Meet Me Halfway
What follows is a collection of texts that have been foundational to the very basics of the way I think and view the world, sorted by category. The materials here are things that I found interesting, not necessarily those in which I found myself wholeheartedly agreeing with. Any linked content directs you to the material in question, which if linked is probably short enough to finish in one sitting. Enjoy, but be warned – these might change the way you see the world…
Things You Can Read or Watch Online:
- Against Intellectual Property (Kinsella)
- Anatomy of the State (Rothbard)*
- Any and all debates featuring William Lane Craig (can be seen on youtube).
- Austrian Economics – A Primer (Butler)
- The Bastiat Collection, Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 (Bastiat)*
- Can Ron Paul Really Be Right about Everything?, or “On the Consistency and Foundations of Libertarianism” (Mullen)*
- Do Pessimistic Assumptions About Human Behavior Justify Government? (Powell)
- Economics for the Citizen (Williams)
- The Economics of Deflation (Hulsmann)
- Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature (Rothbard)
- The Book of Enoch (Unknown)
- The Ethics of Money Production (Hulsmann)
- The Fallacy of the Private Sector (Rothbard)
- On Government and the Private Production of Defense (Hoppe)*
- The Hallmarks of Cancer (Hanahan) (outdated, but interesting nonetheless)
- How Much Can Discrimination Explain? (Williams)
- The Impossibility of Limited Government (Hoppe) (essay form)*
- Inequality, Consumption, and Happiness (Horwitz)*
- Is Democracy More Peaceful Than Other Forms of Government? (Radnitzky)
- Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases* (Tversky)
- The Law (Bastiat)*
- Learn Austrian Economics Super-Resource (Woods, Et al.)*
- Market Chosen Law (Stringham)
- The Misesian Case Against Keynes (Hoppe)
- Monarchy and War (Kuehnelt-Leddihn)
- The Moral Nature of Rights (Glod)
- Natural Elites, Intellectuals, and the State (Hoppe)
- No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority (Spooner)*
- The Private Production of Defense (Hoppe)
- Privateering and National Defense: Naval Warfare for Private Profit (Sechrist)
- Remarks Before Congress Concerning the Federal Reserve (Klein)*
- The Size and Functions of Government and Economic Growth (Gwartney, Et al.)
- The State (Bourne)*
- That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Not Seen (Bastiat)*
- On Time Preference, Government, and the Process of Decivilization (Hoppe)*
- Understanding the Lord’s Prayer (Hahn)*
- Vices Are Not Crimes (Spooner)*
- War Is a Racket (Butler)
- War, Peace, and the State (Rothbard)*
- What Is Marriage? (Girgis & George)
Books on Catholicism:
- Architects of the Culture of Death (Wiker)
- The Ball and the Cross (Chesterton)
- The Bhagavad Gita (Unknown)
- Christ: The Eternal Tao (Damascene)
- Does God Exist? (Kung)
- Father Elijiah (O’Brien)
- Forgotten Among the Lilies (Rolheiser)
- Is There a God? (Swinburne)
- The Gospel According to Tolkien (Wood)
- The Great Divorce (Lewis)
- The Holy Longing (Rolheiser)
- How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization (Woods) (part 1 of synopsis series)
- The Jesus I Never Knew (Yancey)
- The Last Temptation of Christ (Kazantzakis)
- Life After Death (D’Souza)
- Mere Christianity (Lewis)
- Orthodoxy (Chesterton)
- The Return of the Prodigal Son (Nouwen)
- Secret Fire: The Spiritual Vision of J.R.R. Tolkien (Caldecott)
- A Severe Mercy (Vanauken)
- Silence (Endo)
- Somewhere More Holy (Woodlief)
- Why You Can Disagree and Still Remain a Faithful Catholic (Kaufman)
Books on Political & Economic Theory:
- The Black Swan (Taleb)
- A Conflict of Visions (Sowell) (synopsis)
- Crash Course (Martenson) (synopsis)
- Crash Proof 2.0 (Schiff)
- Democracy: The God that Failed (Hoppe)
- The Economics & Politics of Race (Sowell)
- Economics in One Lesson (Hazlitt)
- Empire of Illusion (Hedges) (synopsis)
- The Ethics of Money Production (Hulsmann)
- Ethnic America (Sowell)
- Free to Choose (Friedman, tv series)
- How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes (Schiff)
- Human Action (Mises)
- Intellectuals (Johnson)
- Meltdown (Woods) (synopsis)
- Metaphysics (Aristotle)
- The Myth of National Defense (Collection)
- Neo-Conned – Just War Principles: A Condemnation of the War in Iraq (Collection)
- The Revolution (Paul)
- Rollback (Woods) (synopsis)
- The Visions of the Anointed (Sowell) (synopsis)
- We Who Dared to Say No to War (Woods) (synopsis)
Books, Just for Fun:
- The Book Thief (Zusak)
- A Brief History of Time (Hawking)
- The Count of Monte Cristo (Dumas)
- Gone with the Wind (Mitchell)
- His Dark Materials (Pullman)
- I Am the Messenger (Zusak)
- Inheritance (Paolini)
- The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien)
- Thus Spake Zarathustra (Neitzsche)
- Shannara (Brooks)
- Sphere (Crichton)
- The Silmarillion (Tolkien)
- The Enneagram (Rohr)
If you have less time, and simply want small analyses of contemporary issues, check out the links page, especially those links which I have placed asterisks next to. The more I read and think, the more Catholic and simultaneously further libertarian (anarchist, even?) I become. Read Mises.org and LewRockwell every day for two weeks, and I promise you will begin to see the world differently (and more nuanced) than you do today…
Sola Nobilitas Virtus is an aggregate of knowledge concerning libertarian politics, Austrian economics, Roman Catholic culture, and mixed social commentary. It acts as a kind of free space where I can keep track of the things I find online and note why I think they are important, useful, dangerous, and/or unique to the world we live in. Though I try to stay away from the left/right slant, the themes are generally freedom and personal responsibility before all else. I also try to avoid transient or petty issues, and stick to recurring themes and discussions which lead to real-world conclusions that last, as opposed to the trivial disputes that are given so much attention in the media and political fora these days. I hope you enjoy reading, and if you disagree, please read on or comment. I always love a good challenge to my thoughts.
Thanks, Kev 