Episode · People I (Mostly) Admire · 2021-06-12
Steve Levitt & Peter Leeson: books mentioned on People I (Mostly) Admire #31
Peter Leeson on Why Trial-by-Fire Wasn’t Barbaric and Why Pirates Were Democratic | Episode 31
Peter Leeson discussed A General History of the Pyrates by Captain Charles Johnson and others. Steve Levitt recommended WTF?! by Peter T. Leeson.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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A General History of the Pyrates
Discussed“pirate system of governance was laid out in a published series of volumes called a general history of the Pirates in the early 18th century this book was like a bestseller in its time this wasn't some obscure book and so it is totally conceivable that Madison for example or Jefferson both of whom were voracious readers and had enormous”
Where to get it
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WTF?!
Recommended“and check out his book WTF an economic tour of the weird the best description I can think of for that book it's just like Freakonomics on steroids”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Plugged The invisible hook
“um the book in which the proposal appears is the invisible hook which is about the economics of Caribbean pirates and so playing on that theme we went out to this fancy restaurant and I got this elaborate metallic treasure chest and then I put the book inside and I had the waiter at the restaurant bring it out to”