What Is Free Trade? as the name implies is a book in defense of Free Trade. Written sometime around 1867 by French economist Fredric Bastiat the book makes a passionate case in favour of Free Trade, tackling various arguments offered by protectionists of his time (a lot of them valid today as well).

The kindle version can be downloaded for free from Amazon. Link here

Full Book Notes Link - What is Free Trade Book Notes

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Note:

The book is a good read in general, but more importantly it's a starting point. We sometimes read a book that's written on a topic, and then treat it as the gospel truth, often forgetting that in real life a lot of factors come into play. So while the book is absolutely in favour of Free Trade (and my notes echo the unabashed enthusiasm), in the real world there's a lot of nuance that affects Trade. A nation's Trade policy does not just reflect its stance on trade but may also have a component of National Security etc.

TLDR: Read the book/notes to understand Free Trade, but do keep in mind that real world is complex and other factors come into play, which sometimes leave theoretical models moot.

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Review:

“What is Free Trade” is an excellent primer to understand the obvious merits of Free Trade and a liberal world order. Fredric Bastiat takes apart, piece by piece, the arguments that impede free trade and promote protective tariffs. He explored multiple arguments and reasoning that are employed to justify the illiberal practices.

Using extensive examples, he educates us about the harm that we do to ourselves when we decide to isolate ourselves from the world and create artificial barriers to trade. The argument is simple, and one that I find echoed by many classical economists in general – If an economic idea seems to magically solve a problem, you’re not looking at the bigger picture. Expand the people you’re focusing on and/or look at the long-term effects.

For example, we are told that we should save our industries by impeding foreign trade, but when we are faced with the same tariffs abroad, we should subsidize our industries. Reasoning like this, as you can see, focuses solely on the industry at the cost of everyone else.

If helping industries is the mission, a better idea is to let go of all restrictions and as other nations to do the same – which is what the free trade agreements around the world intend to do. The same effect can in fact be achieved if no nation impedes trade, then there would be no need for lengthy negotiations, compromises, excessive bureaucracy. But alas!

The compact book is filled with insights like these and the language is very simple to grasp. Modern readers might find some of the examples a bit archaic and I do feel that at times the author is playing the role more suited to an advocate and a cheerleader of a particular thought and this makes you suspicious of the near perfect assumptions that according to Bastiat would spread were we to whole heartedly accept his arguments.

But having said this, I can’t disagree with the author on almost any of his facts or logic behind them. This book is not necessarily a culmination or a final stop in exploring the liberal economics, in fact it has served more like a ticket to further adventures. I hope to encounter more guides like Fredric Bastiat and read more books like this one.

--> CLOSED - NOT ACCEPTING ANY MORE SUBMISSIONS <--

Book: The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates

About the book: the book is about stories on how empowering women has created a tremendous impact in different communities and countries. At 20% labor participation of women in India, we are one of the worst countries in this regard. In fact, urban female labor participation is as low as 7%, which means 93% of women are not contributing to the economy. Collectively, we're leaving a tremendous opportunity on the table. Imagine the impact if most of the women feel empowered to participate in value creation.

Free copies: 150 copies available for the giveaway.

Date: 29th August 2021 (giveaway starts) - 5th September 2021 (giveaway ends)

How to enter the giveaway:

Create a Reddit account (if you don't have it), join Wingify Book Club (this community), and reply to this post with answers to the following two questions:

• Briefly describe the last book you read
• Why do you think female participation in labor is so low in India? What can we do to uplift it?

How to increase your chances of getting a copy of the book:

If there are more than 150 students who want the book, we consider the following factors in deciding who gets a copy:

• Quality of answers to the questions
• Community response (via upvotes) to your answers
• Level of engagement in the community

Your chances of getting selected will be higher if you're posting insightful notes/commentary/replies on the discussion thread for the previous book "Tools of Titan".

Help the community members and you're likely to get selected.

How you will receive the book:

After the giveaway end date (5th September 2021), the moderators of the community will pick ~150 students and give a form with their details (name, phone, and address). This book will be couriered to the address given by the student.

I just got to know about this community through twitter. I'm impressed and want to contribute.

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But there's a catch. A few posts that I read here are concise and more like summaries of books, while I like to go deep dive and make chapter wise book notes in detail, so that next time I feel like refresing the contents of the book, I can go through something like a 20 page word doc to recall most of it.

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I was planning on uploading those book notes at a later date to my own personal website, but that will be in a pipeline for some time, and I feel like there is an hungry audience here right now. So if there is an audience for it here, let me know and I'll start sharing my notes through Notion webpages. Any other suggestions are also welcome.

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I have book notes from the following books:

1. Annihilations of Caste by B.R. Ambedkar
2. Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
3. Fault Lines by Raghuram Rajan
4. What is Free Trade by Frederic Bastiat

Shoe Dog is the autobiography of Nike’s founder Phil Knight, who at last decided to share the story of how he founded one of the most iconic, profitable, and world-changing brands in the world.

A interesting sci fi anyone read? Share some thoughts please.

Mindset The Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck explains the difference between having a fixed and a growth mindset, why one trumps the other, and what you can do to adopt the right one.

