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Compassion Versus Guilt, and other Essays
A columnist for the Scripps-Howard News Service has compiled several of his short essays written for the common reader into a collection, covering such topics as affirmative action, media hype, and homosexual politics. 5 cassettes.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1987
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490 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Sowell
91 books5,641 followersThomas Sowell is an American economist, social philosopher, and political commentator. He is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. With widely published commentary and books—and as a guest on TV and radio—he became a well-known voice in the American conservative movement as a prominent black conservative. He was a recipient of the National Humanities Medal from President George W. Bush in 2002.
Sowell was born in Gastonia, North Carolina and grew up in Harlem, New York City. Due to poverty and difficulties at home, he dropped out of Stuyvesant High School and worked various odd jobs, eventually serving in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. Afterward, he took night classes at Howard University and then attended Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1958. He earned a master's degree in economics from Columbia University the next year and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago in 1968. In his academic career, he held professorships at Cornell University, Brandeis University, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He has also worked at think tanks including the Urban Institute. Since 1977, he has worked at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he is the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy.
Sowell was an important figure to the conservative movement during the Reagan era, influencing fellow economist Walter E. Williams and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He was offered a position as Federal Trade Commissioner in the Ford administration, and was considered for posts including U.S. Secretary of Education in the Reagan administration, but declined both times.
Sowell is the author of more than 45 books (including revised and new editions) on a variety of subjects including politics, economics, education and race, and he has been a syndicated columnist in more than 150 newspapers. His views are described as conservative, especially on social issues; libertarian, especially on economics; or libertarian-conservative. He has said he may be best labeled as a libertarian, though he disagrees with the "libertarian movement" on some issues, such as national defense.
Sowell was born in Gastonia, North Carolina and grew up in Harlem, New York City. Due to poverty and difficulties at home, he dropped out of Stuyvesant High School and worked various odd jobs, eventually serving in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. Afterward, he took night classes at Howard University and then attended Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1958. He earned a master's degree in economics from Columbia University the next year and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago in 1968. In his academic career, he held professorships at Cornell University, Brandeis University, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He has also worked at think tanks including the Urban Institute. Since 1977, he has worked at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he is the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy.
Sowell was an important figure to the conservative movement during the Reagan era, influencing fellow economist Walter E. Williams and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He was offered a position as Federal Trade Commissioner in the Ford administration, and was considered for posts including U.S. Secretary of Education in the Reagan administration, but declined both times.
Sowell is the author of more than 45 books (including revised and new editions) on a variety of subjects including politics, economics, education and race, and he has been a syndicated columnist in more than 150 newspapers. His views are described as conservative, especially on social issues; libertarian, especially on economics; or libertarian-conservative. He has said he may be best labeled as a libertarian, though he disagrees with the "libertarian movement" on some issues, such as national defense.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
September 20, 2018
For a collection of essays about trends and current events of the mid-1980s, this has aged remarkably well. Sowell isn’t just great at clearly communicating economic concepts — he finds what is simple and enduring and fundamental out of complex situations.
March 21, 2010
This is the first book by Thomas Sowell I have read. I am extremely impressed by his style (it has "punch"; he uses few words yet makes strong points) and empiricism (he examines results, not intentions, and the intentions of government programs are sold as compassionate, yet are usually implemented for power and control and the good results promised never materialize, yet we all pay the monetary and societal costs of the failed programs: a culture of politicians buying votes with other people's money, but also creating a class of helpless welfare dependencts).
May 29, 2020
Very educational and relevant even though most of the material was written 30 plus years ago.
September 14, 2016
This collection of columns is a good introduction to Sowell. It's not as majestic in scope as Cultures and Conquests, Intellectuals and Society, or The Vision of the Anointed (the best of the ones I've read), but gosh--these columns are 25 years old and could have been written this morning. He's like an angrier Jonathan Swift (if one can be imagined) combined with total self-assurance and contempt for contemporary sacred cows.
September 1, 2023
This book was published in 1987 and contains a series of essays written in the early 1980’s.
The importance of listening/reading this book today is to see how the issues addressed 30 years ago have blossomed and led to the blatant leftist policies of Democrats and the propagandist positions of the main steam media today and “woke” bias.
Should be required reading today.
