Lifelong Learning in the LvMI Forum
I'll be periodically posting about interesting topics and discussions going on in the Ludwig von Mises Institute Forum. I encourage anyone interested in the scholarship of liberty in the Austrian tradition to join and partake of the bounty of intellectual stimulation on offer there.
One of the best things about the LvMI forum is the passion for lifelong learning that is in the air; the place is chock full of autodidacts who pursue their independent Austrian studies with more dedication than you're likely to find in any university study hall.
This ardor for erudition has especially been on display in the past couple of weeks with several threads devoted to the subject of independent learning.
Forum member Fephisto sought advice on how to most efficiently pursue his Austrian studies:
Given that there is so much to study, so much to read, so many skills to obtain, and so many things to learn....
How do you guys remain productive?
Answers included forswearing TV, maintaining one's health, and utilizing podcasts and ebook readers to fill in idle moments.
And ebook readers were the main topic of another thread started by Forum member Toban, who wrote:
It's nice having all the books available as free pdfs, but it's not so nice having to read them on a computer screen (eyestrain). That's why ebook readers will be such a boon to the Austrian readership. They use a non-lit screen (think etch-a-sketch), so it's like reading paper: no more eyestrain.
Unfortunately, the technology (E Ink) is patented and that's slowing down the competitive process, so the devices are still pretty expensive and lousy. But more and more companies are putting out devices, so in the near future there could be some decent ones for reasonable prices.
Once they get better, ebook readers will be the perfect combination for the Mises.org literature. You could download all the books you want for free, and read them on an eye-friendly display. This could be a huge new medium for spreading the Austrian literature.
In a response, forum member Le Master gave a mixed review of his Sony eBook Reader:
I have hundreds of PDFs from Mises.org spanned across a couple memory cards. It's extremely convenient to have a library in which you can take everywhere.
The PDFs aren't in the best format, though, for the reader. The text is extremely small, so you have zoom in. When you do that, the format goes out of whack.
It's still well worth it. I read in its entirety Man, Economy, and State on it, and I was able to switch over to the study guides whenever I desired.
Laughing Man gave us the low-down on the Kindle DX
Well Kindle DX is the only Kindle that can recognize PDF's. The other ones you would have to convert [ Kindle 1 and 2 ]. However with the Kindle DX you get the look exactly as they do on computer. You can zoom in on the PDF by turning it sideways. I had a Sony Reader before this Kindle and I actually returned it because of a lot of what Master was having problems with. The Sony had broken text and it had a small screen and didn't have a big library. I would recommend the Kindle DX to any member here because the whole Mises library is PDF and so is the Online Library of Liberty. So we obviously read a lot of PDF's.
And of course, people are excited and hopeful about Barnes and Noble's "Nook".
For my part, I recommended that everyone with an iPhone download Stanza, a free ebook reader. Both Human Action and Man, Economy and State are available in Stanza's "epub" file format in the LvMI media section. And to paraphrase John Adams, you're never alone with an economist in your pocket. I posted a mini-tutorial on how to put both Stanza and the wisdom of Mises and Rothbard in your iPhone.
Peter Sidor started a thread in which people shared sources for online books to read on your computer.
Le Master started a thread for the celebration of paper-and-ink Austrian books. He enjoined Forum members to post photos that "show off your [ever-expanding] library of Austrian books." His own collection looks quite impressive, especially poised majestically upon his Oxford English Dictionary set. (By the way, Le Master has successfully petitioned the Oxford University Press to add "panphysicalism", a term frequently used by Mises and Hazlitt, to a future update of the OED. And he's working on making a case for the term "Misesean".) And finally he also shared an anecdote soaked (quite literally) with painful irony.
I was carrying a stack of my Austrian books to my car today (which was parked in the street) and something pretty amusing happened. The Privatization of Roads and Highways by Block fell and landed in a puddle of mud in the road.
I like to keep my books in pristine condition, so I'm pretty bummed. I've trying to clean it all day, but it's ruined.
