Human Action

A Treatise on Economics

By: Ludwig von Mises

Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach

Length: 47 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's Summary

Human Action is the most important book on political economy you will ever own. It was (and remains) the most comprehensive, systematic, forthright, and powerful defense of the economics of liberty ever written. This is the Scholar's Edition: accept no substitute. You will treasure this volume.

The Scholar's Edition is the original, unaltered treatise (originally published in 1949) that shaped a generation of Austrians and made possible the intellectual movement that is leading the global charge for free markets.

Mises himself wrote the following by way of explanation of why he wrote the book: "Economics does not allow any breaking up into special branches. It invariably deals with the interconnectedness of all phenomena of acting and economizing. All economic facts mutually condition one another. Each of the various economic problems must be dealt with in the frame of a comprehensive system assigning its due place and weight to every aspect of human wants and desires. All monographs remain fragmentary if not integrated into a systematic treatment of the whole body of social and economic relations.

"To provide such a comprehensive analysis is the task of my book Human Action, a Treatise on Economics. It is the consummation of lifelong studies and investigations, the precipitate of half a century of experience. I saw the forces operating which could not but annihilate the high civilization and prosperity of Europe. In writing my book, I was hoping to contribute to the endeavors of our most eminent contemporaries to prevent this country from following the path which leads to the abyss."

The Scholar's Edition of Human Action is the definitive edition of this great work and foundation of every library of freedom.

©1949 Ludwig von Mises (P)2010 Ludwig von Mises Institute

Theory of everything

This explains it all.
It took me several years to get through this audiobook due to its length and scholarly language. It was especially tough to get through the first out of 7 books. But as soon as I started book 2, it became much easier. So many of my previous takes on things had to be reconsidered that it took this long to digest it intellectually. I had to read other books to get up to speed on various subjects, and it inspired me to develop a way of thinking and analyzing. Most chapters made my mind explode in awe as I realized what the author was explaining.
Very well written, although scholarly.

Better be prepared to bookmark

Where does Human Action rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

#3: Human action is definitely Von Mises best work, I consider this book to economics what the principia was to physics; it's final chapter the intellectual equivalent of dropping the mic.

Who was your favorite character and why?

There are no characters, its an economics treatise for goodness sake.

Which scene was your favorite?

Dear heavens, I'm pretty sure an algorithm went wrong here.

If you could give Human Action a new subtitle, what would it be?

Free Markets: Boom.

Long, but worth every minute. A true masterpiece.

Would you consider the audio edition of Human Action to be better than the print version?

Likely the greatest economic book ever written. I had never been able to finish the written book, but the audio book made me look forward to hours of business travel. Few writers have ever linked macro economic events back to the purchasing decisions of individuals so well. The first few chapters are a bit dry, but they lay the ground work in the psychology and philosophy of the individual that that make the rest of the book brilliant. He describes the future of the next 50 years after the book was written as a pure thought experiment on the consequenses of Kensian and socialist economics. His thought process makes the ongoing actions of the worlds central bankers almost predictable when you take into account the individual and group motivations of the monitary power structure. Strongly recommended with Currency Wars and Endgame as the best economic books in the Audible collection.

if you love you can how much you love this book.

it is a very long read but it's well worth it. I don't understand how the speaker could be so consistent butt so interesting. I've heard recordings of Ludwig von mises speak and was concerned that this reading would be difficult to grasp but it was very easy to hear and absorb. It was very insightful. and apparently he can tell the future.

a must

this is a book today everybody should listen to. sometimes it is hard to follow without a book handy, and it is very long... but that is a nature of material. the presentation and context it's brilliant!

a must read!!!!

couldn't put it down... answers a lot of questions about our current interventist state... this guy really gets it

Prolix, monotonous performance, but invaluable

Despite the prolixity of the text and the monotony of the reading, I'm sorry to say that this is a "must hear" audiobook. I confess it took me about 6 months to finish.

Human Action

Found it very difficult to comprehend sufficiently to get much value out of it. One for people of far higher intellect than myself. Good luck!

By far one of the best economics books ever!!

whether you are a believer of market economics or not, this is one of the best books ever written about market economics.

Necessary to everyone.

The best book for understanding the economical consequences of human actions. A masterpiece. I wish i had read that years ago.

Most important book in economics

No proper understanding of the economical science is possible without this treatise.
Mises was a gift to the world.