $4.48
“Economist Steven Levitt’s best-selling book “Freakonomics” is not really about economics. It is about applying systematic reasoning to all sorts of social problems. Systematic reasoning is needed even more than economics.”
Freedomnomics: Why the Free Market Works and Other Half-Baked Theories Don'tFreedomnomics: Why the Free Market Works and Other Half-Baked Theories Don't by John R. Lott Jr.
Buy new: $11.18 / Used from: $5.18
A response to Freakonomics.
Nicomachean Ethics (Dover Thrift Editions)Nicomachean Ethics (Dover Thrift Editions) by Aristotle
Buy new: $3.50 / Used from: $0.01
Now to the theory section. Although Aristotle primarily discusses ethics, he does touch upon free enterprise.
Politics (Dover Thrift Editions)Politics (Dover Thrift Editions) by Aristotle
Buy new: $5.00 / Used from: $1.85
Aristotle saw this book as a continuation of his treatise on Ethics. Book 2 has a refutation of Socrates's and Plato's communalism, how it disincentivises prosperity.
The Theory of Moral Sentiments (Philosophical Classics)The Theory of Moral Sentiments (Philosophical Classics) by Adam Smith
Buy new: $8.77 / Used from: $7.21
Adam Smith's first book, the basis for his more famous second.
The Wealth of Nations (Bantam Classics)The Wealth of Nations (Bantam Classics) by Adam Smith
Buy new: $7.99 / Used from: $5.14
Please read this book before you criticize it. Slow, methodical, and lacking any of Marx's junk science, this book has a common-sense ring of truth.
The Declaration of Independence and Other Great Documents of American History 1775-1865 (Dover Thrift Editions)The Declaration of Independence and Other Great Documents of American History 1775-1865 (Dover Thrift Editions)
Buy new: $2.00 / Used from: $0.01
Read The Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.
The LawThe Law by Frederick Bastiat
Buy new: $5.95 / Used from: $24.74
This is the financial brother to the Declaration of Independence.
The Federalist Papers (Penguin Classics)The Federalist Papers (Penguin Classics) by Alexander Hamilton
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $2.93
The United States was to be a "commercial people" Federalist 24.