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| 068482471X
| 9780684824710
| 4.04
| 11,970
| Jan 01, 1995
| Jun 12, 1996
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it was amazing
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Imagine running through an orchard grabbing fruit as you go. After you finish, you look back and decide to take a very large bag and stroll slowly thr
Imagine running through an orchard grabbing fruit as you go. After you finish, you look back and decide to take a very large bag and stroll slowly through again, carrying a ladder picking the best fruit you can find. Darwin's Dangerous Idea is the first book I have ever read twice in a row. Dennett is a master of clear thinking and builds his case through logic, but he surveys a very large territory and I felt upon finishing my first read, that I hadn't grasped all he had to say. The second read was as enjoyable but more satisfying than the first, but rather than carrying a ladder, I pulled out a highlighter. I've always been impressed with Charles Darwin and believe that his thoughts on evolution are as significant to the advance of knowledge as the discovery of how to make fire was to the advance of civilization. For the roughly 6 million years since our branch of the tree of life separated from the ancestors we have in common with chimps and bonobos, humanity has lived in ignorance of the reality of how the world around us has come to be. Because of the unbearable anxiety that went with ignorance, it was mandatory that something be thought up to explain things and religions fit the bill. The profound difference for those who have lived within the last 150 years, is that mythology can be put aside for truth. As far as we know, we, on our little planet, exhibit for the first time the universe coming to understand itself. For all the number of earth-like planets that may be out there, we don't have a shred of evidence to date that we are not all alone. Life must be rare, if not unique to Earth. The dangerous idea that Dennett writes about is that insensate matter has, through blind unguided experimentation under a system of order (chemistry and physics) with the aid of inconceivable amounts of time, started life itself and then developed to the incredible variety of it we see today through natural selection. Dennett calls this idea a universal acid because it puts holes in all of the tales we have told ourselves about a god above and our place apart from other life on earth. It's comforting to believe that there is a benevolent creator and overseer, that there is a "me" that is not entirely held within the physical body, yet nobody has ever come up with even the slightest evidence that our fond desires have anything to do with the reality of our being. With great patience and a delightful sense of humor, Dennett methodically dismantles every attempt to falsify Darwin's idea. Even many scientists, he tells us, are reluctant to part with the idea of a "skyhook", an external, inexplicable agent that has somehow intervened to bring us to our condition of mind-directedness independent of natural selection. We are definitely special for having language and consciousness and culture. Dennett is not belittling mankind, far from it! He sees that we are not the helpless automatons that animals are - going through the motions of life without the ability to benefit from the rich store of information that we humans have built up and readily communicate to each other. We are the masters of our fate because we have the world of ideas that transcends our genetic recipe. There is no cause for despair, but there is cause to be wary of those who would like to return to the comforts of mythology. Darwin's Dangerous Idea is not a quick and easy read, but that is because it is so carefully crafted for the mind to follow. You cannot be distracted since an idea will be carried through several pages and you need to follow the logic. The language is not technical, Dennett peppers the text with everyday phrases. He carefully defines his terms but you have to note those definitions because the terms will pop up again and again. Most enjoyable are his mind experiments, his constructions made for the reader to better understand a point. What if you were going to go under suspended animation for centuries and had to design a robot to get you through that period of time? What characteristics would you give it to best assure your survival? Genes have made their way through endless iterations of trial and error and what have they come up with that is successful? Look around you to see countless examples in every form of life we know, then look in the mirror. What genes cannot do is bring great change all at once that will meet rapid environmental change. This has been shown repeatedly with great die-offs that reduced the number of species up to 90% in episodes over the history of earth. In our time, humanity in its effect on the environment has created a hurdle that genetic change is helpless to address. The problem for all life is us and our own actions will determine its fate. If you want revelation, put the bible aside and get a copy of this book. You won't need a shaman or a priest to interpret for you, all you need is to pay attention to find out how even what seem to be the most impenetrable mysteries become clear when viewed with the dangerous idea of Darwin's that turns out to be illuminating (and subject to proof) in so many areas. Maybe I'll read it a third time. :) ...more | Notes are private!