The importance of listening/reading this book today is to see how the issues addressed 30 years ago have blossomed and led to the blatant leftist policies of Democrats and the propagandist positions of the main steam media today and “woke” bias.
Should be required reading today.
October 15, 2024
This selection of essays that are now well over 35 years old really held up. Sowell addressed some of the issues surrounding social justice and social guilt before it was mainstream. As always, he is clear headed and level minded on these topics.
October 28, 2024
Sowell's essays have aged incredibly well over the past 40 years. He communicates complicated concepts and implications of political policies in an accessible and concise manner.
June 16, 2024
ANOTHER COLLECTION OF SOWELL’S NEWSPAPER COLUMNS
Thomas Sowell (born 1930) is an economist, columnist, and author who has long been associated with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1987 collection, “These are essays of the 1980s---the decade which has seen attempts to change political direction in America, in the most fundamental way since the New Deal… These commentaries on the issues of the 1980s therefore span a wide range of enduring concerns. At the center of many controversies is the role of compassion. Guilt is often confused with compassion---to the detriment of the whole society… Early in these essays, I argue that there are no real solutions in politics---only trade-offs… All these essays were first published in newspapers… writing for the general public also gives a freedom not always possible when writing for a more academic audience.”
He states, “The green bigots try to give the impression that they are trying to save the law few remaining patches of wilderness, before it disappears under a covering of asphalt and concrete. In reality, the land owned by the National Park Service alone is larger than Great Britain. The land owned by the U. S. Forest Service is larger than France. In addition, the Fish and Wildlife Service is larger than Holland, Israel, Belgium and Switzerland---combined. Moreover, the federal government has been buying up still more land to add to this in recent years, despite budget deficits and other crying needs.” (Pg. 27)
He says of the welfare state, “The justification used for taking away what some people have worked for, and giving it to others, is that the recipients are unable to take care of themselves… Some members of society are clearly unable to take care of themselves---the physically or mentally handicapped, for example. But you can see some very healthy-looking people standing in soup lines, and hear middle-class accents among those using food stamps in the stores.” (Pg. 35)
He observes, “When I travel through California’s vast agricultural areas, the people I see working in the fields are usually Mexicans. So are many of the people who clean the hotels. But when I have been approached b a panhandler in San Francisco or Los Angeles, it has never been a Mexican. Almost invariably, the panhandlers have been young, healthy-looking whites with middle-class accents…. All I can do is walk past such people. To give them money would be to say that they are somehow better than the Mexicans who have toe earn their living by helping to feed the rest of society and by keeping hotels and offices clean. How these young, middle-class people get the NERVE to ask a black man (whose mother was a maid) for money is beyond me.” (Pg. 37) He adds, “At one time, people who didn’t work were called ‘bums.’ Today, they have been sanctified as ‘the homeless.’” (Pg. 38)
He points out, “One of the major ‘facts’ of our time …[is] the claim that a woman receives only 59 percent of what a man receives for doing the same work… this 59 percent comes from adding apples and oranges. Women average far fewer hours of work per year than men, partly because women work part-time more so than men. Women also remain on a given job fewer years. This is especially true of married women, and particularly those with children… If you compare people who are comparable, an entirely different picture emerges. Among people who remain single, women earn 91 percent of the income of men. Nor can the other 9 percent automatically be called ‘discrimination.’ There are physically demanding and well-paid fields that women seldom enter---mining, lumberjacking and construction work, for example. There are other well-paying fields that require a mathematics background that most women do not have… Even with all this, the difference in income between men and women is not very large, when comparing people who have never married. The big difference is between married women and everyone else.” (Pg. 92-93)
