IMO Sowells’ real genius was to express himself so that even high school students could understand his concepts.
Exactly. I found his style of explaining things to be incisive and approachable, to the point of being entertaining.
And if you can make something entertaining and approachable...it becomes learnable.
You are correct. That is clearly, for me, a large part of his genius.
There are those on FR who slander him as a “Free Trader”, but Thomas Sowell would be the first to say that it isn’t “free trade” when one side observes the law of market conventions and the other side does not. Such as Communist China.
That isn’t a “Free Market”.
I love his story about how he started out as a Marxist, and Milton Friedman had a role in his conversion. As Thomas Sowell described:
“...As a professor, he did not attempt to convert students to his political views. I made no secret of the fact that I was a Marxist when I was a student in Professor Friedman’s course, but he made no effort to change my views. He once said that anybody who was easily converted was not worth converting. I was still a Marxist after taking Professor Friedman’s class. Working as an economist in the government converted me...”
I can’t find the account so I am going by memory, but one day after class Milton Friedman stopped him on the way out of class to talk to him, and observed that Sowell sounded like a Marxist, and Sowell said he was. Friedman didn’t start proselytizing, but used the Socratic method, and began asking him questions, such as, “Why do you feel that way?”
What he did, was simply asked questions, and observing he was engaged in what Thomas Sowell calls “Stage One Thinking”, said, “Okay, if you believe that, what happens next...” and kept taking him to the next step where Sowell eventually realized that his view was untenable.
Friedman never speechified to him...he let Sowell answer his own questions and reach his own results.
Pretty impressive.
Seconded. Dr. Sowell is a brilliant man, no doubt, but his real genius lies in his ability to explain a complex subject in simple terms.
I could not agree more. Thomas Sowell is a national treasure.