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Feb 27, 2015
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Feb 27, 2015
| Paperback
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| 0385513976
| 9780385513975
| 3.91
| 789
| Apr 17, 2006
| Apr 17, 2007
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it was amazing
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This book is not only a thorough exploration of a remarkable man, but a marvelous tour through 19th century America. Recently, I asked two people in th This book is not only a thorough exploration of a remarkable man, but a marvelous tour through 19th century America. Recently, I asked two people in their 30's if they had ever heard of Henry Ward Beecher. They had not. They did recognize the name of his sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe. How time erases celebrity! H.W. Beecher was deeply involved in the major issues of his times, was credited by both Lincoln and Robert E. Lee with determining the outcome of the Civil War and became involved in a legal case over adultery that easily equals the O.J. Simpson spectacle in our own time. Yet, he is almost entirely forgotten - I would not have been able to properly identify him before reading this book. Henry, the son of a Calvinist preacher, Lyman Beecher, ended up repudiating Calvinism and bridged the time between the fire and brimstone school of preaching and the modern era of American Christianity that he initiated, in which God is equated with love and forgiveness. An emotional man enraptured by the effect of adoring audiences, Henry Ward Beecher lived to address the multitudes. The other duties of a minister paled by comparison; he never cared to be a pastor visiting his flock and listening to their troubles. Rather, he enjoyed mingling with the public at large from the elite of Manhattan to the workers toiling on the docks, Christians and pagans alike. With his long hair, open collar and idea that nobody was sinless or could be, he made a distinct impression wherever he went. Working his way up through churches near Cincinnati and in Indianapolis, Beecher ultimately had a church in Brooklyn, NY built specifically for him in 1859 (Plymouth Church that still stands today) and from there he ruled the roost until his death, consistently pulling in packed audiences. A member of a large and famous family and husband to a prolific wife who viewed herself as a martyr, his chilly marriage resulted in long periods of separation in which his open and understanding manner could lead to complications with the opposite sex. The last quarter of the book is filled with the details of the Beecher - Tilton affair that led to a trial that filled the newspapers of America; well over 100 stories on the matter appeared in the New York Times alone. This book is enjoyable on many levels, from an investigation of the psychology of Beecher and those closest to him, through an analysis of the religious and political movements of the time, to the issue of how the preservation of what a man represents can be more important to the public than the actual personal actions of that man. In other words, if you are an icon, much will be forgiven before those who treasure the icon will allow it to crumble. Beecher could lead on the issues, such as the right of women to vote, but he more often took the pulse of his public and moved in the direction to which they pointed. Contradiction was part of the man, as it is with all of us, but Beecher never looked back and never tried to maintain that he was always right as so many do. His conversation with individuals was uninhibited and open-hearted and the emotional transport he achieved in his sermons could lead him to say things he later found hard to defend. Perhaps this was a large part of his attraction; he expressed the emotional freedom for which his straight-laced listeners longed, even if they would never dare to say so. Read this book and you will understand why Henry Ward Beecher deserved his fame. No less a critic of humanity than Mark Twain claimed Beecher was a Gulliver among Lilliputians. Every chapter will leave you eager to find out - what happens next!? ...more | Notes are private!
