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Why Our Decisions Don't Matter
Vital insights and wisdom on the perennial question of why our decisions don't matter
This book explores how some of the greatest minds of civilization have tackled a question that continues to play a vital part in our lives today. In Why Our Decisions Don't Matter, Simon Van Booy curates an enlightening collection of excerpts, passages, and paintings, presenting works by H...more
This book explores how some of the greatest minds of civilization have tackled a question that continues to play a vital part in our lives today. In Why Our Decisions Don't Matter, Simon Van Booy curates an enlightening collection of excerpts, passages, and paintings, presenting works by H...more
Paperback, 208 pages
Published
August 24th 2010
by Harper Perennial
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The title implies that the author will offer some answer to the question posed therein -- but he doesn't appear to do anything of the sort. The literary excerpts, reproductions of paintings, etc. are worthy and of interest to anyone with any sense of esthetics, letters, or history, but the message of the collection seems to be simply that we should put things in perspective because we'll all die anyway. This is a fine enough theme for a collection, I suppose, but it doesn't stand up to what the...more
This is a fun series -- not heavy, each following kind of a philosophical arc within the topic, a little tasting menu of thoughtful stuff. Nothing you haven't heard before, but if you were to give any of them to, say, a smart kid heading to college, they could lead to some interesting reading or discussion if he or she was so inclined. And I'm having a good time revisiting some of what he has here. I'd forgotten, for instance, how much I liked Jude the Obscure. And it's reassuring to see that I...more
While I rather like the idea of this book -- a kind of philosophical vade mecum with selections from literature and philosophy. Some of the selections made more sense than others: While I did not care for the long Wittgenstein quote from the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, which struck me as being cluelessly exclusionary, I liked the material from Homer, Shakespeare, Borges, Horace, and Emily Dickinson. I rather suspect I will continue to make decisions as if they mattered; and I probably won't...more
Expected thinking on why our cognitive processes matter less in reality than they do by our perception, though the collection is mainly comprised of items that illustrate the idea that "we're all going to die anyway so the things we do in life may not matter." So, it's an interesting read on long LONG term thinking, though not necessarily and interesting read on long-term thinking.
Napoleon: "M. Laplace, they tell me that you have written this large book on the system of the universe, and have never mentioned its Creator."
Laplace: "I have no need of that hypothesis."
Laplace: "I have no need of that hypothesis."
Why Our Decisions Don’t Matter totally inspires philosophical debate. These collected works talk about fate, God, and how we will all find death in the end. Each one has some reason on why our decisions, in the end, don’t matter, and how that might be a good thing. Let me try to push this book on you in s simple, pop culture way–If you loved the tv show Lost, (which of course, I did) then you’ll love this book. In this book, you will find works from Homer, Sophocles, Horac, Shakespeare, Rembrand...more
I thought this was a pretty good collection of famous lit. While the author didn't really head-on tackle exactly "WHY Our Decisions Don't Matter", the excerpts he included were pretty interesting.
An interesting little collection of art, fictional and non-fictional writings exploring this topic.
In essence, the book argues that, while we may be able to control our reaction to the world, we cannot control the world itself. Like the rest of the WHY series, it's thought-provoking and covers a wide range of source material. Good stuff.
(Full review can be found on Glorified Love Letters.)
(Full review can be found on Glorified Love Letters.)
Hyuck hyuck
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Simon Van Booy was born in London and grew up in rural Wales and Oxford. After playing football in Kentucky, he lived in Paris and Athens. In 2002 he was awarded an MFA and won the H.R. Hays Poetry Prize. His journalism has appeared in magazines and newspapers including the New York Times and the New York Post. Van Booy is the author of The Secret Lives of People in Love, now translated into sever...more
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