He laments, “The historic drift to the left in the Western world over the generations reflects in good part [an] imbalance in the world of ideas, rather than any success of left-wing politics when actually put into practice. Such policies have a record of economic disaster around the world, especially in Communist countries, but they are a roaring success politically in maintaining the support of academic and media intellectuals. All that has prevented the total and conclusive victory of the political left are the defections from its own ranks… Most of the leading figures who oppose the liberals and leftists in the United States are former liberals and leftists. Ronald Reagan and Milton Friedman were both liberals at one time… Irving Kristol, the godfather of neo-conservatism, was once a Marxist… Among blacks today regarded as ‘conservative,’ virtually all were once either liberals or leftists.” (Pg. 128-128)
He contends, “The homosexual political lobby depict themselves as a downtrodden minority. But they are not seeking to be left alone in peace. They already have that. Most people neither know nor care what they are doing. Far from being downtrodden victims, homosexuals are well-heeled, well-placed, and vindictive against anyone who dares to criticize them in any way… Homosexual politics centers upon the promotion of their way of life in public, in the media, and in the schools, to a captive audience of other people’s children. It is about the symbolic glorification of homosexuals and homosexuality. It is not about their right to associate with each other, but about destroying other people’s rights to decline the association, and to keep their children away from them in schools or in children’s organizations.” (Pg. 133-114)
He asserts, “‘Judicial activism’ is a fancy phrase for a very plain thing. When the law says A and the judge wants it to mean Z, he ‘interprets’ it as meaning Z. Deep thinkers may call that judicial activism. Back where I come from, we call it lying. Judges don’t just twist and stretch the law for fun. Usually they do it to promote some article of faith in the liberal creed. That’s what wins them the support of the media and academia.” (Pg. 141-142)
He points out, “Of this year’s 18 first-round draft choices of the [NBA], less than half graduated from the colleges they attended… This is a long-standing pattern among college athletes in other sports as well. While a relative handful of these youngsters will get dazzling salaries when they turn pro, most college athletes will not be chosen in any round by any professional team. More than 90 percent of college athletes never sign a pro contract. Add to this the fact that most college athletes do not get a degree---not even in Mickey Mouse subjects---and it is clear that a vast majority… have pathetically little to show for four years of their life down the tube. They have simply spent four years providing entertainment for their classmates, affluent alumni, media audiences, and for paying customers in the stadium. The rationale is that college athletics is an ‘amateur’ activity. Where else can you bring in a million dollars on a single Saturday afternoon and still call it an ‘amateur’ activity?... The colleges’ pious explanation of unpaid athletes who being in big bucks at the box office is that they are receiving an ‘opportunity’ for ‘education.’ This explanation wears pretty thin when you realize that most of these athletes don’t get a degree… Any sports fan knows that a disproportionate number of both college and professional athletes are black. Athletics provides a way for some to escape poverty and enter a world they would never see otherwise… There is a grand total of less than 3,000 blacks in all professional sports put together, including coaches and trainers. This is nothing for millions of black youths to rely on.” (Pg. 171-172)
Sowell’s comments are verbally more “pointed” than in his earlier collection (‘Pink and Brown People’), but they will be of great interest to nearly all conservatives.
Thomas Sowell (born 1930) is an economist, columnist, and author who has long been associated with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1987 collection, “These are essays of the 1980s---the decade which has seen attempts to change political direction in America, in the most fundamental way since the New Deal… These commentaries on the issues of the 1980s therefore span a wide range of enduring concerns. At the center of many controversies is the role of compassion. Guilt is often confused with compassion---to the detriment of the whole society… Early in these essays, I argue that there are no real solutions in politics---only trade-offs… All these essays were first published in newspapers… writing for the general public also gives a freedom not always possible when writing for a more academic audience.”
