A Book: Jonathan Gullible

[non-contradictor]

Has anyone read Jonathan Gullible? It was one of my favorites when was little. I've just read it again and now I know where my interest in Objectivism came from. Well obviously, its not specifically objectivist, nut its the closest thing I've ever read that wasn't written by Ayn Rand. So if any of you have read it, tell me what you think. If not, I highly recommend it!

[roscov6]

Has anyone read Jonathan Gullible? It was one of my favorites when  was little. I've just read it again and now I know where my interest in Objectivism came from. Well obviously, its not specifically objectivist, nut its the closest thing I've ever read that wasn't written by Ayn Rand. So if any of you have read it, tell me what you think. If not, I highly recommend it! 

I put GULLIBLE into a search box and got a website on financial planning and cheap phone calls.

Anyway, thanks for the book review, and I will read Jonathan Gullible.

[Legendre]

Yeah, I've read Jonathan Gullible. It's very good. The author, Ken Schoolland, was a teacher of mine at Hawaii Pacific University. You're right about it not being particularly Objectivist (it's classical liberal), though the author does recommend Ayn Rand's books.

non-contradictor, which edition of the book have you read? The first edition was published some time in the 1980s, the second edition was from 1995 (it has a bluish-greenish cover), and the most recent one is from 1999 (the cover has a map design and a blurb from economist Milton Friedman).

I ask because Prof. Schoolland has added new chapters with every successive edition. You can actually read all of the latest edition online here.

The author and publisher do not actually think of it as a children's book; it's meant for all ages. Prof. Schoolland was doing satirical skits on talk radio back in the 1980s and a free-market advocate suggested compiling all of those skits into a single book. And thus came the birth of The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible: A Free Market Odyssey. Prof. Schoolland told me that adults, more than anyone, need to learn the economic principles illustrated in the book. The chapter "Candles & Coats," for example, is a satire on tariffs, duties, import quotas, and other barriers to international trade.

[non-contradictor]

I read the bluish edition and I probably only thought of it as a children's book because that was when I read it.

[scottkursk]

The author and publisher do not actually think of it as a children's book; 

I was in high school when I read it and thought of it as a "young adult" reader. Like The Girl Who Owned A City. Thanks for reminding me of the book. I think I'll truck over to Amazon and pick up a copy and re-read it.

Speaking of what constitutes children's vs adult books; don't laugh but one of my college, yes college English classes had the McGuffey's Eclectic Readers assigned as one of the sources for reading. Some people squawked about some of the religious passages but irony or ironies, the reading level required in some of the passages were above alot of the students heads.

It was sad that some 7 year olds on the frontiers who were home schooled in the 1800's could read at a higher level than modern college students. Even though this was in the 1980's it is probably still true today.