About this title: This is the first opportunity for modern scholars to have easy access to the first edited edition of The Wealth of Nations. Edited by William Playfair (the Scottish economist and inventor of the bar and pie-charts) and published in 1805, it is the first and most important early critical edition of Smith. Smith corrected his original 1776 text for ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: The Modern library, New York
Date Published: 1937
Description: Very Good. lx, 976 p. diagrs. 21 cm. "First Modern library edition 1937. " "The text of the present edition is copied from that of the fifth, the last published before Adam Smith's death. "--Pref. read more
Description: Good. 0865970084 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Hackett Pub Co Inc
Date Published: 1993
ISBN-13:9780872202054ISBN:0872202054
Description: Good. BOOK IS IN GOOD SHAPE SOME HIGHLIGHTING AND/OR UNDERLINING ALSO SOME WEAR ON THE BOOK BUY WITH CONFIDENCE 100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEED. read more
Description: P.F. Collier Sons, NY 1901, 8vos., green cloth, 456, 444, 456pp., frayed spine caps, front inner hinge cracked, faintly waterstained covers & a little rippling to text, some underlining, still usable, $ read more
Description: Ed., intro., notes &c. by Edwin Cannan, intro. by Max Lerner. 1st. Modern Library Giant, NY c.1937, 8vo. cloth, 976pp. pencilled, G $ read more
Description: Very Good. No Jacket. Leather or leather-like cover with gold lettering. Edited by Edwin Canaan with an introduction written especially for this heirloom edition by John Chamberlain. Date not given. Bright pages, firm binding. Looks great! (S54) read more
Description: Very Good. No Jacket. Leather or leather-like cover with gold lettering. Edited by Edwin Canaan with an introduction written especially for this heirloom edition by John Chamberlain. Date not given. Bright pages, firm binding. Looks great! (S54) read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Chicago: Encycolpaedia Brittanica, Inc. 1952, Chicago
Date Published: 1952
Description: 6 1/2 x 9 1/2. Hard Cover. 6 1/2 x 9 1/2. 468 pgs. In very good, clean condition. Owner emboss on title page. #38 in the 1952 set of Great Books of the Western World, University of Chicago. Dark Blue cloth cover with black title bands and gold lettering. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: P.F. Collier and Son, New York
Date Published: 1937
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. 564 pp. Vol. 10 of the Harvard Classics, edited by Charles W. Eliot. Red leather over boards. Number written on 1st end page. Otherwise unmaked read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date Published: 1993
ISBN-13:9780192817969ISBN:0192817965
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Slight edge wear to covers, prev. owner's name written on back of front cover. Clean and unmarked text, NO creasing to spine, tightly bound. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 668 p. Oxford World's Classics. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr, Chicago, Illinois
Date Published: 1976
ISBN-13:9780226763743ISBN:0226763749
Description: Used Good. Has minor highlighting. Has some shelf and corner wear. Has creasing to covers. Binding is in very good condition. Has stickers on spine and back cover. read more
Edition: Reprint
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Richard D. Irwin Publishing, Homewood, IL
Date Published: 1963
Description: Good. Two volumes complete. Softcovers lightly rubbed and egdeworn. Interiors very good, crisp and clean. A nice reading set.; 8vo. read more
Edition: Reprint
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Modern Library, New York
Date Published: 1965
Description: Very Good in Very Good dust jacket. Light rubbing at spine extremities and at tips of corners. Some creasing along spine. Erasure on front flyleaf; else pages clean. DJ has tiny chips at tips of corners and at spine extremities. 1/4" tears at top rear and bottom front. DJ spine just a bit sun-darkened. Else DJ clean.; 976 pages. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: William Benton/Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc, Chicago, Il
Date Published: 1952
Description: Very Good. No Jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Book is tight with no markings, number 39 of the great books of the western world, minor soiling to page edges, boards have light rubbing and head/tail have a little creasing. read more
Edition: Bohn's Standard Library
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: George Bell and Sons
Date Published: 1905
Description: Fair in very good dust jacket. Binding bumped, worn top & bottom; has become separated from front cover at top approx 1.5 in. Scuffing to cover & edges. Wear to corners. Pages are yellowed, esp at back. Last 2 pgs have sm tears. Separation from Binding... 552 p. Volume II read more
Description: New in New jacket. This Elibron Classics title is a reprint of the original edition published in London, 1786. This book is in English. This book contains 510 pages. Print on demand edition. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Liberty Fund, Indianapolis, Indiana
Date Published: 1982
ISBN-13:9780865970083ISBN:0865970084
Description: Good. Octavo 6" x 9" [Disp-Econ]. Two volume set. 543 pp; 544-1080 pp. Softcover, bound in wraps. Moderate shelf-wear, the covers rubbed. read more
"There is a good reason why this is the only work on economics that is in the canon of Great Books. Smith was not just writing to promote his free market ideology. He was also exploring the manner in which human societies organize themselves to make use of their resources and human capital. Along with his famous insights about the division of labor and the invisible hand of the marketplace, Smith also covers banking, capital formation, the rise of towns, the role of agriculture, the proper and improper expenditures of the government, and many, many more subjects of contemporary interest. While long and filled with dull spots, including 90-page digressions on the price of silver and the Corn Laws, this book is often profound. If you think of yourself as an educated person, and like to mouth off about the economy, you cannot avoid reading this book. Read all the way through one time and then dip back in where you like."
