Subjects / What to read before The Wealth of Nations

Best books to learn What to read before The Wealth of Nations, in order

Almost everyone who quotes The Wealth of Nations has not read it, and the ones who try usually stop somewhere in the hundred pages on the price of silver in medieval Europe. It is a nine-hundred-page eighteenth-century treatise, most of it empirical, and its famous doctrines occupy a small fraction of it.

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How should I approach learning what to read before the wealth of nations?
Almost everyone who quotes The Wealth of Nations has not read it, and the ones who try usually stop somewhere in the hundred pages on the price of silver in medieval Europe. It is a nine-hundred-page eighteenth-century treatise, most of it empirical, and its famous doctrines occupy a small fraction of it.
What's a good book to start what to read before the wealth of nations with?
A strong starting point is Adam Smith: an enlightened life by Nicholas Phillipson. The ordered reading paths above show exactly where it fits and what to read next.
What should I read after what to read before the wealth of nations?
Once you have the fundamentals, explore closely related subjects like What to read before the Critique of Pure Reason, What to read before Marx's Capital.

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