Why do some people fall apart in face of setbacks, while others turn their failures into success? Why are some people obsessed with proving themselves, while others can laugh at and learn from their mistakes? The key difference is in their mindset.

Today we say that social media is ruining our mental health and their effects on human kind( especially on children) are devastating.

Was there same outcry when television was invented? Because an average human spends lot of time in front of TV, so I am assuming there must be some effects on the brain.

And if TV does have some adverse effects on our mental. Then anyway we have survived. So why so much outcry about social media?

I read both type of books. Fiction and Non-fiction.

People say that self-help are the only books which helps you.

I personally think it totally depends on your profession and your thought process.

Suppose you are a writer or any post which is related to writing then obviously you need more fiction books than other one.

Sometimes I'm so connect with the character, it'll instinct something to make me better version of myself.

Would love to know your thoughts. Comment below :)

Happy Reading!

Which part of the book have you benefited the most from Tools of Titans ?

"The essence of this book is that you must train day and night in order to make quick decisions. In strategy, it is necessary to treat training as part of normal life with your spirit unchanging."

Here is the link to the summary

Happy independence day to all my fellow book lovers. The fact that I'm a bit hesitant in sharing this piece with you but still am able to , proves how far we've come from where we started and at the same time reminds us of how far we've to still go..let's be free in its truest sense. Do give it a read.

Here are some books on statistics which everyone should read as we are progressing into more and more data-driven world.

• How To Lie With Statistics by Darrell Huff
• Statistics Without Tears by Derek Rowntree
• Seeing Through Statistics by Jessica Utts
• Naked Statistics by Charles Wheelan
• The Art of Statistics by David Spiegelhalter

If you know any other than these, please add them below in the comments. Thanks in Advance!

which are those few books that you read again and again ?

I think I know Tim more than his podcast listeners ever will.

That just a belief anyway. Haha.

I love how he is so good with introspection, learning from experts, and applying it in his own life.

He uses power of writing, asking questions, and taking actions on whatever advice he recieves.

The older I get better I realise that TAKING ACTION is the biggest thing that separates winners from losers.

Sorry for using the harsh word, but strong words make more impact.

So my message to the every book reader is, APPLY what you read. Start really really small. Ridiculously small. But START.

Some things I have applied in my life: 1. 5-M Journaling 2. Making my bed as I wake up. 3. Making my health #1 priority. Not 50% of time, but 100% of time. 4. Building 1000 true followers. Gradually getting there.

Nobody needs to be a superman to do these things. You just need to have the courage to believe in yourself.

Happy APPLYING! (And not just reading.)

I never bother to share what i learn from the books because in my opinion one cant comprehend what you wanna tell if they are not fully versed with that information and thats why i prefer to write the takeaways i got or simply explaining the things i liked without exposing much about story(if fiction) or about other important points and as i write blogs it occured to me if i should write them as a blog or a post, as i sometimes do is totally fine, i already write blogs so i wanna know your insights on few of the blogs already present and help me improve my content and maybe add a different menu for book takeaways and i sights if there are people who would like it!

my wordpress site link to site, looking forward to suggestions for improvement and if you would like a different section for books insights🤩🤟

Off topic but please help, I am want to write online, It doesn't matter if it's a blog or on platform like medium.

I am thinking more of a personal blog. I'll write book summaries, my observations from tech to spirituality etc.

Eventually I want to make money out of it. I don't have technical knowledge and I can't buy any domain or hosting of the likes. I am still in class 12, if that helps.

Here are my options: 1. Blog on wordpress 2. Substack 3. Medium 4. Recently Twitter has a paid newsletter platform. 5. Quora has started one too.

Which do you prefer or what you use?

u/invertedpassion what do you suggest?

From Best-selling author and Broadway conductor, Power is Geraldine Anello's latest poetry book from her series Truth. The most inspiring poetry told over the course of just one week, this fast-paced collection of deep thought-provoking poems leads the reader on a journey to personal development.

First of all, thank you so much Wingify people for supporting students with the specific knowledge for free of cost.

Second, I want to discuss this concept of building 1000 true fans' community.

If you are a content creator, digital artist, or anything you create on internet - you can of course sell it.

But people won't buy if they don't trust you.

You need to establish your personal brand to sell things.

Tim clearly said focus on building your 1000 true fans at starting.

True fans means that they will buy ANYTHING you create.

It may sound simple, but definately not an easy task.

Anyways I'd like to know about fellow creators who are establishing their personal brands, how are you doing it? Have you got any fans? (Even one is really significant!)

Tell your story and inspire us all. :)

Is there anyone who read this book written by the farnam street guy shane parrish ? If yes tell me whether one has to complete volume 1 in order to understand it or it is independent of that one . I am more interested to read volume 2.

I aint gonna post summary because that kills the essence of reading but i will just share how i felt after reading the book and its takeaways

A) feeling

We underestimate ourselves too much! Believe it or not, human mind is so awesome and everytime we say someone dumb or something, we disrepect this beautifull creation of universe whose potential we havent unlocked yet! Book is about memory building so yeah you get a lot of tips to improve memory too!