He states, “The green bigots try to give the impression that they are trying to save the law few remaining patches of wilderness, before it disappears under a covering of asphalt and concrete. In reality, the land owned by the National Park Service alone is larger than Great Britain. The land owned by the U. S. Forest Service is larger than France. In addition, the Fish and Wildlife Service is larger than Holland, Israel, Belgium and Switzerland---combined. Moreover, the federal government has been buying up still more land to add to this in recent years, despite budget deficits and other crying needs.” (Pg. 27)
He says of the welfare state, “The justification used for taking away what some people have worked for, and giving it to others, is that the recipients are unable to take care of themselves… Some members of society are clearly unable to take care of themselves---the physically or mentally handicapped, for example. But you can see some very healthy-looking people standing in soup lines, and hear middle-class accents among those using food stamps in the stores.” (Pg. 35)
He observes, “When I travel through California’s vast agricultural areas, the people I see working in the fields are usually Mexicans. So are many of the people who clean the hotels. But when I have been approached b a panhandler in San Francisco or Los Angeles, it has never been a Mexican. Almost invariably, the panhandlers have been young, healthy-looking whites with middle-class accents…. All I can do is walk past such people. To give them money would be to say that they are somehow better than the Mexicans who have toe earn their living by helping to feed the rest of society and by keeping hotels and offices clean. How these young, middle-class people get the NERVE to ask a black man (whose mother was a maid) for money is beyond me.” (Pg. 37) He adds, “At one time, people who didn’t work were called ‘bums.’ Today, they have been sanctified as ‘the homeless.’” (Pg. 38)
He points out, “One of the major ‘facts’ of our time …[is] the claim that a woman receives only 59 percent of what a man receives for doing the same work… this 59 percent comes from adding apples and oranges. Women average far fewer hours of work per year than men, partly because women work part-time more so than men. Women also remain on a given job fewer years. This is especially true of married women, and particularly those with children… If you compare people who are comparable, an entirely different picture emerges. Among people who remain single, women earn 91 percent of the income of men. Nor can the other 9 percent automatically be called ‘discrimination.’ There are physically demanding and well-paid fields that women seldom enter---mining, lumberjacking and construction work, for example. There are other well-paying fields that require a mathematics background that most women do not have… Even with all this, the difference in income between men and women is not very large, when comparing people who have never married. The big difference is between married women and everyone else.” (Pg. 92-93)
He laments, “The historic drift to the left in the Western world over the generations reflects in good part [an] imbalance in the world of ideas, rather than any success of left-wing politics when actually put into practice. Such policies have a record of economic disaster around the world, especially in Communist countries, but they are a roaring success politically in maintaining the support of academic and media intellectuals. All that has prevented the total and conclusive victory of the political left are the defections from its own ranks… Most of the leading figures who oppose the liberals and leftists in the United States are former liberals and leftists. Ronald Reagan and Milton Friedman were both liberals at one time… Irving Kristol, the godfather of neo-conservatism, was once a Marxist… Among blacks today regarded as ‘conservative,’ virtually all were once either liberals or leftists.” (Pg. 128-128)
He contends, “The homosexual political lobby depict themselves as a downtrodden minority. But they are not seeking to be left alone in peace. They already have that. Most people neither know nor care what they are doing. Far from being downtrodden victims, homosexuals are well-heeled, well-placed, and vindictive against anyone who dares to criticize them in any way… Homosexual politics centers upon the promotion of their way of life in public, in the media, and in the schools, to a captive audience of other people’s children. It is about the symbolic glorification of homosexuals and homosexuality. It is not about their right to associate with each other, but about destroying other people’s rights to decline the association, and to keep their children away from them in schools or in children’s organizations.” (Pg. 133-114)
He asserts, “‘Judicial activism’ is a fancy phrase for a very plain thing. When the law says A and the judge wants it to mean Z, he ‘interprets’ it as meaning Z. Deep thinkers may call that judicial activism. Back where I come from, we call it lying. Judges don’t just twist and stretch the law for fun. Usually they do it to promote some article of faith in the liberal creed. That’s what wins them the support of the media and academia.” (Pg. 141-142)
He points out, “Of this year’s 18 first-round draft choices of the [NBA], less than half graduated from the colleges they attended… This is a long-standing pattern among college athletes in other sports as well. While a relative handful of these youngsters will get dazzling salaries when they turn pro, most college athletes will not be chosen in any round by any professional team. More than 90 percent of college athletes never sign a pro contract. Add to this the fact that most college athletes do not get a degree---not even in Mickey Mouse subjects---and it is clear that a vast majority… have pathetically little to show for four years of their life down the tube. They have simply spent four years providing entertainment for their classmates, affluent alumni, media audiences, and for paying customers in the stadium. The rationale is that college athletics is an ‘amateur’ activity. Where else can you bring in a million dollars on a single Saturday afternoon and still call it an ‘amateur’ activity?... The colleges’ pious explanation of unpaid athletes who being in big bucks at the box office is that they are receiving an ‘opportunity’ for ‘education.’ This explanation wears pretty thin when you realize that most of these athletes don’t get a degree… Any sports fan knows that a disproportionate number of both college and professional athletes are black. Athletics provides a way for some to escape poverty and enter a world they would never see otherwise… There is a grand total of less than 3,000 blacks in all professional sports put together, including coaches and trainers. This is nothing for millions of black youths to rely on.” (Pg. 171-172)
Sowell’s comments are verbally more “pointed” than in his earlier collection (‘Pink and Brown People’), but they will be of great interest to nearly all conservatives.
