I agree on Hazlitt as the place to start, but the real masterpiece is Mises' Human Action.
No argument here. The OP was interested in Hayek. I remember working my way through Human Action in the early 1990s. I was used to reading in bed. No kindles back then. First of all, it was enormous! Also, it was like being back in college. I had to sit at my desk and drink coffee to stay alert. It took me a long time, and I found it challenging. Part of it was the fact that it turned everything I thought I knew about economics upside down. It's certainly a masterpiece.
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I got so energized by the Ron Paul Revolution that I read Human Action on my iPhone 3, when I was an undergrad, because I couldn't get my hands on a hard copy.
I was planning on recommending reading Mises before Hayek, but you're definitely right about starting with Hazlett.
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On your iPhone! We are from different generations. My copy of Human Action looks like an old big city phone book.
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I've never seen a real copy in the wild.
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