Cary Neeper's Blog: Reviewing World-changing Nonfiction - Posts Tagged "hope"

The Archives of Varok series will be expanding soon, and the fourth book, Shawne: An Alien's Quest will make them even more difficult to shelve. I can't in good faith call them Science Fiction, because the aliens placed in our solar system (as much as I love these dear old friends) are tools to help me explore some realistic human problems. Even the space travel is slow and agonizing.
Here are some early phrases that encapsulate the themes:
THE VIEW BEYOND EARTH--Self-actualization and personal growth
THE WEBS OF VAROK--
A picture of a steady state economy, its requirements and vulnerabilities.
THE ALIEN EFFECT--
Current human denial and challenges.
AN ALIEN'S QUEST--
Personal integrity and the meaning of existence.
THE UNHEARD SONG--
Dealing with communication problems and overpopulation stress (A history of the ellls encountering varoks for the first time.)

And here are the updated log lines and summary:
THE ARCHIVES OF VAROK
A series of five books set in a realistic mid-to-late 21st century,
in which Earth discovers sympathetic but challenging neighbors
who reflect a critical overview of human civilization.

What Is It All About? Book club and discussion topics:

Book 1- THE VIEW BEYOND EARTH—How would dispassionate Others view us?

Book 2-THE WEBS OF VAROK—What must we do to insure a satisfactory future?

Book 3-THE ALIEN EFFECT—Are we headed for extinction or can we evolve into something better?

Book 4-AN ALIEN'S QUEST—How can we find Meaning, when our lives are driven by unpredictable complexity?

Book 5-THE UNHEARD SONG (coming in 2017)—Inescapable certainties: to secure the future all populations must communicate and hold to steady numbers.

So is this Sociology? Psychology? Women's fiction? Literary fiction? (I don't think so.) YA or Adult? Action? Philosophy? Religion? What?

The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity Toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom, by Michael Shermer, New York, Henry Holt & Co., 2015.
The Notes, Bibliography, acknowledgments and Index occupy 100 pages of this readable and analytical review of human history and why understanding how things (like us) have given us the gift of freedom from ancient superstitions and unreliable historical assumptions. The author reviews our progress in instituting freedom and rights for women, gays and animals. He doesn’t mince words when he looks at religious issues, unresolved moral issues, our cognitive dissonance, technology and income inequality.

The author’s list of related reading is worth the price of the book, as is his warning that “…our brains operate as if we are still living in [a] zero-sum land economics.” He suggests that the psychology of “those in advantageous positions of power” is affected so that it alters the way they interact with people with income inequality.

In the end, Shermer gives some hope that we can overcome such failures of entitlement or superiority. He quotes Martin Luther that “…we, as a people, will get to the promised land.” Shermer urges us to follow our better nature, stay informed, open to growth and realistic about our mistakes/ We can “follow our higher self.”. Morality is something that carbon atoms can embody, given a billion years of evolution’s moral arc.