Reddit reviews The Law

If you're willing to devote some serious time, Man, Economy and State is the most complete explanation that exists of the economics behind ancap ideas. It's also like 1100 pages or something so it might be more of a commitment than you're willing to make just for opposition research.

If you want to get into the philosophy behind the ideas, The Ethics of Liberty is probably the best thing you'll find. It attempts to give a step-by-step logical "proof" of libertarian philosophy.

The Problem of Political Authority is also an excellent book that takes nearly universally accepted moral premises and uses them to come to ancap conclusions in a thoroughly logical manner. I'd say if you're actually at all open to having your mind changed, it's the one most likely to do it.

If you just want a brief taste, The Law is extremely short (you can read it in an hour or two) and contains many of the important fundamental ideas. It was written like 200 years ago so doesn't really qualify as ancap, but it has the advantage of being easily digestible and also being (and I can't stress this enough) beautifully written. It's an absolute joy to read. You can also easily find it online with a simple Google search.

I know you asked for one book and I gave you four, but the four serve different purposes so pick one according to what it is you're specifically looking for.

I'd recommend reading many sides/perspectives so that you can formulate an independent mind and not just be a mouthpiece of some economist's ideology. For instance, I disagree with a lot of Marx, but I think his materialist critique of history and his critique of capitalism are very useful and a lot of it is correct. His solutions/recommendations are shit, but that doesn't discount his contributions. My recommendations:

Generally Considered Right-Leaning Economics:

Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson: https://www.amazon.com/Economics-One-Lesson-Shortest-Understand/dp/0517548232/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510274539&sr=8-1

F. A. Hayek, Road to Serfdom: https://www.amazon.com/Road-Serfdom-Documents-Definitive-Collected/dp/0226320553/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510274634&sr=8-1

F. A. Hayek, The Fatal Conceit: https://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Conceit-Errors-Socialism-Collected/dp/0226320669/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1510274634&sr=8-3

Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations: https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Nations-Bantam-Classics/dp/0553585975/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1510275227&sr=1-3

Frederic Bastiat, The Law: https://www.amazon.com/Law-Frederic-Bastiat/dp/1612930123/ref=pd_sim_14_5?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=31TE91RXV0Q2XPPWE81K

Also read: Thomas Sowell, Milton Friedman, and Ludwig Von Mises

Generally Considered Left-Leaning Economics:

J. M. Keynes, The General Theory: https://www.amazon.com/General-Theory-Employment-Interest-Money/dp/0156347113/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1510274943&sr=1-3

Rosa Luxemburg, The Accumulation of Capital: https://www.amazon.com/Accumulation-Capital-Rosa-Luxemburg/dp/1614277885/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1510275041&sr=1-2

Rosa Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution: https://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Writings-History-Political-Science/dp/0486447766/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1510275041&sr=1-1

Also read: Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Trotsky. Modern day Left/Keynesian economist is Paul Krugman.

Anarchism:

Emma Goldman: https://www.amazon.com/Anarchism-Other-Essays-Emma-Goldman/dp/1484116577/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510275717&sr=8-1

You both should read these awesome books:

Anatomy of the state

The Law

What government has done with our money

and finally:

The ethics of liberty

1. What are your views on taxes?
   
   A violation of the rights of the person being taken from.
   
   
2. If you had a distilled list of the top ten Anarcho-Capitalism principles or beliefs what would they be?
   
   Put simply, Anarcho-Capitalism is based on the common understanding of private property and the rejection of the idea that anyone, particularly the government, can legitimately override these property rights for any reason. Ancaps may abbreviate this as "The non-aggression principle", understanding 'aggression' to be "violations of person or property."
   
   
3. What are your thoughts on my position that the deregulating of the financial markets led to the great recession?
   
   For a complete treatment of the crash from an ancap perspective see the book Meltdown.
   
   
4. Do you believe that mass resource stockpiling is not a problem?
   
   It's not a problem, or to the degree that it is, economics puts a check on it.
   
   
5. Would an Anarcho-Capitalist society have laws? How would they be enforced?
   
   Yes. By institutions that society does not treat as having the legitimate authority to violate rights. E.g. The agents of the State murder innocent people and get away with it. Private security agents, in the rare circumstances where they do murder someone, are much more likely to be held accountable. The State collects taxes and people accept it, while the Mafia collects 'protection money' and everyone knows it's a racket.
   
   
6. What are the foremost writings on this system and why?
   
   

• Frederic Bastiat's The Law Amazon / HTML
  
  
• The Machinery of Freedom Third edition, Amazon / Second edition, PDF
  
  
• No Treason Amazon / HTML
  
  
• The Anatomy of the State Amazon / PDF
  

I just finished reading "The Law" by Frederick Bastiat. It's a very good read, and takes you right along the progression from property rights to the invalidity of the state. It does, however, require thought on the reader's part to arrive at the conclusion that the state is force, and consequently illegitimate.

The book explains that everybody has a natural right ("from God") to lawful self-defense, that the law exists as a collective organization of this individual right, and that the proper purpose of law should be to serve justice. Consequently, the law cannot be used in circumstances where the individual could not use lawful force, and for the state to do so would sacrifice justice.

The author explains how law becomes perverted for the purposes of "lawful plunder," which he defines as taking what rightfully belongs to one citizen to give to another to whom it does not belong. Plunder benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself could not do without committing a crime.

The author explains that this lawful plunder has two roots, stupid greed, and false philanthopy. He says that justice has precise limits, but philanthopy is infinite, and when this becomes the state's job, the state has no limits. When the law is used for anything but justice, it subverts its own objective.

Some people will never reach the conclusion that the state's use of force is illegitimate. No matter how many preceding ideas they like and agree with, no matter how many times you explain the consequences of agreeing with the ideas you've explained, they will fight, and kick, and scream, and deny the logical conclusion of those ideas.

EDIT: Amazon has the book in audio form, among others.

Ok, then you have to read this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Law-Frederic-Bastiat/dp/1612930123/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375719601&sr=1-1&keywords=the+law+bastiat

Wunna set a date and have a discussion afterwards?

the Law - Frédéric Bastiat

The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Santayana - Russell Kirk

The Federalist Papers - Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay

Top poem, and one of the best short explanations of conservatism: The Gods of the Copybook Headings - Rudyard Kipling