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Customer Reviews:
Indexes interchanged? !
At Amazon prices the two volume set containing Smith's Wealth of Nations Books 1 to 5 is hard to beat. Both volumes have critical introductions by Andrew Skinner and each contains both original references and a modern bibliography. Penguin are to be congratulated for making so good an edition available under their Classics imprint.
On the other hand the set of two volumes (at least in the printings that I received) has an amusingly surreal feature: The index for Volume 1 is in Volume 2 and vice versa. A way, perhaps, to make it more likely that you will buy both? It's ironic if it is, because anyone who does not buy both is likely to be too stupid for the missing index to make no difference. Now *there's* prejudice for you :-O
The only thing I'd add is that if you are serious about reading Smith, then you should also read Marx's Capital and Keynes's General Theory because these works are, even now, the three most significant landmarks in the economic literature.
some gems hidden in amongst the wheat husks 
Smith is much under-estimated both amongst philosophers of money (economists) and philosophers of social life (moralists).
And it is true, as the reader from Melbourne says, that the book requires a great deal of dedication in places. At times Smith repeats the same point three, four even five times in short succession, always in the same carefuyl but ponderous prose. yet elsewhere, surprisingly, there are flashes of wit and humanity, alongside the great methodical reasoning and argument that make a philosophical work powerful.
Prosperity or poverty. Smith vs Marx 
Adam Smith like Marx sees changes in the economic system as a logical, inevitable sequence of events. For example the power of the landed aristocracy declined as a consequence of the increasing importance of the towns. Good government was a result of this decline as people that had worked on the estates in conditions close to slavery moved to cities where they had considerable freedom. The difference between Marx and Smith is that Smith considered all of these changes leading to steady improvements whereas Marx considered the results of capitalism and industrialisation and urbanisation disastrous. Marx lived about one hundred years later than Smith. The system had not produced wealth for all as Smith foresaw. Smith believed that if governments would refrain from interfering in the economy prosperity would increase for all. Marx considered that a revolution whereby the capitalist class would be eliminated and private property is abolished a necessary consequence of the exploitation of the workers. Smith believed the opposite in that private property was the main driving force for progress. Their analysis of the historical development looking at it now shows many serious mistakes. However many more of the ideas of Adam Smith are still valid in hindsight than those of Marx. Somewhat surprising both being persons with interest in morality do not ascribe any importance to that subject. Both are imprisoned by the concept that "mechanical" or systemic changes in society can explain changes in the economic system. Many economists to day still fall in the same trap. They do not believe that moral standards can play an important role in the development of economic system. They therefore typically reject new developments such as "socially responsible investing ". Like "Capital" of Marx, the "Wealth of Nations" presents many interesting facts about for example the near slavery conditions in the large agricultural estates throughout Europe. This information is a good antidote to the romantics that believe conditions in the countryside in the past were very pleasant. The Wealth of Nations is lucidly written and shows quite clearly the dependence of wealthy creation on essential but minimal government regulation
Invisible hand concept missing
I missed clear implications of today's relevance of the "invisible hand" concept. Otherwise the book is still a classical macroeconomic must.
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books to read (feel free to propose, the list will be regularly ...
adam smith "the wealth of nations", http://www.amazon.de/wealth-nations-bks-1-3-penguin-classics/dp/0140432086/ref=sr_1_6?ie=utf8&s=books-intl-de&qid=1231085555&sr=1-6. jefferson, "the constitution of the united states of america", ...
http://utopia-part-time.blogspot.com/2009/01/books-to-read-regularly-updated.html
emerging themes in sustainability and the need for applied systems ...
the wealth of nations : books i-iii, isbn 0140432086. stahel, wr (2003). "the functional society; the service economy," in d. bourg and s. erkman (ed.), perspectives on industrial ecology, isbn 1874719462, pp. 264-282 ...
http://sckchui.blogspot.com/2007/11/emerging-themes-in-sustainability-and.html
adam smith: the wealth of nations: books 1-3 (penguin classics)
author: adam smith. title: the wealth of nations: books 1-3 (penguin classics). date added: 2008/07/24. publisher: penguin classics. date published: 1982-03-25. pages: 544. published in: english. asin: 0140432086 ...
http://www.bookmooch.com/detail/0140432086
总结一下这个周末
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140432086/sr=1-2/qid=1234163262/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1234163262&sr=1-2&seller= http://www.hifiwiki.net/library/The_Wealth_Of_Nations. 有个牛人叫Mark Skousen 的把他，马克思和凯恩斯写在 ...
http://pwhr.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!4DF11CA8A272F011!4491.entry
