It may seem logical that the best books on economics will belong to the best economics school. However, my argument is that this is not so.

One does not become a true economist by becomming steeped the capitalist doctrines. Likewise, one does not become a true philosopher by dining only on the doctrine of Ayn Rand; Nor does one become wise in farming itself by tending a single crop or stock.

In every science or cognitive discipline there is an essence that transcends the state of the art. This is the same logos or scholarship or kernel that has been like a thread running through the thoughts of all thinkers on any given subject. In economics this thread was first created by Adam Smith, but it outlasted him as it will outlast the economists of today.

The highest economist is an economic philosopher. His subject matter, like all the great economists, is not a single doctrine but this special thread that runs though them all. He thinks about the essence of economics as if it's a mountain and he has to cut his own trail to the summit. He is not content to live off the scraps of begged opinion, he considers economics first-hand in the same way that the great economists considered them. By reading the works of great economists one studies not directly their practical use but their way of thinking about the problem. Economics is a very young science with much unmapped territory. The true course of econmics inheres in making new discoveries in that uncharted territory, not in simply learning by rote the lessons of a Keynes or a Friedman.

There is a hierachy of economists. There are underlaborers- econometricians, technitians of economics. There are students, there are teachers. There are workers, perhaps at the bank or in journalism where they apply economics. Higher still are the policy-makers, advisors to political leaders. But at the top of the heap are the very best, the great economists- the intellectual pioneers. Their thinking changes the whole world. Smith, Mill, Marx, Marshall, Keynes, von Mises, Friedman, and so forth. This is the best of economics therefore the subject of their great works makes for the best of economic literature.

What you aquire from studying the greats is hard to boast about. It is seldom taught at school and the value you get cannot be measured in course credits. Parents and teachers and friends will scoff and make you feel ashamed for spending so much time 'away with the fairies' 'just thinking.' All the same, the best economics consists in examining and truely understanding at the coal-face these fundamental premises. You're in a better position to understand your chosen school as well as to defeat the competing ones. And then, if you have talant, you could become a great economist yourself!

So, the best books are the economic histories. Dewy Decimal 330.