Friday, May 05, 2006

One of the good guys

I am remiss for not paying tribute earlier to Louis Rukeyser, who passed on Tuesday.  I want to talk about just one thing he was responsible for - the  audio taped series  'The Great Economic Thinkers.'' I used to check out a few titles from the library to play during the frequent trips I took.  I ended up listening to them all, each one at least twice.  My biggest regret is that I didn't steal them from the liberry, because one day they were just gone.  Retired to the trash heap, I guess. Stab me in the liver.

Rukeyser covered the gamut, from Adam Smith to Karl Marx, Ludwig von Mises to John Maynard Keynes.  His treatment was non-judgmental, entertaining, and captivating.  In my opinion, anybody who listens to these tapes will increase their economic, and political acumen by a factor of 2. If you can afford to spend $200 for the equivalence of an Associate Degree in Economic History, it will be the best money you ever spent.  You can buy individual titles on E-bay, or specialty stores for as little as $3.95, but I think you would benefit greatly by listening to the tapes in order.
Here's a snippet of Rukeyser's style: Press when you get to the page.  PS.  If my family ever wants to chip in on a Christmas present  for me - I'd be delighted to have the set.  You can come over every Sunday, and we'll drink whiskey and listen to a tape.  How's that?

5 comments:

Jake said...

I always liked Louis. He was one of the rare reasonable minds to ever appear on PBS.

If you are willing to give up whiskey to get a set of tapes, they must be good. I can think of no higher recommendation than that.

Anonymous said...

I e-mailed you for your address to send the tapes to (as long as we're not drinkin' Old Crow...)

Anonymous said...

I have those tapes! And listening to them at least doubled my economic IQ.

I was going to gloat that I have them and you don't, but apparently some killjoy is sending them to you.

Rodger the Real King of France said...

I take it you're referring to Admiral of Combined Land Forces Jefe?

Anonymous said...

Amen!

Casca

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