However as passionate as Forum members are about independent learning, most any of us would jump at the chance to study under the guidance of our heroes in Austro-academia. Forum member Adam Knott in particular has a dream of an online, year-round Mises University.
K.C. Farmer, at first had some misgivings about the idea
Self education and research seems to be a driving force behind Mises.org. While a full-fledged traditional university would be cool, how many of the excellent people who contribute would be unable to do what they do now? I'd also suggest that the last thing to do in spreading the word is to draw professors away from other universities and colleges where they may be more effective in converting students to our position.
An understandable concern to be sure, but I respectfully differed:
Unfortunately, I haven't seen a lot of students who have had the fortune to study directly under Block, Salerno and others at their current universities, going on to become strong voices for human freedom and Austrian Economics. I've heard Block and Raico in lectures express frustration at the overwhelming Commie tendencies of most of their students. I think most University students of these great men simply are deaf to their message.
I think Adam's idea would be more effective. It would involve teachers like Block and Salerno providing students, who already have the passion (gained from their own independent studies), with rock solid and super-efficient academic training.
For example, Liberty Student, Laughing Man, and nirGraham are strong writers as they are already: LS in political theory, LM in history, and nir in economics. But can you imagine how strong they'd be if LS studied directly under Block, LM under Raico, and nir under Salerno? They'd be titans!
After their tutelage directly under such brilliant teachers, they then could go on to edify their own students in the same way.
Now THAT would be a recipe for a victorious academic movement.
K.C. Farmer later on had some of the most interesting and compelling ideas in the whole thread regarding how such a university might actually work.
As you can hopefully see, the LvMI Forum is a place teeming with the dynamic interplay of ideas and aspirations, as well as an excellent resource for advice and information. So pick a username and join in!
Comments (13)
newson
i like reading books in pdf format. blow up the print nice and big, use autoscroll, and do weights while i read. mens sana in corpore sano.
Published: November 8, 2009 1:13 AM
disgruntled libertarian
I'll be periodically posting about interesting topics and discussions going on in the Ludwig von Mises Institute Forum. I encourage anyone interested in the scholarship of liberty in the Austrian tradition to join and partake of the bounty of intellectual stimulation on offer there.
I certainly don't plan to partake of the endless flame wars, the pointless hypothetical scenarios, the quasi-political activism, and, of course, the eminent Great Anarchist Revolution that the rest of the world has failed to notice. Even when the discussion is remotely related to economics, I realize that the other people on the forums are no smarter than I am, and that my guess is as good as theirs; it is a waste of time to ask them questions. The Daily Articles and literature are thought-provoking, but as for the forums, their motto should be:
The Internetz: All Ideology, No Scholarship
Published: November 8, 2009 2:08 AM
jeffrey
Well, disgruntled, I say to you what I say to anyone who complains about the intense debate and fast pace of the forum: the forum is driven and created by users. No one forces anyone in or out. It's shape and direction are driven entirely by users.
Published: November 8, 2009 6:25 AM
Laughing Man
Disgruntled,
I think you unfairly criticize the Mises forum. It is a wonderful place to exchange ideas with other actors concerning liberty orientated positions. The daily articles of the LvMi are nice, but that is what they are...articles. It is good to stay inform about the current events of the world but these articles are not necessarily an environment in which you can digest this information and rationalize it with other actors. There is a constant exchange like Mr. Tucker pointed out with his comment about 'fast pace.' Perhaps you have had a bad experience with other internet forums [ I know I have ] in which people are so stubborn with the mentality of 'I'm right, you're wrong, shut up' At the forums we cite sources, engage in thoughtful discourse, create new ideas or expand and extend old ones. There is a whole host of issues that are discussed in the forums and you could be missing out on some really interesting information. Lilburne and other moderators are making a solid effort to reach out and attract new actors into the forums to enrich the discussion, give it a shot, you maybe pleasantly surprised about what you learn while you are there.