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Nov 29, 2008
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Nov 29, 2008
| Paperback
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| 0140298541
| 9780140298543
| 4.28
| 1,453
| Jan 01, 1999
| Feb 01, 2001
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it was amazing
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Author Anthony Loyd takes some courses in journalism in London, finds a person to teach him Serbo-Croat and goes off to chronicle the war in Bosnia fr
Author Anthony Loyd takes some courses in journalism in London, finds a person to teach him Serbo-Croat and goes off to chronicle the war in Bosnia from start to finish with a side trip to witness the first Russian attack on Grozny, Chechnya. His relentless pursuit of combat is broken with occasional breaks back in his native London. Why would someone voluntarily place himself in a situation that is known to put life and sanity at great risk? As Loyd relates, I wanted to throw myself into a war, hoping for either a metamorphosis or an exit. I wanted to reach a human extreme in order to cleanse myself of my sense of fear, and saw war as the ultimate frontier of human experience. It turns out that Loyd has demons of his own to deal with that have him regularly getting high on heroin. The result is a doubly riveting tale of what harm men do to each other and what one man does to himself. With Loyd's powerful prose, this work takes the reader as close to personal experience as is possible at one remove. In war, one's survival intact comes down to the chances of a simple coincidence: will my flesh and a flying piece of metal be in the same place at the same time? That metal might be an individual bullet or a piece of shrapnel. Loyd puts it perfectly... Shells? They can do things to the human body you never believed possible; turn it inside out like a steaming rose; bend it backwards and through itself; chop it up; shred it; pulp it; mutilations so base and vile they never stopped revolting me. And there is no real cover from shellfire. Shells can drop out of the sky to your feet, or smash their way through any piece of architecture to find you...a bullet may or may not have your number on it, but I am sure shells are merely engraved with 'to whom it may concern'. There is no rest in this book; personal encounters, good, bad and often impossible to predict come on every page. Loyd's brief breaks in London are filled with anguish, drugs as the only relief. Colorful characters abound as one would expect when life becomes tenuous; unexpectedly continuing with each day. When death is everywhere, every person either finds it for himself or comes up with a method to deal with it. Some choose bravado, some choose lucky talismans, some indulge in cruelty, some turn to stone. When battle ceases drug use is common. Loyd covers all the details of the countryside, the hamlets and the towns he visits with scenes of recent slaughter all around from a civil war that in one case has enemies commiserating in a short truce arranged to gather the dead. Muslims and Christians speaking the same language ask each other about the fate of fellow schoolmates they had shared classes with in years past, only to separate for renewed battle. In the classic war movie, Akira Kurosawa's Ran, there is a scene in which all has been lost. A small group of soldiers lament in a devastated landscape, one crying out that he curses the gods for allowing such horror to occur. Another soldier says, "Do not blaspheme! The gods look down on us and weep for what we do to ourselves." Anthony Loyd puts the reader into the killing fields like no other author I have read. ...more | Notes are private!
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Feb 11, 2018
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Feb 11, 2018
| Paperback
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| 1594201048
| 9781594201042
| 3.95
| 2,176
| 2006
| Oct 24, 2006
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it was amazing
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There is nothing more fascinating than a life story. The dice are doubly thrown when sperm meets egg, first in the combination of genes through heredi
There is nothing more fascinating than a life story. The dice are doubly thrown when sperm meets egg, first in the combination of genes through heredity, and at the same time in the time at which a life comes into being. At birth such powerful factors as temperament are already set, but what tests will temperament meet? Would the great people of one century be great if they were born in another? Almost certainly not. We are the result of our ancestry and also of our time. There are some characteristics that are beneficial to success regardless of place and time - positive outlook, eagerness to do what is asked, curiosity, intelligence, dedication, etc. These are all things that Andrew Carnegie possessed. What employer doesn't like an employee who gets the job done quickly, thinks of ways to do the job better, puts those ideas to use and never complains? Rags to riches stories, Carnegie's life being a perfect example, are not to be laughed at. Environment can be met and conquered. We all have to do it just to survive, but when the environment perfectly suits the personality, anything is possible. It's been said of some wealthy people that, were their source of wealth to be eliminated, they would soon be back in the money from another source. This is not fiction, though it is hardly the rule that most wealthy people would like to believe it is. Author David Nasaw provides the perfect amount of commentary in this epic account of the fascinating life and times of a tiny (5 feet tall) but wonderfully personable man who was a giant of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Any biography needs a well informed author to intercede in her reporting of events to provide background, allowing the reader to fully appreciate the significance of whatever event in a life is being described. At the same time, the author cannot overshadow the individual about whom he writes. Finding the perfect balance, Nasaw makes this 850 page story a delight. You investigate U.S. history as you find out about the man. Carnegie was overbearing in telling several U.S. presidents what to do and exactly how to do it, but was not one to trifle with as he had the attention and approval of the American public (not to mention his donations). His dedication after retirement to give away his fortune was popular, particularly since he did so in a very public way - donating over 1700 public library buildings and several times that many organs. In addition he started the teachers pension fund that we now know as TIAA and several foundations such as the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace that still operate today. Never at a loss for words, he delighted in answering reporters' questions and relentlessly appeared as a speaker before groups in the U.S. and Europe, where his sense of humor and direct manner always engaged his listeners. Carnegie was a shrewd businessman. He vowed that he would never be part of any operation that he did not control and he kept his businesses closely held, owning the majority of stock (all privately held) himself. Though already wealthy before getting involved with steel, it was in steel that he became the wealthiest man in the world, due to his own excellent management that always poured earnings back into the company and kept his factories running to keep and win customers even when the market dropped and competitors stopped production. His ability to foresee the market for steel paid off again and again. Yet he, like all of us, had blind spots. While he claimed that the market should rule, kept the wages of his workforce not a penny higher than that of his non-unionized competitors, and successfully eliminated unions from his factories, he hypocritically approved of the tariff on steel that protected his profits by keeping European competition out of the United States. He claimed to be a working man himself though he had only done manual labor for a year as a young man. His relationship with Henry Clay Frick, who ran his steel and coke works while Carnegie spent the better part of each year, year after year, enjoying his estate in Scotland or traveling the world is almost a book within the book. Frick endured the sweat and stress and drew the hatred of working men during the infamous company vs labor confrontation at the Homestead mill, while Carnegie enjoyed the profits and gave the impression (a wrong one) that he was removed from the day to day decisions. Credit the telegraph with setting a wealthy man free. He did not for a moment believe he was depriving the members of his labor force for his own benefit. Instead, he felt that his wealth was better spent (after he personally had all he wanted) on what he considered the public good (libraries, institutes, etc.). Were his men to have better wages, they would only squander it on foolish things such as women and drink. That the thousands of workers who produced his wealth had no say in this was of no matter. In such a way does rationalization work for the wealthy. From his birth well before the Civil War to his death shortly after the First World War, Carnegie's life was exactly the one he wanted to live. He lacked nothing, enjoyed almost every day and was appreciated not only by the many people he befriended but also by the public at large. He was upbeat to a fault, fun to be with, a perfect and very willing host at his estate and likely to bring a smile to any face, if only for his gnomish appearance. And I haven't even mentioned his work for world peace, a major part the book! ...more | Notes are private!
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Aug 24, 2014
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Aug 24, 2014
| Hardcover
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| 0307277712
| 9780307277718
| 3.55
| 13,506
| 2006
| Apr 10, 2007
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liked it
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Philip Roth is a masterful writer; a great explorer and expounder of what goes on in the human psyche. His writing here shows the skill. Everyman is a Philip Roth is a masterful writer; a great explorer and expounder of what goes on in the human psyche. His writing here shows the skill. Everyman is a look at the last years of life in America, for a man who is, I'm afraid to say, "everyman" - racked with regrets, full of doubts, lonely, in bad health and with hardly a moment of good thoughts to get him through the days. It's a pathetic story. Who would want to be in the company of such a person, groveling in self-pity? Old age is a challenge. Losing everything is a challenge. Death is a challenge. What is the choice one has? The only choice is in how to accept the inevitable with some degree of grace. Perhaps some insight on courage can be found with age. Certainly the opportunity to practice it is there. This book is a primer in how to destroy oneself with guilt, envy and whining before actual death finishes the job. Younger people would probably find the book a slog, particularly if they have elderly people they deal with regularly, because they will have heard this story before in real life. Youth is a comparative breeze, even if it has roadblocks there is always the future. Old age is far more interesting because that is when character really comes out. The old cannot hide what they are. This should make old age a much more interesting subject than youth, yet it is hardly present in movies and books. Maybe this will change as people live longer. Some good role models are needed to escape the common story, though elegantly written, of a person turning to mush. ...more | Notes are private!
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Jan 04, 2010
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Jan 04, 2010
| Paperback
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| 0618446966
| 9780618446964
| 4.15
| 143
| 2005
| Nov 01, 2005
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liked it
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To be extremely self-conscious is a liability. Combine it with hyper-sensitivity and misery is usually the result. Rousseau had an extra helping of bo
To be extremely self-conscious is a liability. Combine it with hyper-sensitivity and misery is usually the result. Rousseau had an extra helping of both traits. It made him frequently miserable, almost always uncomfortable and, in a torment paired with great intellect, a genius who provided many insights into the new world of individualism he did much to open. I recently read Emile. The contrast between the controlled, calm and masterful way in which Rousseau wrote and his dire and frantic emotional life, is a surprise. A remark by David Hume that Rousseau was not just a man without a coat, but without a skin as well, captures JJR perfectly. Perpetually uncomfortable, particularly in social situations, the torment is evident in his philosophy of the corruption of individual man by society. Rousseau tried to identify the real self hiding under the mask put on to please others. In contrast, author Damrosch tells of the method of Ben Franklin, another 18th century thinker, who advised his fellow men to embrace the socially accepted persona that would ease the way to success in dealing with others. For Rousseau, this would be the height of dishonesty, a rejection of Shakespeare's "to thine own self be true". How things have changed since 1750! We now have every guy and his relatives on TV broadcasting to the world their personal problems and anguish. No personal secret is too awful to keep from the public. "Reality" shows go so far as to create fake realities so that individuals can emote to each other with a completely false intimacy and openness that is a mockery of what Rousseau was after. For all of the sense of personal revelation, we've only changed our idea of what the public wants rather than looking for the truth of self that Rousseau was after. Deeply hurt by even the smallest slights, he wrote his Confessions in part to head off criticism (and defuse the pain) that might be made by others. Never staying in one place for a long time, Rousseau acted like a hunted man, which at times he was, yet unable to escape the most dedicated hunter of all, himself. Scarcely able to support himself, he depended on the good will of an assortment of wealthy benefactors, both male and female, to provide him with places to stay. Yet no place remained comfortable, primarily because there was no place of comfort in his mind. While Rousseau was sensitive to his every emotion, he was usually obtuse regarding others. Gestures of friendship or the simple acts from others with no deep content were often wildly misinterpreted or rejected. Paranoia increasingly occupied his thoughts and his outrageous accusations against those who cared about him unsurprisingly drove many away. Nothing was too insignificant to prevent his elaboration of it into fantasy that often shocked those around him. It's not hard to understand how people could get tired of being misinterpreted. But he opened the door to the human psyche and made it possible to see how we all share existential issues that lay bare our essential human equality behind the false divisions created by wealth and status. It wasn't long before the French Revolution heralded JJR as a prophet. Leo Damrosch knows his subject. There are times when the reading is a bit slow but it's hard to imagine a more interesting person to follow through life than JJR. The word shocking has lost almost all meaning in a world that makes millionaires of people who make a profession of shock, such as Lady Gaga and Howard Stern. As a result it's almost impossible to portray to the modern reader the impact of Rousseau on his times. He was hyper-sensitive and we are de-sensitized. ...more | Notes are private!
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Dec 29, 2010
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Dec 29, 2010
| Hardcover
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| 0393312763
| 9780393312768
| 4.17
| 8,800
| Sep 22, 1994
| Jan 17, 1995
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really liked it
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I had read Einstein's book "The Evolution of Physics" (reviewed) and with the introduction that he supplied, felt I was ready to fall into black holes
I had read Einstein's book "The Evolution of Physics" (reviewed) and with the introduction that he supplied, felt I was ready to fall into black holes. I had seen a cover blurb describing Kip Thorne's book (subtitle: Einstein's outrageous legacy) as exemplary science writing and, though it is somewhat dated (1993) bought a used copy. Thorne wastes no time, initially taking the reader on a visit to black holes of various sizes, though widely separated in distance, in our galaxy. Relativity is seen by the wildly different amount of time experienced by the astronauts compared to that on earth during their absence. A trip to the center of the Milky Way at light speed would only be 30 years for the voyagers but many thousands of years would pass on earth, many thousands more for the return trip! This a result of what Einstein found - that time is relative. There is no independent time, alike for everyone everywhere. Only the speed of light is constant everywhere and always. It is this adjustment of our dimensions of height, width and depth to accord with the constant of light speed that results in the weird stretching and compressing of objects and of time. The central theme of the book is gravity and what happens when it becomes far more powerful than we know it to be in our solar system. Even as early as the 18th century there was speculation about what would happen if a star was so massive that its gravity would prevent even light from escaping. Thorne takes us on the investigation through physics that really took off after Einstein came up with the concept of spacetime, which is curved by gravity. Because spacetime is a dimension that we can never see, limited as we are to the 3 dimensions that we know, Thorne uses what are called embedding diagrams to give a sense of how curvature of spacetime can result in the three angles of a triangle summing to more or less than 180 degrees, or the shortest distance between two points not being a straight line as we would see it. The best way I've found to think of spacetime is as follows: light must always follow the shortest path between two points and it must do so at the fixed speed of 186,000 miles per second. Einstein showed that light has mass, though very little, and is therefor affected by gravity. The intense gravity of the sun is enough to bend the path of light that passes near it. If we look at the light of a star with high precision, we note that if the sun's edge passes near the position of that star, the star's light will be offset from where it would otherwise be, shifting the position of that star in relation to all the other stars seen in that part of the sky. As the sun moves away, the distant star appears to move back into its normal place. Now, if light cannot change speed and must be coming to us from that distant star by the shortest path at all times, then it is the path, through Einstein's spacetime, that is distorted because of the sun's gravity. Were the sun a black hole, the distant star's light passing near it would be greatly displaced, just as the text in a book would be moved and distorted as you pass a magnifying lens over it. Surprisingly, the author is able to make the strangeness he describes comprehensible. The idea that as stars become increasingly massive their fate takes them to different endpoints - white dwarfs, neutron stars and finally black holes, is clearly explained with many diagrams and side comments. I only had difficulty in the last chapter where he goes into time machines. There, the level of abstraction went where I could not follow, and abstraction is what the cutting edge of physics is all about. You will get a great introduction to great minds in math and physics of the 20th century, many of them friends of Kip Thorne. There are plenty of personal accounts and a good bit of humor to humanize what might be a dry subject. There is excellent coverage of the instruments used, such as the radio telescope or the X-ray detecting satellites. Thorne does a great job of catching the reader up in the excitement of the professionally curious who are forever asking why. Something I had not considered before, the author relates how traditional optical astronomy, starting with the naked eye, only reveals a relatively quiet universe. The rip-roaring world of X-rays, gamma rays and gravity waves cannot be "seen" without special instruments that have only been practical within the last 75 years. An exciting part of the book for me was the story of Grote Reber, a hobbyist in Wheaton, Illinois, who built his own backyard radio telescope and detected (with low precision) strong radio sources before professional astronomers knew about them. So impressive was his work that astronomers from the Yerkes Observatory traveled to visit