I just received a beautiful, personally-signed copy of Boundaries of Order: Private Property as a Social System from Butler Shaffer. I noticed the Mises Institute already has a PDF of the book available online. The books rolls out like this:

• Preface
• Introduction
• The Eroding Structure
• Foundations of Order
• Boundary: What Can Be Owned
• Claim: The Will to Own
• Control As Ownership
• Private Property and Social Order
• Property and the Environment
• Individualism vs. Collectivism Chapter
• Property and the State
• Conclusion

It’s a great-looking book, as are all books published by the Mises Institute. A $14 hardback is a bargain. The other book I am finally reading – I know, I know, it’s about time – is John Ross’s Unintended Consequences. Indeed, I have never read this book until now. The problem is that I have such a backlog of reading material that it’s hard for me to fit in modern fiction. Thanks to a friend who sent me this book, Edwin, I am now well into it’s guts and glory. I had decided to take this with me for my week in Tennessee as opposed to non-fiction of any sort. It turned out to be a great choice. Reading this book, on the back porch or out by the pond, at the most perfect farm anywhere, turned out to be a perfect setting.

The last book I am reading is Paul Gottfried’s memoirs, Encounters: My Life with Nixon, Marcuse, and Other Friends and Teachers. I will be reviewing this for the September 2009 issue of Young American Revolution, the publication of the Young Americans for Liberty. This is a really nice (quarterly) publication, by the way. I urge you to check it out.