David Friedman has narrated 5 audiobooks on Listento.it by 4 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.2★ across 4 ratings. The most-rated is The Machinery of Freedom - Guide to a Radical Capitalism.
The Machinery of Freedom - Guide to a Radical Capitalism
Summary
This audiobook argues for a society organized by voluntary cooperation under institutions of private property and exchange, with little, ultimately no, government. It describes how the most fundamental functions of government might be replaced by private institutions, with services such as protecting individual rights and settling disputes provided by private firms in a competitive market. It goes on to use the tools of economic analysis to attempt to show how such institutions could be expected to work, what sort of legal rules they would generate, and under what circumstances they would or would not be stable. The approach is consequentialist. The claim is that such a society would produce more attractive outcomes, judged by widely shared values, than alternatives, including the current institutions of the US and similar societies. The second edition contained four sections; this third edition adds two more. One explores in greater depth some of the ideas already raised, including discussions of decentralized law enforcement in past legal systems, of rights seen not as a moral or legal category but as a description of human behavior, of a possible threat to the stability of the system not considered in the previous editions, and of ways in which a stateless society might defend itself from aggressive states. The final section introduces a number of new topics, including unschooling, the misuse of externality arguments in contexts such as population or global warming, and the implications of public key encryption and related online technologies. Please note: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©1973, 1978, 1989, 2014 David Director Friedman (P)2019 David Director Friedman
Legal Systems Very Different from Ours
Summary
This book looks at 13 different legal systems, ranging from Imperial China to modern Amish: how they worked, what problems they faced, how they dealt with them. Some chapters deal with a single legal system, others with topics relevant to several, such as problems with law based on divine revelation or how systems work in which law enforcement is private and decentralized. The book’s underlying assumption is that all human societies face the same problems, deal with them in an interesting variety of different ways, and are all the work of grown-ups and hence should all be taken seriously. It ends with a chapter on features of past legal systems that a modern system might want to borrow. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 David Director Friedman (P)2020 David Director Friedman
We Can Be Kind
Summary
Be kind. The world is changing at lightning speed, and meaningful connections are increasingly elusive. David Friedman, creator of the hit song "We Can Be Kind" offers a powerful reminder of how we need to treat each other, from children to family to coworkers, as well as strangers, neighbors, and those across the political aisle. Through story, meditation, and suggestions of kindness, Friedman encourages us to create new ways of building community. Through the practice of kindness, we become most fully connected, alive, and integrated.
©2017 David Friedman (P)2020 Library Tales Publishing
Hidden Order
Summary
The book is for listeners who would like to learn economics for the fun of it - economics understood not as the study of the economy but as a tool for understanding human behavior: crime, marriage, politics, and much else. Praise for the book: "The book of the month is Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life. One doesn't normally think of an economics book as light and pleasant reading, but David makes it seem so. If you have any interest in economics at all, you'll find this book both readable and fascinating; and I guarantee you'll learn something from it." (Jerry Pournelle in Byte) “In David Friedman’s hands, economics becomes a sprightly science. Friedman has the rare knack of introducting fundamental principles with humorous examples. [A] dazzling array that runs the gamut from supermarkets to pirate ships. [A] clear picture of how simple assumptions about individual preferences and human rationality can increase our understanding of ordinary market behavior and a wide range of social institutions from marriage, to crime, to voting.” (Richard A. Epstein, The University of Chicago Law School) “Hidden Order helps us look at everyday experience from the perspective of basic economics. Readers will be surprised to learn how much economics explains about their own behavior as well as about that of others...” (James M. Buchanan, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 1986) "The author is a talented teacher, and he moves effortlessly from the traffic jams and grocery stores to the efficient-market hypothesis, price theory, and backward-bending labor curves." (Deborah Stead in The New York Times) “A surprisingly lucid and useful book, and about as appealing as economics gets." (Kirkus Reviews) David Friedman apparently has written the book for the purpose of teaching you something, something which many textbook writers apparently don’t feel the need to take into consideration.” (Garret Wilson, Booknotes interview) PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©1996, 2019 David Director Friedman (P)2020 David Director Friedman
Future Imperfect
Summary
Future Imperfect describes and discusses technological revolutions that might happen over the next few decades, their implications, and how to deal with them. Topics range from encryption and surveillance through biotechnology and nanotechnology to life extension, mind drugs, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence. One theme of the book is that the future is radically uncertain. Technological changes already begun could lead to more or less privacy than we have ever known, freedom or slavery, effective immortality or the elimination of our species, radical changes in life, marriage, law, medicine, work, and play. We do not know which future will arrive, but it is unlikely to be much like the past. It is worth starting to think about it now. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2008 David Director Friedman (P)2020 David Director Friedman