The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to a Radical Capitalism

I expected another worthy introduction to Libertarianism, but that's not what this is. Friedman does lay out the usual arguments about use of force and individual freedom. He extends from there into two less typical lines of thought. First, he introduced me to the ideas underlying anarchism, and how it means self-organized, mutual decision-making rather than complete chaos. He also provides a very thoughtful grounding in political philosophy, exploring the connections between libertarianism, utilitarianism, and pragmatism. He cuts apart any chance at purist libertarianism, using examples that would lead to initiating force against someone as the moral choice. He also introduces some extreme ideas beyond anarchy, the primary example show more being self-liberation for any child age 9 or older. show less

If David Friedman wanted to convert me into anarcho-capitalism with this book he failed at his task.
I'm not only not convinced that it is a viable idea for a functioning society, but I believe in it less as a result of reading this book.
It's not all bad though. The author touches upon some interesting aspects of the an-cap society I haven't read about before.
The book is organized very poorly. The chapter order is very incoherent, different portions of the book feel like separate entities not connected to one another, like a random stack of excerpts from different books.
Overall, not impressed. In case you are an anarcho-capitalist and want to share your philosophy with someone, this is not the book to recommend to them.

To me, this is very stimulating but rarely credible. The author is a personal friend, and I have debated many of these issues with him withoput either of us convincing the other.