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Rating: 
Summary: Uncommon Sense
Review: David Friedman has an uncommon ability to illustrate complex topics in Economics, Law, and Liberty. Yet while he skewers the collectivists, he also points out that some Libertarian positions are overly simplistic. His book helps you think, even when you have reservations about a few of his positions.The book has 4 parts. Part 1 is devoted to defending Human Rights in property. Part 2 is devoted to ideas for reducing the influence of goverment. The chapter "Buckshot for a Socialist Friend" is precious. Part 3 is an exploration of how a society might exist without a state, along with an admission that this might not always be possible. Finally, Part 4 is addressed to Libertarians in general.
Rating:
Summary: Uncommon Sense
Review: David Friedman has an uncommon ability to illustrate complex topics in Economics, Law, and Liberty. Yet while he skewers the collectivists, he also points out that some Libertarian positions are overly simplistic. His book helps you think, even when you have reservations about a few of his positions. The book has 4 parts. Part 1 is devoted to defending Human Rights in property. Part 2 is devoted to ideas for reducing the influence of goverment. The chapter "Buckshot for a Socialist Friend" is precious. Part 3 is an exploration of how a society might exist without a state, along with an admission that this might not always be possible. Finally, Part 4 is addressed to Libertarians in general.
Rating: 
Summary: Keep it Simple
Review: Despite his thorough knowledge and mathematical background, David Friedman is a master in keeping it simple for the reader. I rate this book very high because he achieves a great deal by communicating fundamentals on liberty, human behaviour and social organization, without narrowing the scope and always giving the reader the choice to extrapolate the basic ideas to other every day life situations. Although property rights might not be the core of this book, it has one of the best explanation and description of these all-important rights in human organization. Everything looks so simple afterwards, a possible consequence of applying a lot of common sense to these controversial topics. A great book for everybody, not only economists.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: I think this book is ingenious. Friedman obviously took a lot of time to figure out how a stateless society that respects property rights might operate. He offers potential solutions to various public goods problems. My favorite was his solution to money in chapter 46, where he suggests there should be a commodity-bundle based on receipts backed by various commodities. This is only one example of the many clever ideas he comes up with. Even if you aren't a libertarian or anarchist, I suggest you get this book at least as an excellent insight into anarco-capitalist theory.
Rating:
Summary: thank you
Review: I'll give Friedman's book this much- it's a worthy and interesting read. Unfortunately, it suffers from many of the same problems that all other technolibertarian manifestos suffer from. Friedman still can't solve the dilemma of how to make the transition from a welfare state based on Keynesian economics to a technolibertarian commons. He throws out the revolution rhetoric, but has no solution to replace it with- after all, who thinks that career politicians are going to give up their jobs so easily? Only electing libertarians to office could accomplish this task- and with the libertarian party continuing to flounder in unworkable political dogma and no real social support, such an occurance is unlikely. Friedman tries to solve the problems of national defense- and yet again fails. All that he can offer us is dodgy answers and semantic goo. However, I give the book four stars for several inspired ideas and chapters, and I recommend this book as a good introduction to the anarchist right for college Poli Sci students (like myself) and disaffected young liberals trying to escape the dogma of their leftist upbringing (also like myself).
Rating:
Summary: An Anarcho-capitalist Classic
Review: The Machinery of Freedom has been called the Bible for anarcho-capitlism and radical libertarianism (among other things, some not as flattering) but it isn't the definitive work. What it is, however, is a really great book that outlines many of the popular utilitarian/efficiency arguments for anarchy and puts it in a way accessible to everyone. David Friedman is probably the greatest living "father" of anarcho-capitalism, and this book is the main treatise available to a wide audience. The book bleeds logic and doesn't pull any punches - it is matter-of-fact and does what it purports to do: shows, briefly, how "public goods" could be privately provided and that Statism, especially welfare statism, is grossly inefficient. David Friedman, a physicist by training, is the son of Nobel laureate and Chicago economist Milton Friedman. Don't let his natural science background turn you away - David Friedman understands economics very well. Maybe it was destiny. His writing style is good, and his insights are some of the best, as a whole, in the history of anarchist thought. This book is a great introduction to anarchy as well, but don't expect too much hand holding - the book is fast paced. Friedman, while a "radical capitalist," does not go on tangents about the "revolution" or bringing down the system. The book is a scientific and philosophical inquiry, and as such is well thought out, well constructed, and well presented. The chapter on Iceland is well-researched, even if seemingly out of place. Overall, Friedman is a real thinker capable of presenting his major ideas concisely and in a readable fashion. Most educated readers will find it accessible, and I believe you will find it interesting if not completely eye-opening. Libertarians should read this to understand what it means to apply libertarian ideas consistently (forget "Libertarianism: A Primer"). The chapter on national defense is weak, and the moral/philosophical dimension is also weak, but the book is short. If you read this in combination with the works of Mises and Rothbard, you will have a good survey of the seminal works in anarchist thought.