August 29, 2018
Another great book by Sowell. I would have rated it a 5, but there are a few sections I took issue with. While I didn't agree with everything he said, and time would prove a few of his theories incorrect, overall he hit the nail right on the head. He identified in the 80's many of the problems that are at the forefront today. That made me realize some of these topics have been addressed for a significant amount of time with little positive development.
A common part in this book, and several of his others as well, is showing how a well meaning idea or program can have the opposite result to what was desired. Until we as a society can start looking a program and judging it by its results, instead of its stated goals, we are going to need the sort of reminders that he offers in this book. Too often the idea is that something failed because there was not enough (insert blank here) when the reality is that the problem was there was too much.
A good read for most people, but it should be remembered that these articles were primarily written in the mid 80's when different political viewpoints were the norm. At the time this was written the USSR was still an empire, Apartheid was still in South Africa, and 2nd world countries were still part of a normal vocabulary.
A common part in this book, and several of his others as well, is showing how a well meaning idea or program can have the opposite result to what was desired. Until we as a society can start looking a program and judging it by its results, instead of its stated goals, we are going to need the sort of reminders that he offers in this book. Too often the idea is that something failed because there was not enough (insert blank here) when the reality is that the problem was there was too much.
A good read for most people, but it should be remembered that these articles were primarily written in the mid 80's when different political viewpoints were the norm. At the time this was written the USSR was still an empire, Apartheid was still in South Africa, and 2nd world countries were still part of a normal vocabulary.
February 19, 2019
Several essays by Thomas Sowell from the 1980s (the book was published in 1987). Great foresight in many areas. The "Compassion Versus Guilt" in the title doesn't describe many of the essays, but Sowell would not have agreed with George H.W. Bush's advocacy of "compassionate conservatism." Most problems that existed in the 1980s are not going away and we are not on a trajectory that will make them go away or diminish over time. In his analysis, Sowell spares neither Congress, the Executive Branch, nor the Supreme Court, each of which has created or exacerbated long-term problems.
His 1985 "glossary translating political rhetoric into plain English" was amusing. Here is an excerpt:
"crisis": any situation you want to change
"bilingual": unable to speak English
"equal opportunity": preferential treatment
"non-judgmental": blaming society
"compassion": the use of tax money to buy votes
"insensitivity": objections to the use of tax money to buy votes
"simplistic": an argument you disagree with but can't answer
"rehabilitation": magic word said before releasing criminals
"demonstration": a riot by people you agree with
"mob violence": a riot by people you disagree with
"policy research": looking for statistics to support the position you have already taken
His 1985 "glossary translating political rhetoric into plain English" was amusing. Here is an excerpt:
"crisis": any situation you want to change
"bilingual": unable to speak English
"equal opportunity": preferential treatment
"non-judgmental": blaming society
"compassion": the use of tax money to buy votes
"insensitivity": objections to the use of tax money to buy votes
"simplistic": an argument you disagree with but can't answer
"rehabilitation": magic word said before releasing criminals
"demonstration": a riot by people you agree with
"mob violence": a riot by people you disagree with
"policy research": looking for statistics to support the position you have already taken
April 26, 2023
Forty Years. For nearly forty years these articles and essays have stood the test of time and passed. You could republish them today and they would be just as relevant. You might have to change a specific name here or there, but the ideas – those are unchanging. You could almost read this book as some kind of political devotional. Each ‘chapter’ stands on its own, yet together they build on each other toward a unified worldview. They are in an easy conversational style that grabs your attention and holds it right to the end. There are even dashes of humor throughout.
The best part is that they were written almost 40 years ago. Many of them are about, then, current events. We know how those events turned out. We can put his theories up against history and see if he was right. Turns out he was.
If you haven’t guessed, I heartily recommend it.
The best part is that they were written almost 40 years ago. Many of them are about, then, current events. We know how those events turned out. We can put his theories up against history and see if he was right. Turns out he was.
If you haven’t guessed, I heartily recommend it.
September 8, 2022
Really enjoyed this one, more like a 4.5 only because some of the material on foreign policy and economics reads dated. This is the second book I have read from Sowell and it was punctual as hell again in all the right ways. Sowell touches on large variety of topics all around the 80's and delivers consistent rebuttals that hold up 35 years later. He has more humor and relatability in this book being a collection of essays written over a span of years, some sections hit hard on their target, and others are whimsical and sarcastic analogies that break up the rigor nicely. The last few chapters read like a preamble to his 1995 book "The Vision of the Anointed" which I also just received, going to continue investigating Sowell's work because this was a great brain food book.
