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Free to Choose  By  cover art

Free to Choose

By: Milton Friedman, Rose Friedman
Narrated by: James Adams
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Publisher's summary

Milton Friedman and his wife, Rose, teamed up to write this most convincing and readable guide, which illustrates the crucial link between Adam Smith's capitalism and the free society. They show how freedom has been eroded and prosperity undermined through the rapid growth of governmental agencies, laws, and regulations. While a large central government may have good intentions, the results it produces are lamentable. More than another indictment of government planning and bureaucracy, however, Free to Choose offers several convincing and creative remedies to the world's woes.
©1979 John McDermott, Forward 1990 Milton Friedman and Rose D. Friedman (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"Excellent book....This reviewer has never read a more straightforward and simple statement of the present ills facing our society and what we as citizens in a democracy must do about them." ( Chicago Sun Times)
"Milton Friedman puts verities back into focus and puts us back in touch with how a free and abundant society can work - if we let it. That is why he deserved his Nobel Prize in economics, and it is why you should read this book." ( Reader's Digest)

What listeners say about Free to Choose

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

The most compelling book (of any type) that I have read in years. The authors are so clear and straightforward, the ideas so natural, that I cannot believe that I waited until know to read this.

The examples are dated, but all of the history since seems only to verify the predictions made.

I highly recommended it for anyone interested in economics and politics.

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42 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Free to Choose

Although certainly not discussed in any University classroom in this country and probably banned by the state of California... This one book taught me more than and is therefore more valuable then my entire four year degree in political science.

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40 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Extremely Important Listen!!!

A friend recommended this book and I'm grateful he did. A knowledge of free market economics is a must these days, rather than making decisions based on media soundbites. As this book was written in the early 80's, familiarity with that time is helpful not only in understanding examples, but in seeing how things have played out since then. After this listen, move on to "The Road to Serfdom" by F. A. Hayek for more indepth exploration of ways to maintain economic and personal freedom. Important and interesting!!! The narration was well done and very "listenable".

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30 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A must read for all

One of the best books I have listened too. This should be mandatory reading for all. This book gives you facts and figures to backup the reason big goverment should not be

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17 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars

Should be mandatory

This is the best political/economics book I have listed/read and should be on the wishlist of anyone thinking about politics, economics and future in general. Regardless of your current political view, this information is important.

Milton Friedman paints his vision for the future based on Classical Liberalism (close to libertarism for Americans) with detailed examples on how the society would function in a free market environment. These examples are easy to understand and they are being articulated very well. Previous theories and especially socialism/marxism and anything around those ideologies.

Friedman political views being what they are this is obviously not a balanced book. He is driving his agenda and criticism toward that must be sought elsewhere. What is interesting, however, is that unlike many of his critics the ideas presented are not cold or corporism centric. Quite the opposite in fact. Friedman is not working to make corporations earn more or wishes to see poor people dying on the street. His views are, in short, that in a free economic environment the poor have more chances to become wealthy and that social security should stem from the community rather than federal government.

The issues raised in this book are even more relevant than they were at the time of writing. There are also much more counter arguments made after the publication which should make finding the balance relatively simple.

I highly recommend this to any intelligent person.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Great Book Bad Narrater

My only problem with this book was the narrater the britsh accent is hard to understand.

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10 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars

Absolute classic and still remarkably applicable

This text is one of the best on the subject of economics. Even though it's decades old, the analysis and principles are still shockingly applicable to our current times. The British accented narrator threw me off a bit at first, but I got used to it and enjoyed the book overall. This is definitely worth your money.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Milton is the Econ God

I wish that I were old enough to have followed Milton and Rose while they were still alive. Friedman just tells economics in the most interesting and down to earth manner. I proudly call myself a Friedman-ite now.

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7 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars

Good Economics Book and Great Narrator

The Narrator, James Adams is always good, nothing changed here. Still among the best.

The book itself is very well reasoned and an important subject matter to tackle. While Friedman's economic is not exactly libertarian, it better than anything you will get from a Keynesian.

Ultimately, the ability to irresponsibly print money and run massive deficits is not just a question of economics and financing government it's also a question of true democracy and true freedom. If you have a government that can act without limits and tax via inflation, then the people are not in charge anymore.

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6 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

the cause of the current financial meltdown

This book is worth reading so that you may understand the reasoning that led us to deregulate everything and cause the current financial collapse. The Friedmans deftly weave between fact, science, fiction, and opinion in a fashion that leads the reader to accept it all as science.

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6 people found this helpful