Rating:
Summary: An Anarcho-capitalist Classic
Review: The Machinery of Freedom has been called the Bible for anarcho-capitlism and radical libertarianism (among other things, some not as flattering) but it isn't the definitive work. What it is, however, is a really great book that outlines many of the popular utilitarian/efficiency arguments for anarchy and puts it in a way accessible to everyone. David Friedman is probably the greatest living "father" of anarcho-capitalism, and this book is the main treatise available to a wide audience. The book bleeds logic and doesn't pull any punches - it is matter-of-fact and does what it purports to do: shows, briefly, how "public goods" could be privately provided and that Statism, especially welfare statism, is grossly inefficient. David Friedman, a physicist by training, is the son of Nobel laureate and Chicago economist Milton Friedman. Don't let his natural science background turn you away - David Friedman understands economics very well. Maybe it was destiny. His writing style is good, and his insights are some of the best, as a whole, in the history of anarchist thought. This book is a great introduction to anarchy as well, but don't expect too much hand holding - the book is fast paced. Friedman, while a "radical capitalist," does not go on tangents about the "revolution" or bringing down the system. The book is a scientific and philosophical inquiry, and as such is well thought out, well constructed, and well presented. The chapter on Iceland is well-researched, even if seemingly out of place. Overall, Friedman is a real thinker capable of presenting his major ideas concisely and in a readable fashion. Most educated readers will find it accessible, and I believe you will find it interesting if not completely eye-opening. Libertarians should read this to understand what it means to apply libertarian ideas consistently (forget "Libertarianism: A Primer"). The chapter on national defense is weak, and the moral/philosophical dimension is also weak, but the book is short. If you read this in combination with the works of Mises and Rothbard, you will have a good survey of the seminal works in anarchist thought.
Rating: 
Summary: Utilitarian Nonsense
Review: This is one of the worst libertarian books out there. David Friedman is one of those thinkers that makes libertarianism look bad. In this work, he presents the basic economic arguments against government intervention. To say the least, his exposition left me *underwhelmed.* In addition to this, he makes many poor arguments for anarcho-capitalism, falling far short of other more consistent, and not to mention intelligent anarchists such as Murray Rothbard or even the Tannehills. Furthermore, he makes an almost humorous attack on natural rights theory, ultimately falling flat on his face in the end. Lastly, he turns what could have been the only truly interesting part of his work, the section on ancient Iceland, into a horribly absurd joke by making assertions concerning the importance and quality of Icelandic literature. In the end, this is a genuinely bad book, and I would not waste my time with it.
Rating:
Summary: Anarcho-capitalism for everyone!
Review: While I am more of a rights based anarchist, I can appreciate utilitarian arguments against government. No one does a better job at presenting a utilitarian case for anarchism than David Friedman does in this masterpiece. Not only is Machinery of Freedom intellectually acute and persuasive, it is also a humorous and easy read for the lay person interested in libertarian thought. This book touches quite a bit on the issues that most libertarian anarchists find difficult to deal with, such as national defense and polycentric law. A good critique of government education is also offered as well as a two part section on monopolies. As a seasoned libertarian, I most enjoyed the postscript, which focuses on more advanced topics like private currency, law and econ, and anarchist politics. In sum, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in anarcho-capitalism, from those new to political philosophy to well versed freedom fighters.
Rating:
Summary: Goodbye Goober-Mentalism
Review: You can tell how good a libertarian book is by how angry it makes the social Jesuses of both left and right flavors of authoritarianism.
If you only read one political science book in your life, read this one. If you read more than one, read Rothbard and Hayek.
This may be an unintended consequence of his writing this book, but I stopped believing in government or rights after reading it.
Governments are just coercive organizations and rights are superfluous.
Deal with it.
I deal with the government as I would with any other coercive individual or organization, not necessarily as an enemy but as a potential trader and negotiator. I may avoid it, trade with it, or negotiate with it.
I deal with rights as simply values held by other people, but not some magical ether that pervades or transcends the universe in some way that obligates me.
The world is the way it is, and the nature of the world determines how I deal with it, nothing else. Nothing is added to the world by calling it God, nothing is added to organizations by calling them government, and nothing is added to human values by calling some of them "rights". There is no obligation inherent in states of affairs, just a set of if-then's, conditional implications based on your values.
Read this book and you will see that it's the machinery of *your* freedom.
Deal with it and prosper.
This book is a good companion to Harry Browne's How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World, and I hope readers of either one will also read the other.
Thanks, David.
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