Simon reviewed Against Intellectual Monopoly by Michele Boldrin
Not very good
3 stars
Some interesting takes. Unfortunately the authors present a lot of questionable "evidence" that is mostly anecdotal and often outdated. For example, they argue that the book market in the 19th century worked fine with no copyright laws, and use that as "proof" that today's copyright laws are hindering the free market. I also don't like the name-dropping where the authors use quotes from famous people to prove their point, e.g. "According to Bill Gates - hardly your radical communist or utopist - 'if people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today's ideas were invented, and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete standstill today.'" I could not finish the book because it got tedious. Most arguments were heavily biased and the rhethoric was often questionable.
