It
has been a work years in the making, but finally the Study
Guide to the Scholar's Edition of Ludwig von Mises's Human
Action, is available. You can order the handsome volume here,
and – as we've come to expect – the Mises Institute
is generously providing the entire book free for download
here.
We hope that this new guide makes Mises's magnum opus less
intimidating. Each chapter of the guide starts with a summary
of the chapter from Human Action, broken down not just by
section but also down to the italicized subheadings in Mises's
text. Then, the study guide has a section on Why It Matters,
in which the chapter is placed in context, either historical
or even within the book itself. (While writing the guide,
I discovered that the progression of the chapters in Human
Action, as well as their arrangement into Parts, was much
more methodical than I had realized during previous readings.)
Once you realize that Mises has a definite plan for the book
– it is certainly not a Joycean stream-of-consciousness
riff – then its 881 pages are not as daunting. You realize
with each chapter, "Yes, now I see why Mises couldn't
really get on to Important Topic X until he first dealt with
the material he just covered."
After placing the chapter in context, the study guide then
offers Technical Notes. Often, these relate the chapter's
content to the mainstream approach, to help the graduate student
or professor digest the Misesian framework. This section also
points out possible problems with the material in the chapter,
such as an objection raised by later Austrians, or even a
possible contradiction with other parts of Human Action. The
purpose here, of course, is to encourage critical reflection
on Mises's great work. It is simply not true that Austrians
"worship" Mises and refuse to criticize him, though
critics often employ this straw man.
Finally, each study-guide chapter comes with a list of questions
(the bulk of which were prepared by Amadeus Gabriel). In contrast
to the Technical Notes, the purpose of the questions is to
ensure that the reader has grasped the essential points in
each section of the chapter.
Since I discovered it in high school, I have now read Human
Action at least three times cover to cover, and each time
it was different. I am confident that it is one of the most
important books (let alone economics books) written in the
20th century. For those who have dabbled with it, I strongly
encourage you – with the help of the study guide –
to pick it back up and start reading from the beginning. If
you would just decide to suck it up and start reading from
page 1, you may find that "the boring part where I get
stuck" never comes.