December 30, 2020
I've read most of Sowell's books but I was reluctant to read a collection of essays. I often found his news articles to be subpar to his books, but I'm running out of his books to read so finally went with this collection. It was great. While they were written decades ago, Sowell applies a consistent philosophical approach to the questions of the day, which give the articles a somewhat of a timeless element. In classic Sowell style, the writing is biting and funny. Sure, I don't agree with everything he says and it's interesting to apply hindsight, but the more things change, the more they stay the same.
April 7, 2021
I listened to this audiobook in the Spring of 2021, and aside from some dates references from history, most of Sowell’s points still ring true. Incredibly true! It’s amazing that some of the issues he addresses are still issues. But that is the thing about having principles — they apply year in and year out and always remain true!
And I will add this: Michael Kevin’s authoritative voice is not once dull or boring. It’s entirely engaging and effectual. 5-stars for the writing and 5-stars for the reading!
And I will add this: Michael Kevin’s authoritative voice is not once dull or boring. It’s entirely engaging and effectual. 5-stars for the writing and 5-stars for the reading!
April 8, 2023
Read "Discrimination and Disparities" before you pick up "Compassion Versus Guilt and Other Essays." This book is a collection of published articles from the mid 1980s from economist Thomas Sowell. There are some decent nuggets in the mix, but Sowell is really just a commentator here. There is not much in-depth economic analysis. And, of course, the fact the book is nearly 40 years old makes the political analysis dated.
For more reviews see thebeehive.live.
For more reviews see thebeehive.live.
July 3, 2025
I am normally not a fan of collections of short stories or articles. The main reason for this is because the articles are too disjointed and have no common thread. This is especially true when the stories are written by different authors. In this case, Mr. Sowell wrote all the articles and although they touch on a variety of subjects many of them, if not all, touch on common themes. I would rank this among his best works.
October 29, 2021
Short essays on a wide range of topics relating to politics, society, and economics in the 1980s. It’s just fine. Not a lot of depth, due to this being a collection of newspaper columns. It’s a mix of great insights that still hold true today and some stuff that hasn’t aged so well. Sowell certainly has a distinct voice and style that is fun to read.
January 23, 2026
It's just so fascinating to read stuff from over 40 years ago and to see just how much of it remains a present-day issue, especially if we're talking about news media, and the advent of reality television in general. Issues with Russia back then still exist now, while South African apartheid could easily be swapped with the Israel-Gaza situation right now and nothing changes.
April 6, 2021
Thomas Sowell is one of my favorite thinkers/writers. This collection of essays from the mid 1980's still hold up well today. While some things have changed since then, many of his thesis still ring true today. A good introduction to his general viewpoint and thought process.
October 12, 2021
Quick essays without the level of detail I have enjoyed in other books. Some interesting thoughts but for controversial topics I prefer the more in-depth analysis. Some essays have not aged well on social issues but most are first rate.
November 16, 2021
One of the best books I’ve ever read. If you’re an intellectual type, I think you’d enjoy reading this book as he helps you see ideas from a different angle from what it’s been presented as, thus helping you become more of a critical thinker. Thanks, Sowell!
October 5, 2024
A great book to read about how society was portrayed by lens of America liberal.
My review of this book: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T...
My review of this book: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T...
June 14, 2020
Excellent work, with a remarkable clarity on the difference between genuine compassion vs doing something out of a sense of guilt.
August 27, 2020
This book is a compilation of essays writing in the mid 1980s and are more relevant today than ever before.
September 10, 2020
Perhaps the same comments as Hayek.
October 19, 2020
Sowell is perhaps the smartest man I have read or listened to. I will be reading more of his work in the future.
January 5, 2022
"The more things change, the more they stay the same."
June 25, 2023
A great compilation of essays between 1984-1985 about topics of that time that still represent issues from 2023...
October 16, 2024
Sections varied wildly.
“if you want the connection between work and output to disappear, just say the word compassion”
“if you want the connection between work and output to disappear, just say the word compassion”
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews