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If You Exist
If You Exist is a personal message written to one of our human progeny who might find it many generations in the future. The narrator, like others in her generation, faces her own mortality at the same time she faces the possibility of thousands more species, including her own, becoming extinct.
As a private heartfelt message to someone who may never exist, the writer likens her missive to “a note in a bottle set to sea in hopes of reaching you, if you exist in the future on some unfathomable shore.” The narrator shares her personal take on where humanity is now and where we might be heading depending on what choices we will make. She writes about climate change and such topics as human migration, racism, the pandemic, as well as her projected concerns about the possibilities of unbridled technical advancement and human redesign.
After offering her perspective on where hope could lie, the writer ends her note with “the stuff of fairy tales,” her positive fantasy in the final chapter called, “If We Could Meet.”
As a private heartfelt message to someone who may never exist, the writer likens her missive to “a note in a bottle set to sea in hopes of reaching you, if you exist in the future on some unfathomable shore.” The narrator shares her personal take on where humanity is now and where we might be heading depending on what choices we will make. She writes about climate change and such topics as human migration, racism, the pandemic, as well as her projected concerns about the possibilities of unbridled technical advancement and human redesign.
After offering her perspective on where hope could lie, the writer ends her note with “the stuff of fairy tales,” her positive fantasy in the final chapter called, “If We Could Meet.”
- GenresNonfiction
96 pages, Paperback
Published August 23, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 11, 2021
Rating: what? rate this how exactly?
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: First, read this:
For me, the question of what it means to be human is more pressing than ever, though my own answers reside in recollected incidents, not in academic definitions.
Published to coincide with the author's seventy-fifth birthday on Monday, the twenty-third, this compact meditation on what the world is, what our role as humans in the world is, and why that urgently needs to change is the topic of the book. "Has the stranger been gathered in, or hunted down?" is quite probably the clearest statement of purpose any book could have, and it comes exactly on time as the catastrophic exit of US troops from Afghanistan unfolds.
Just as with refugees today, the pattern of slavery has always been that the darker skinned peoples were owned and abused by the lighter skinned. There were notable exceptions, such as ancient Africa where emperors of dark nations owned dark slaves from different tribes. Slavery was never just about color, but about power and wealth. ... Today, prejudice and brutality by many police in the U.S. have outlived legal slavery by more than a hundred and fifty years.
So you're reading this review and wondering what the point of my telling you about this small book written by someone who isn't a Big Name, hasn't written think pieces and hefty reports and the like, is? Because you have a vaccine-resisting climate-change denying (or at the least skeptical) aunt, or mother, or church elder. No one is talking to her. They're talking to Greta Thunberg (who comes in for some quiet praise here) and her mom. They're marshaling innumerable facts about chemistry and computing that say absolutely nothing to that friend, relative, elder.
I think she deserves the respect of someone sitting down and speaking to her, peer-to-peer, reminding her of *why* she made those decades of sacrifices and plans and worked so hard to bring about what she hoped would be a better world. And so did Lillian Moats...here, she's written the book she hoped to read and thus engage with a wider world of people who, like her, haven't been mindfully included in the world they made as it decides its future.
Yuletide is coming. Maybe a birthday before that. Try talking to the people you'd like to mobilize the way they need to hear you.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: First, read this:
The impulse to hunt takes aim instead, to separate, conquer or eradicate whatever may be defined by some group as less than human. With the future of the planet now so much in doubt, I think it's a rare person who does not, at least unconsciously, align hopes for the survival of this world with either gathering or hunting.
–and–
What it means to be human is quite a different question from "What is human nature?" for which we finally realize there can be no answer except to include what any human culture has done or felt.
For me, the question of what it means to be human is more pressing than ever, though my own answers reside in recollected incidents, not in academic definitions.
Published to coincide with the author's seventy-fifth birthday on Monday, the twenty-third, this compact meditation on what the world is, what our role as humans in the world is, and why that urgently needs to change is the topic of the book. "Has the stranger been gathered in, or hunted down?" is quite probably the clearest statement of purpose any book could have, and it comes exactly on time as the catastrophic exit of US troops from Afghanistan unfolds.