Published: November 8, 2009 6:39 AM
Hanz
Jeffrey, if there's a program that could convert the scanned documents to formatted text (and keep the associated pictures if there are any) then you could save hundreds of gigabytes on bandwidth and you won't have the text-sizing problem with ereaders.
Published: November 8, 2009 11:11 AM
Bryan Zubrod
Regarding the Sony ebook reader, I own one and PDFs do indeed show up very small at times.
However, I have been able to use Adobe Acrobat Pro to cut off all the margins of PDFs and it looks much better. I'm not sure if there is free software out there to do the same thing.
Otherwise, if you have the latest firmware installed (most of them come with it I believe) then you can zoom more PDF files and their text will show up fine, although some unwanted line-breaks can show up.
Published: November 8, 2009 1:02 PM
angurse
Thanks, disgruntled, the last thing the forum needs is more participant in the endless flame wars, pointless hypothetical scenarios, the quasi-political activism, and, the eminent Great Anarchist Revolution that the rest of the world has failed to notice. But if you have something worthwhile to contribute I'd at least like to hear it (and then I could turn it into a massive flame war).
Published: November 8, 2009 3:00 PM
Peter Boettke
"Unfortunately, I haven't seen a lot of students who have had the fortune to study directly under Block, Salerno and others at their current universities, going on to become strong voices for human freedom and Austrian Economics. I've heard Block and Raico in lectures express frustration at the overwhelming Commie tendencies of most of their students. I think most University students of these great men simply are deaf to their message."
I cannot speak to the situation with respect to Prof. Raico and Prof. Salerno, but I do think your description of the unfortunate situation with respect to Professor Block and his students is a mistake. During his time at Holy Cross, he influenced Ed Stringham and Andy Young so strongly that they are now professors at Trinity College and West Virginia University respectively. Since at Loyola he has had a stream of students go and earn PhDs and now teaching Austrian economics: Dan D'Amico, Jenny Dirmeyer, Emily Schaeffer, and former sudents are currently getting PhDs.
Block, like Sennholz and Ebeling, has amassed an amazing record as an inspiring teacher.
I think a good idea would be to build up the network of former students of the professors you highlight: Block, Raico and Salerno.
Published: November 8, 2009 5:19 PM
Lilburne
Hi Dr. Boettke,
I'm sure that any former students of Dr. Block who were open-minded enough to be deeply influenced by him are superb. However, I think there would be many more like them if the medium through which Austrian professors and potential Austrian students found each other was more dynamic, loose, and customer-driven.
I agree with you that Dr. Block is an amazing and effective teacher. In fact I think he is MORE amazing and effective than the results you refer to would signify. As grateful as we should be for those young scholars you rightly call attention to, I believe they are the tip of the iceberg of Dr. Block's potential.
Lilburne
Published: November 8, 2009 5:48 PM
Daniel
The Mises.org Community Forum is an informal social club for Austrolibertarians and new comers with Autrolibertarian leanings. It's a virtual room for people from all over the world to engage in debates, ask questions, seek advice, and exchange ideas. For scholarly work, there are LibertarianPapers.org, the Mises Dailies, etc.
Published: November 8, 2009 6:16 PM
Fephisto
(gets over the 5-minutes glee over being on an article on the front page :D)
Published: November 8, 2009 7:13 PM
Ryan
Posted my goods --> http://mises.org/Community/forums/p/11765/267488.aspx#267488
Published: November 9, 2009 1:33 AM
G8R HED
I appreciate the opportunity that the von Mises forums offers for real people to talk to real people.
It is an opportunity for those outside of acadamia to rub elbows with current participants - the 'trained' to converse with the 'un-trained', young and old. Elitist egoism is commonly encountered in everyday exchanges. Certainly online forums are not exempt.
My Dad used to say to me when I was younger: "Don't take yourself too seriously."
Now that I have met or exceeded median temporal existence I maintain that the difference between a philospher and a tautological semanticist is "P.H.D."
(...my Dad never finished what I think he ought to have added: "....because no one else does.")
;)
Published: November 9, 2009 12:55 PM