These are important books but obviously not a comprehensive list.
* John Locke's Two Treatises of Government - It's political philosophy but it's hard to understand Classical Liberalism without having read some Locke.
* Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations - He and Locke are the two main guys to read for a solid start on Classical Liberalism, which is completely different than modern political liberalism. It's like having two features in an app with nearly the same name. Confusing as fuck.
* E. F. Schumacher's Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered - This book will shift your perspective, useful to avoid becoming an a mindless advocate for one school of thought or another.
* Marx is a tough one as Capital is massive and unreadable and The Communist Manifesto is a propaganda pamphlet but I think you need to at least find some articles that summarize the basics.
* Keynes and Hayek - This hip hop battle is a decent start:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0nERTFo-Sk
then read Keynes' The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money and Hayek's The Road to Serfdom.
* Milton Friedman's - Yes, read Capitalism and Freedom. I hesitated to include it as the guy's so good at making the case that it can turn you into a market advocate bot. Please resist that.
Can someone help me on this, is there a book balance Hayek and a book to balance Friedman? I'm sorry but Keynes doesn't do it for me. Look at the difference in titles between Hayek and Keynes. It's hard to motivate to read the Keynes book but nobody ever has trouble reading Hayek.
I see a lot of these ideas come up on HN a lot. What I don't like so much is when someone becomes an advocate for a particular ism. To me, all isms are rubbish. All of them. Understand but do not become a shill for an ideology.