20. A Short Intellectual Autobiography | Mises Institute
WHEN I WAS VERY YOUNG, about ten, I fell in love with the game of chess, largely through watching the Fischer-Spassky match on television. My interest in intellectual pursuits dates from that time. Plus, I had learned to read early, at about the age of three, from my grandmother. I always loved reading, and could always read very quickly. I was always what we today call a nerd, born and raised in New Jersey. When I was about thirteen, I decided I wanted to read all of the good books in the public library. I started with the Dialogues of Plato, an important early influence on me, though I never agreed with much of what Socrates said. Philosophy was a central interest of mine. My father was a significant early influence. He had been a Goldwater Republican, but became an increasingly radical libertarian. He brought home some issues of The Freeman, and The Incredible Bread Machine. I learned some simple things from the former, and loved the latter. More generally, his frank anti-government