"Bible of free market economics. By reading this, you start to analyze simple things in a way that sheds light on potential economic opportunity. After all, the free market is about people and nations having the right to pursue activities that wealth.
This book breaks down commonplace situations that involve making money, then shows the components that affect that situation. The legal environment, the population, the natural resources, etc... By understanding these components, one can make wiser and more efficient decisions in the pursuit of wealth.
When I see infomercials for real-estate selling kits or other money-making schemes, it reminds me how much people (including myself) can be driven by both ignorance and emotion rather than wisdom."
"Not an easy read but worth it if you want to understand one of the foundations of modern intellectual thought. This is where the study of economics started. Adam Smith notions of "division of labor" and "the invisible hand" and taxation still resonate today.
I caution against this as a fun read. If you think economics is "the dismal science" than stay far, far away. If you want to get an understanding of what all those pundits are quoting, and misquoting, put a big block of time aside and make this your bedside table reading. It may put you to sleep a few times but it will also wake you up to how an author writing 1776 is still relevant today."
""The Wealth of Nations" is the book that changed greed to a virtue instead of a sin.
In fact, greed is one of the Seven Deadly Sins in Christian theology. Greed is a sin in ALL the great religions, including Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Zen Buddhism, Buddhism, American Indian Spiritualism, Wiccan nature love, Bahá'í Faith, Gnosticism · · Rastafari,Samaritanism, Indian Ayyavazhi, Jainism, Sikhism Iranian Ahl-e Haqq, Manichaeism, Mazdak, Yazidi,Zoroastrianism, East Asian Confucianism, Taoism,Recent Cao Dai,Chondogyo, Neopaganism, New Age, Seicho-No-Ie, Tenrikyo, Unitarian Universalism Ethnic/Folk African, Ancient religions, Prehistoric Near East Egyptian, Semitic, Mesopotamian Indo-European Celtic, Germanic Illyro-thracian, Greek (Gnosticism · Neoplatonism), Mithraism, Vedic Hinduism . . . .
All these religions say greed is wrong. All these religions say you should not gather wealth at the expense of your neighbors. But this man Adam Smith says it is OK to do whatever is necessary to obtain wealth. Adam Smith says it is a good thing to allow your instinct toward selfishness to rule your life. He calls it Capitalism. And it works for a century or so before the robbed and disenfranchised revolt and kill off the greedy ones who rule society to their benefit.
Greed is the basis and essence of Capitalism, especially US Capitalism, in which every individual is guaranteed the "right to pursue happiness". Has anyone EVER questioned that? Why is more important to be happy than to know where you fit into the Grand Scheme? Why is more important to make money than to find and free your spirit? Look at any wealthy person who gained his or her wealth through competiton -do they have a healthy or unhealthy spirit?
In turning greed to virtue, Adam Smith has created an economic system that more accurately has been called "Social Darwinism". In other words, according to Smith, it is perfectly natural for the meanest, strongest, most clever individuals to gobble up so much capital that the great majority of people are left with crumbs.
The weakest of us "deserve" to be poor, according to Smith. The Bible and every civilized religion in the world disagree, saying greed is a sin because the individual chooses to be greedy even though he/she knows it will cause great shortages of money among the meek and powerless.
Capitalism therefore is a sin, not an acceptable economic system. So long as there exists a middle class nothing catastrophic should happen to the society embracing this sin. But right now the middleclass is disappearing in the USA (as it has in all empires), leaving only the few monsters at the top and everyone else in poverty.
Forgive me for reading and for using my mind to agree or disagree with the author. I know most of you are capitalist because you are citizens of the USA. I am frankly a disciple of Diogenes and believe we should all be free and enjoy life -- there is plenty to go around without getting into a harness and working yourself to death. Let's face it, communism would have worked if they'd killed off the hogs as they rose to power. There are always hogs in society -- it is the duty of society to keep them chained or jailed.
Adam Smith, to a real Christian, is Satan personified. How devious and clever to claim a sin is a virtue. I recommend reading this admittedly fascinating book because it is an explanation of why Rome, Great Britian, the Ottoman Empire, et al, in the end collapsed because of greed made a virtue.
Adam Smith eloquently and wittily pretends to be a friend to the common person. So does "Das Kapital" and "Mein Kampf".
I personally am not a communist, socialist nor capitalist. I'm absolutely a nobody and you can take that to your corrupt bank. I revel in the freedom of my mind! I am an old graybeard and have read a thousand books --I was cast out of the 20th Century for chastising lesser minds, indifferent minds. I have been driven mad -- but in that madness there has come a clarity. It is so bright and wonderful that I can see clearly what I could not see before.
I hope this will attract bitter diatribes (Webster: bitter and abusive writings) against me and my blanket condemnation of Adam Smith's dangerous book. That will mean that my words here have been read and considered. Is that too much to ask in this dispassionate world?"
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