Mannwest has an extensive library, covering all sorts of topics relating to economics. Ron welcomes visitors and has a special offer for anyone wanting to read more about free markets and the theories of big economic thinkers.
Anyone who takes a personal tour of Mannkal’s 2000-book library will be presented with a free USB containing insights to these books, their contents and for many, access to free e-book versions (but please, phone (08) 9382 1288 to organize an appointment to visit).
Philosopher Michael Novak said in a 2003 commencement speech, “a university is not a library”, before continuing with this description:
“A university is a blessed place, a sacred space in which persons converse in the pursuit of universal knowledge. In universities, mind speaks to mind, and (over time) heart speaks to heart. For what we learn from one another in our talks together, our lectures and seminars and discussions and question periods and exchanges, is how individual humans go about, making judgments, what they count important, what they set aside as trivial or irrelevant, what they laugh at and what they take seriously, what is false even if it seems attractive, what is true and to be clung to even if it is unpopular and despised, and what is worth dying for.”
However, libraries with well-chosen books have much to contribute to a well-rounded education by providing many of the “missing bits” in a modern university curriculum, as outlined in Ron’s launch speech from November 30, 2011:
Tonight is all about Mannkal’s library – a library with a difference. My favorite definition of a library is from Columbia University’s Jenny Davidson:
“If we think of a library as a city and a book as an individual house in that city, each sentence becomes one tiny component of that house. Some are mostly functional – the load-bearing wall, the grout between bathroom tiles – while others are the details we remember and take away, perhaps recalling their texture and color when we assemble our own verbal dwelling-place.”
With us tonight is a great mixture of young scholars and various individuals who encourage us in various ways to expand our Mannkal activities. This week is Mannkal’s 14th anniversary and we’ve been doing extremely well. Apart from running various events, we have now sent more than 400 young people to various events and training programs both in Australia and overseas.
Being one of the only libertarians in Western Australia, I used to be relatively lonely. Now I have plenty of company. These young people are able to vigorously question the conventional wisdom of our politicians when they buy votes and send the bill to future generations. Our political leaders will never gain our respect if they continue to buy votes from the brain dead and send the bill to the unborn.
Many of our young scholars are now based around the world, yet they still keep in touch with us to contribute comments and suggestions that they have seen work elsewhere and assist us with our various programs. Two weeks ago, there were four of us in New York City for the Atlas Foundation event and 11 of us in Sydney for the Mises Seminar last week. Their continued input has enabled us to develop one of Australia’s best Facebook sites for economic and policy matters with 4500 active friends.
Tonight is an opportunity to welcome back Senior Fellow Andrew Pickford who has just spend three months studying Think Tank Management at some of the best institutes in North America. Andrew has come back with lots of ideas and those of you who wish to help will have many more opportunities to sponsor scholars.
Emma Crisp, who has been our research assistant for three years, has now completed her studies. She is off to create a career for herself, possibly in the UK where she will enjoy the company of several of our other colleagues. We thank Emma for her great work in putting the Mannkal’s Musings together and coordinating scholars’ activities. Emma’s position will be taken on by Felicity Karageorge who is not here tonight as she is currently stepping off a plane in Rome.
Research Assistant Sarah Pendal has been meticulously loading our library books on to our web-based facility which was capably handled by Cynthia Maclaine.
We would like every one of you to take away our entire library tonight. It’s all on a simple USB card which is affixed to this book – The Merits of Western Civilization – which we jointly sponsored with the Institute of Public Affairs. Plus, there is another book entitled The National Curriculum which explains why Mannkal is promoting a project called Western Civilization as it is no longer taught in our universities.
The third aspect we would like you to take is the latest copy of Mannkal’s Musings.
Tonight I’m about to receive copies of very significant books from two close associates. I will ask them to step forward and present these books.
Firstly, Hal Colebatch is presenting us with a copy of the biography of his father, together with a copy of Edward Shann’s 1929 book, Bond or Free. This is indeed a rare book as it was influential on Bert Kelly and John Hyde and other members who were largely responsible for temporarily introducing economic and fiscal rectitude to Australia.
Secondly, Mr Denham Boulger is presenting us a copy of The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson. A close associate of the Mannkal Foundation, Niall along with his beloved wife Ayann Hirsi Ali, have both been voted the most influential people in the world.
This just gives an example of how our library has accumulated from so many sources and, more recently, by several important books from Michael Sutherland. It is with pleasure that I now hand over to Joanne Nova who will conduct this important, official opening ceremony of the Mannkal Library.
Thank you.
N.B: Mannkal’s Library contains more than 2000 books, many of which are now ‘out of print’ and not available by Googling. They may be accessed in our office by students or visitors for research purposes but not available on loan as we are not set up to pursue any overdue books. Ask for our USB Library tour guide.