Just as with refugees today, the pattern of slavery has always been that the darker skinned peoples were owned and abused by the lighter skinned. There were notable exceptions, such as ancient Africa where emperors of dark nations owned dark slaves from different tribes. Slavery was never just about color, but about power and wealth. ... Today, prejudice and brutality by many police in the U.S. have outlived legal slavery by more than a hundred and fifty years.
So you're reading this review and wondering what the point of my telling you about this small book written by someone who isn't a Big Name, hasn't written think pieces and hefty reports and the like, is? Because you have a vaccine-resisting climate-change denying (or at the least skeptical) aunt, or mother, or church elder. No one is talking to her. They're talking to Greta Thunberg (who comes in for some quiet praise here) and her mom. They're marshaling innumerable facts about chemistry and computing that say absolutely nothing to that friend, relative, elder.
I think she deserves the respect of someone sitting down and speaking to her, peer-to-peer, reminding her of *why* she made those decades of sacrifices and plans and worked so hard to bring about what she hoped would be a better world. And so did Lillian Moats...here, she's written the book she hoped to read and thus engage with a wider world of people who, like her, haven't been mindfully included in the world they made as it decides its future.
Yuletide is coming. Maybe a birthday before that. Try talking to the people you'd like to mobilize the way they need to hear you.
August 28, 2021
A Heartfelt And Private Personal Conversation Between A Writer And A Not Yet-Lived Reader On Humanity’s Future.
Lillian Moore’s If You Exist: In Search Of A Reader Deep In The Future is a personal and heartfelt conversation between herself and an individual who has not yet come into life’s existence or may ever. Moats compares her personal message to “a note in a bottle set to see in hopes of reaching you, if you exist in the future on some unfathomable shore.” Within each page and chapter, Moats individually shares her reflections on where humanity is now. Henceforward, based on these choices that we make now may command how we will shape humanity’s future. Moats wishes that her not-yet-lived reader could answer her own questions about whether her anxieties have ever been resolved; and in doing so she conversates about climate change, human migration, racism, the COVID-19 Pandemic, and a number of other well validated concerns about the likelihoods of unrestrained technology and human redesign.
Carefully written with vigilant attention to detail, from the unusual conversation between herself and a nonexistent person to careful selection of prose throughout her book, Moats efficaciously produces elements of drama, love, ecstasies, unknowns, and uncertainty, within each chapter that is more than anticipated of a book of personal self-reflection. Furthermore, with the book’s format between an author and a reader (though not-yet in existence), Moats certainly relates to readers of any age, from the young adult to the middle aged professionals; and to the senior. This book will keep the reader intrigued throughout each page while taking the reader on an emotional road trip; not only within his or her own self-reflections on humanity but the fate of our generation’s future of humanity as well.
If You Exist will moreover gratify readers with Moat’s own personal self-contemplations and experiences of hilarity, sorrow, anxiety, self-skepticism, problems and apprehensions that will certainly relate to any reader’s own personal life’s experiences and doubts. This new book is one that doesn’t fall short of a true and heartfelt personal reflection. Moat’s new book is not only truly heartfelt but enduring; and will personally touch the heart of her readers seeking contemplation and some inspiration in their lives.
Lillian Moore’s If You Exist: In Search Of A Reader Deep In The Future is a personal and heartfelt conversation between herself and an individual who has not yet come into life’s existence or may ever. Moats compares her personal message to “a note in a bottle set to see in hopes of reaching you, if you exist in the future on some unfathomable shore.” Within each page and chapter, Moats individually shares her reflections on where humanity is now. Henceforward, based on these choices that we make now may command how we will shape humanity’s future. Moats wishes that her not-yet-lived reader could answer her own questions about whether her anxieties have ever been resolved; and in doing so she conversates about climate change, human migration, racism, the COVID-19 Pandemic, and a number of other well validated concerns about the likelihoods of unrestrained technology and human redesign.
Carefully written with vigilant attention to detail, from the unusual conversation between herself and a nonexistent person to careful selection of prose throughout her book, Moats efficaciously produces elements of drama, love, ecstasies, unknowns, and uncertainty, within each chapter that is more than anticipated of a book of personal self-reflection. Furthermore, with the book’s format between an author and a reader (though not-yet in existence), Moats certainly relates to readers of any age, from the young adult to the middle aged professionals; and to the senior. This book will keep the reader intrigued throughout each page while taking the reader on an emotional road trip; not only within his or her own self-reflections on humanity but the fate of our generation’s future of humanity as well.
If You Exist will moreover gratify readers with Moat’s own personal self-contemplations and experiences of hilarity, sorrow, anxiety, self-skepticism, problems and apprehensions that will certainly relate to any reader’s own personal life’s experiences and doubts. This new book is one that doesn’t fall short of a true and heartfelt personal reflection. Moat’s new book is not only truly heartfelt but enduring; and will personally touch the heart of her readers seeking contemplation and some inspiration in their lives.
July 1, 2021
IF YOU EXIST, IN SEARCH OF A READER DEEP IN THE FUTURE is another excellent Moats' read. Always succinct, always profound, Moats' prose is like crystal. Unlike crystal, however, the sentiments she expresses are warm and human. Moats astutely describes the most urgent problems facing humanity today (right up through the murder of George Floyd) without blinking, without boring or overloading us. Whether humanity now will make possible humanity in the future remains to be seen-- Moats' draws the direct connection; it all depends on us to awaken. Her arguments are compelling, and her conclusion is not only intelligent, but extremely moving. MY HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION!
July 11, 2021
If You Exist by Lillian Moats
Thanks to Netgalley I have this opportunity to post this review.
The book “If You Exist” is an interesting concept. It is, as the author describes, like a “message in a bottle” to future humans many generations from now... if they exist. But “If You Exist” is really a message to all humans whether living now or in the future.
Moats thoughtfully and painfully describes her greatest sorrows and worries of today and the distant tomorrows. She worries about climate change, racism, pandemics, technical progress and more. But Moats is not just expressing her worries to what form of human may exist in the future, she is begging humans of today to solve these issues before they end us.
The last chapter ends with an intriguing and hopeful scenerio. Worth the read to find out what outcome she might imagine.
Thanks to Netgalley I have this opportunity to post this review.
The book “If You Exist” is an interesting concept. It is, as the author describes, like a “message in a bottle” to future humans many generations from now... if they exist. But “If You Exist” is really a message to all humans whether living now or in the future.
Moats thoughtfully and painfully describes her greatest sorrows and worries of today and the distant tomorrows. She worries about climate change, racism, pandemics, technical progress and more. But Moats is not just expressing her worries to what form of human may exist in the future, she is begging humans of today to solve these issues before they end us.
The last chapter ends with an intriguing and hopeful scenerio. Worth the read to find out what outcome she might imagine.
May 18, 2023
I read these very short essays at a large US airport surrounded by a veritable buzz of humanity. I am increasingly alarmed by the need for some humans to find differences in our species as harmful and wanting to those differences to be kept hidden ordisallowed if possible.
August 14, 2021
A very interesting idea which the author delivers beautifully. It will not appeal to everyone - perhaps a bit too honest for some - but will make everyone who does read it think.
January 1, 2024
A outstanding book about Mother Earth and why she is being ripped apart. Mosts has a subtle way of making her point. Looking forward to reading more of her books
September 21, 2021
If You Exist is an intelligent view of the world today as seen by a reader of the future. Lillian Moats has done a brilliant job of painting the picture of the world today and everything that is worrying about it from the lens of someone who would probably look at the present day as a significant historical moment. She has tried to explain things in the most objective way possible, but you can see hints of bias here and there. I truly enjoyed the play with time as a construct and the uncertainty that the author expresses about the reader.
Overall, it is quite an impactful book that makes you think about who we want to be seen as by your future generations and re-evaluate your behaviour and attitude towards important topics like climate change.
I personally did not appreciate a few parts where she takes the trouble of explaining some simple concepts to the future reader on one hand while on the other, she assumes that the reader will easily understand some complex ideas.
I would give a 3 on 5 rating, and would highly recommend you to pick it up. Would love to see more from the author!
Overall, it is quite an impactful book that makes you think about who we want to be seen as by your future generations and re-evaluate your behaviour and attitude towards important topics like climate change.
I personally did not appreciate a few parts where she takes the trouble of explaining some simple concepts to the future reader on one hand while on the other, she assumes that the reader will easily understand some complex ideas.
I would give a 3 on 5 rating, and would highly recommend you to pick it up. Would love to see more from the author!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews