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The Great Minds Series version has parts missing! Sep 26, 1999 (339 of 359 found this helpful)
I was origionally reading the text version of this book on the internet until the printed version came. I was downtroden, sickened, and even frightened to find that the Great Minds Series version of The Wealth of Nations is incomplete, yet gives no indication whatsoever of being so.
The introduction and chapters 2, 3, and 4 of book 3 are simply not there. They are not even listed in the table of contents. There is no discrepency in the page numbers, or any other teletale indication that it is incomplete. It is not written anywhere that it is an abrigement.
I want to point out how careless it is and how misleading to the reader in comprehending the philosophy of Adam Smith to print an incomplete book without any warning.
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Watch Out! Jun 19, 2002 (108 of 111 found this helpful)
I have no criticism with Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations." My criticism is with the Great Minds Series edition of the book. The Great Minds Series is an abridged version. Huge chunks have been edited out of the book, yet nowhere do they let you know this before making the purchase. I bought this book specifically because I wanted to cite it, and I can't because the parts I wanted to quote have been edited out.
Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" is a worthy book for any private library, but purchase an edition other than the one offered by the so-called "Great Minds Series."
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How to lift a nation out of poverty Oct 20, 1999 (57 of 58 found this helpful)
Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations brilliantly analyzes how a nation's living standards can be raised. In large part his wisdom still applies today. To briefly summarize Smith's thinking:
1. Standards of living are determined by the productivity of workers.
2. Productivity of workers is greatly enhanced by specialization (see the famous example of the pin factory in the first chapter!).
3. Greater specialization is possible only if the market size grows. Thus, government laws that prohibit growth of the market hurt specialization, and thereby keep living standards from rising. This is why Smith opposed laws that restricted trade or created monopolies. Smith actively worked to keep Britain from going to war against its American colonies over trade issues. The Wealth of Nations is a political tract designed to sway the British parliament (obviously it failed in that regard).
4. Productivity of workers is enhanced by raising their wages.
5. Productivity of workers is enhanced by publicly funded education.
6. The role of markets is exquisitely analyzed by Smith. Self-interest leads people to carry out private activities that lead to social betterment, as if by an "invisible hand."
7. It is a serious misinterpretation of Smith to assert that greed or selfishness is the same as self-interest. Smith labored hard to avoid any such confusion. Please see his other book which addresses this specific issue: The Theory of Moral Sentiments.
8. Clearly Smith favored limited government. But Smith was NOT a strict advocate of laissez-faire. He ended his illustrious career as commissioner of customs, a job he took seriously, and which he would not have taken had he not thought this level of intervention in the economy warranted.
Read the first three chapters of WN: they contain the essence of the arguments above. Then look in the index to find reference to the "invisible hand" "monopoly" "colonies" and other subjects of interest.
Buy the GLASGOW EDITION of the Wealth of Nations. This is the most up-to-date annotated version. It is available (very cheaply) from the Liberty Fund Press in America. If you only want one copy, that is the only one to buy today.
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Get the edition having Edwin Cannan as editor Aug 24, 2005 (39 of 41 found this helpful)
Just as some editions of The Wealth of Nations should
be avoided because of undisclosed abridgement (see
reviewers below), other editions ought to be sought out
and preferred.
Look for versions involving Edwin Cannan as editor.
These include the University of Chicago edition (1976) in
paperback and the Modern Library edition (1994) in
hardcover. (To my knowledge, neither of these editions
is abridged.) In 1904, Cannan, a professor at the
London School of Economics, did two things that greatly
add to the value of Smith's book.
First, Cannan prepared a detailed index. For example,
"invisible hand" appears in it. Just try to find the
one (and only one) appearance of that phrase without
an index. Most of the non-Cannan editions I've looked
at lack an index.
Second, Cannan wrote and added brief marginalia. His
words facilitate skimming, something most readers of
this thousand page book are apt to do. His words and
phrases are also easily ignored. They don't get in your
way once you've found the pages you want to read.
(Reviewer T. Grimes comments on the marginalia as
well.)
Finally, reading The Wealth of Nations shows Smith to
be different from his usual portrayal. He can be
wickedly satirical. Anyone who has been to college will
recognize much that is familiar in his thoughts (in
Book V) on "Education of Youth". And he also frankly
addresses the downsides of capitalism. The book begins
with the division of labor as a powerful means of
adding productivity. But later (pp. 839-41 in my Modern
Library edition), he recognizes the destructive effects
of division of labor and, in response, recommends
government investment in public education. As one who
once earned a good living as a computer programmer, and
who is now retraining, I am finding perennial relevance
in The Wealth of Nations.
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The only great seminal work I found lucid and persuasive Oct 20, 1999 (36 of 38 found this helpful)
When I was twenty I set out to read the seminal works of a wide range of disciplines. I read Darwin, Newton, Einstein, Hobbes, Machiavelli, Plato, Aristotle, Levi-Strauss, Jung, Campbell, Freud, Frazer (abridged), Epictetus, Keynes, Adam Smith, and others I can't remember. In most cases I was disappointed. I realised that in many cases the first exposition of an idea is difficult and obscure, and that it is the later, summarising writers who collect the best and clearest explanations of profound thoughts.
The exception was Adam Smith's 'Wealth of Nations'. Only later did I discover that he began his amazingly varied academic career as a teacher of English prose style. It came as no surprise.
Smith's writing is a brilliant as Gibbon, but even more lucid. His insight is profound. And his marvellous style of explanation makes the reader feel like a genius. Somewhat to my astonishment, the only part of his argument that I found at all difficult was the section on international exchange, which I had to translate from terms of flow of specie to terms of exchange rates of fiat currencies. Of all that stuff I read that year, Smith's 'Wealth of Nations' was the clearest, most persuasive, and most inspiring.
It is because of Smith that the next year I took up the study of economics at the Australian National University. I came first in my class: my prize? A copy of 'The Wealth of Nations', much appreciated.