Not going to say it was an easy read, and certainly not as visceral or witty/scathing as Volume I. Also not going to say I 100 percent followed all the math in the sections on reproduction. But damn if it isn't fascinating to see the fundamental mechanisms of capitalism being explained from first principles.
Funny enough, he keeps mentioning the credit system periodically throughout the book, but always deferring a discussion of it in favor of understanding first understanding the underlying mechanisms that precede credit. Then about three quarters of way through, a complete understanding of what the credit system actually is popped fully formed into my mind. He had so carefully explained the circulation and reproduction of capital that it just so clearly followed logically from what he had already shown.
spoiler
Also, I just skimmed the detailed critiques of Adam Smith sorry not sorry
One thing that Ive noticed with Marx is that if you just keep on going a lot of stuff starts to click. Everything ties together and he reviews and summarizes all the time. Plus for the more technical stuff, it's cool and interesting to see exactly how he arrives at his conclusions, but the conclusions are what I'm actually interested in.
That's comforting. I will push through then!
Which is why Volume 1 is long, I suppose... How long is Volume 2, in comparison?
It's significantly shorter, but denser