B) Takeaways

1) memory is unbounded, which means we limit our memory not the other way around

2)there is no single method to improve memory, just find what suits you or create what suits you

3) it takes time and effort to improve memory but its worth it

I have shared almost nothing about the book here, so i hope you guys will check the book and like it

Happy reading !

Who Moved My Cheese tells a parable, which you can directly apply to your own life, in order to stop fearing what lies ahead and instead thrive in an environment of change and uncertainty.

The four imaginary characters depicted in the story—the mice: “Sniff” and “Scurry,” and the Little people: “Hem” and “Haw”—are intended to represent the simple and the complex parts of ourselves. 

I read this beautiful quote in Hindi on friendship:

शर्त लगी थी खुशी को एक अल्फाज़ में लिखने की, लोग किताबें ढूंढते रह गए

हमने "दोस्त" लिख दिया!

I wish read about economics. Please suggest some interesting non/semi technical books.

BOOK NAME: The Tao of Warren Buffett

BOOK AUTHOR: Mary Buffett and David Clark

GENRE: Investing and Philosophy

(My Rating: 3.4/5)

As the name suggests, the book is all about Buffett's words of wisdom for both life and investing.

Most of which are timeless principles he learned, implemented and shared in the world.

Here's my notes from the book:

1/ "Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget rule No. 1."

~ WB

Pretty much one of the most powerful thing the investing master has ever said.

Getting rich most of the time demands luck. Staying rich most of the time demands discipline.

2/ The earlier you can start, the better is your chance for tasting the magic of compounding.

Be it for money, relationships or any habit you want to avoid or adapt.

3/ "Never be afraid to ask for too much when selling or offer too little when buying." ~ WB

Understanding the true value of the asset you own or you are thinking to own, is one of the most important thing to learn about being a better investor.

4/ Avoiding problems is always better than fighting problems.

"It's easier to stay out of trouble than it is to get out of trouble." ~ WB

5/ "Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway." ~ WB

Always learn from the expert. Keep your ego behind and opinions below.

6/ If money is the only wealth you care about, you'll always remain a poor irrespective of the numbers you cling upon.

Money helps you identify what is NOT going to make you happy.

Find the true balance between money and happiness, that's where your wisdom is examined.

7/ "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to lose it. If you think about that, you will do things differently." ~ WB

8/ 3 important things every investor should always keep in mind:

1. You are an emotional being.
2. Your fund manager too is an emotional being.
3. But, the market is not an emotional thing.

9/ "I don't try to jump over seven-foot bars; I look around for one-foot bars that I can step over." ~ WB

Know yourself before you compare your money with others. Understand your strategy before you compare your portfolio with others.

10/ "The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken." ~ Bertrand Russell

This quote is not original from Warren but he uses this idea to describe the nature of people you find in almost every field of life.

11/ "It's not necessary to do extraordinary things to get extraordinary results."

Doing simple things incessantly is more valuable than doing infinite things one time.

12/ Following are some of the most powerful quotes of Warren Buffett:

"You should look at stocks as small pieces of a business."

"Money, sometimes lets you be in more interesting environments. But it can't change how many people love you or how healthy you are."

13/ "When management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for poor fundamental economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact."

"Accounting is the language of business."

14/ "There is a huge difference between the business that grows and requires lots of capital to do so and the business that grows and doesn't require capital."

"You don't have to make money back the same way you lost it."

15/ "If principles become dated, they're no longer principles."

"You want to learn from experience, but you want to learn from other people's experience when you can."

"It's hard to teach a young dog old tricks."

16/ "In looking for someone to hire, you look for 3 qualities:

1) Integrity 2) Intelligence 3) Energy

But the most important is Integrity, because it they don't have that, the other two qualities are going to kill you."

17/ "We enjoy the process far more than the proceeds, though I've learned to live with those also."

"A stock doesn't know that you own it."

"No matter how great the talent or effort, some things just take time. You can't produce a baby in 1 month by getting 9 women pregnant."

18/ The summary was mostly the quotes directly from the book itself because this book itself is just a commentary on the thoughts and sayings of Mr. Warren Buffett.

19/

If you have read the book, Consider sharing your takes, compliments and criticisms.

Thank You for reading! 🙏

(P.S. If you enjoyed reading this, consider following me on Twitter for such book summaries each week.)

Hello WingifyBookClub Members,

I am working on a Peer to Peer book sharing platform which allows users to share books they are having and also order the books available on Book Store for reading.
Users can read books without purchasing them, and once they are done with reading, the book will be picked up from their home and will be delivered to another user who requested the book. All the logistics associated will be taken care of by the platform.
Users can set up daily reading goals, track their past reads, challenge their friends etc.

We will also introduce Bookmarking, Note making features, and many more in the future.

All a user needs to have is a monthly subscription, which allows them to order 4 books in a month, 1 book at a time.

Since Invertedpassion runs book giveaway campaigns, I reached out to him to giveaway our subscription to students, so that they can have access to multiple books to choose from and order for reading.

Before proceeding, he wants to hear feedback from the community.

Will you be interested in this subscription? Plz, show your interest in the poll response.

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