The invisible hook
Annotation With swashbuckling irreverence and devilish wit, Peter Leeson uncovers the hidden economics behind pirates' notorious, entertaining, and sometimes downright shocking behaviour. It looks at pirate captains like Blackbeard and shows how pirates' search for plunder led them to pioneer remarkable and forward-thinking practices.
Stats for nerds
5recommend
8mentions
6people
2013–2022years
75% recommend25% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Since we're doing book recommendations :) I thought "The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates" [1] was a fun read as well.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Hook-Hidden-Economics-Pirat...
- Definitely, I highly recommend Peter Leeson's book on the subject, The Invisible Hook:
https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Hook-Hidden-Economics-Pirat...
- A fun book I recommend is the 'Invisible Hook' by Leeson.
Excellent as a summer book, a Libertarian view on the subject with good info on pirates even if you don't agree with the author's view.
- By far the most interesting book I've ever read on piracy was The Invisible Hook, by Peter Leeson. It's an analysis on the economics of piracy.
It was so profound in fact that much of it was the inspiration for our business model:
https://blog.fountstudio.com/yes-we-have-a-pirate-code-1aa1b...
- You should read The Invisible Hook. I bet you will have a different opinion by the end of it. You also forgot to put a value on self-determination.
- I love game theory, but I hate that the focus outside of academia is almost always on simplistic single period games. These games can result in some interesting conclusions and teach some valuable concepts, but they are terrible at representing how people behave in the real world.
Anyone interested in a more complex and realistic examination of the economics of pirating should consider Peter Leeson's book, The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates.
I would also recommend Leeson's Anarchy Unbound: Why Self-Governance Works Better Than You Think for some interesting applications of game theory in more realistic historical contexts.
