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On The Wealth of Nations (Books That Changed the World)

P.J. O'Rourke

Discussion: 2008-Jan-Feb-Mar

Why we're reading this: January 23, 2008
[close] January 23, 2008

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2008-Jan-Feb-Mar

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* March 2008
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 5 views

last updated Dec 30, 2010 04:54PM

* February 2008
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 6 views

last updated Dec 30, 2010 01:30AM

What Members Thought

Mar 05, 2009 Pang rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: recently-read

I really enjoyed the book, even though I expected it to be funnier. PJ O'Rourke interpreted and discussed Adam Smith's the Wealth of the Nation in his own words. I had never read Wealth, though I would like to attempt it once I find a bit more time to devote to it (not that it would be the longest book I've ever read, but I think the older English language might take me a while.) So, I took O'Rourke's interpretations as they were.

It amazed me how much of what Smith saw wrong about the English so ...more

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Sep 29, 2007 Angel rated it it was ok

Shelves: business-and-economics

After moving from Houston to Tyler, I finally got a new public library card. While I was browsing around, I came across this book in a small display the library had on books about current affairs. I have read O'Rourke's books in the past; I enjoyed his Parliament of Whores very much, so I figured this might be a good bet. If nothing else, it would be a nice way to get exposure to Adam Smith's big book with some sense of humor thrown in. We'll see how it goes.
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Well, now that I finished r ...more

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Aug 15, 2013 Rick Cagle rated it really liked it

Taken as an analysis of Smith's "On The Wealth of Nations", PJ O'Rourke's entry into this proposed series is uneven and light. Topics are treated more for humor, and he seems to vary between updating the sarcasm already present (and arguably better presented) in Smith's original, and subverting Smith's intent to support injected humor drawn from modern circumstance.

Take this instead as lighthearted entertainment, and a noted humorist's treatment of Smith's life and philosophy through the lens of ...more

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