him. Thorne takes you across the electromagnetic spectrum, from light through radio and X-rays up to the latest area of investigation, non-electromagnetic gravity waves, being sought as the inevitable result of black holes in collision. Since Kip Thorne recommended the construction of the first gravity wave interferometer at Caltech, he's well placed to discuss the search. Because of the age of this book, I was curious to see what happened with this particular project, called LIGO. As it happens, it was built and operated for several years but detected no gravity waves. It has been dismantled and a successor instrument is about to take up the search. Black holes are discussed in great detail, as you'd expect, but not as you'd expect the discussion can be followed without difficulty through the decades, as one great mind after another puts up an idea to be either upheld against fierce criticism or destroyed by the math of another. Behind it all lies Einstein's relativity that opened up a chapter on the search for truth by minds that have to model places in the universe where matter and energy take on magnitudes unknown to human experience. I had to chuckle when Thorne would describe untold hours and even years of work being upset like this: After X had been working on the problem, trying to tie together the different loose ends, Z showed that, after all, everything could be explained by looking at the math in a different way, that, really, there was no difficulty after all. You can imagine the real storm and strife of egos behind a summary statement like this, with someone screaming, WHY DIDN'T I SEE THAT! Join Kip Thorne for this inside story on what is real, though it may contradict our experience. There are more weird things in this book than in a carnival freak show, yet all of them have stood up to the best testing that has been devised. ...more | Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Jun 05, 2014
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Jun 05, 2014
| Paperback
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| 0226467716
| 9780226467719
| 4.02
| 1,209
| 1996
| May 01, 2002
|
really liked it
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George Lakoff is out to explain the political behavior of Americans For the first third of this book, I wearily turned the pages as he built the founda George Lakoff is out to explain the political behavior of Americans For the first third of this book, I wearily turned the pages as he built the foundation upon which he would defend his theory that it is our moral worldview that determines our political view, not the objective facts upon which arguments for or against some policy might be made. In several cases he shows conclusively how the logical conclusions on an issue have little to do with how policy on the issue is decided. Gut feelings count for far more than logic. Lakoff is looking for the basis of the remark we have all made that "it just doesn't seem right to me" or "that's just plain wrong!" when discussing politics. What, exactly, makes something wrong? Where do these feelings that drive our votes come from? But the author has to be forgiven the dry and (I thought) boring first third of the book because he must present the basis for the writing that follows, if it is to hold together logically and not simply be his unsupported opinion. This is the only reason I don't give the book five stars - because I think many readers might give up reading before they get to the very persuasive last two thirds, that starts with the chapter called "The Hard Issues". Feel free to skip the first third - you can go back to it if you are as intrigued as I was. So what's his argument? He says we don't view issues on the actual practical merits of experiential reality, but from the metaphors that we use to make sense of reality; our worldview. The common political metaphor that holds sway is that of the nation as family. This metaphor portrays the country as a large family within which morality exists, may be flouted and must be supported. How citizens should be treated by the government and the function of government are seen through two different ways of looking at the nation as family. Underlying conservative thought, Lakoff identifies what he calls the "Strict Father" metaphor. In this model, being upright and forceful, setting a strict standard for behavior, competition as an unqualified good, punishment for misbehavior/reward for good behavior and "tough love" are thought to mold the morals of the citizenry as it is claimed to do for the children in a family headed by a strict father. Just as a child under this paradigm is spanked, so should citizens who do wrong be punished, because retribution is right. Underlying liberal thought, Lakoff presents the "Nurturant Parent" metaphor of the nation as family. In this worldview the cultivation of the person is the priority. A child is not punished physically but shown by example and explanation, with reasoning, when bad behavior occurs. The government exists not simply to protect the citizenry but to aid it in full realization through fair treatment. Here, it is cultivation and fairness, not retribution that are key. Calmly and clearly, Lakoff shows how these two worldviews tie together all the stands on different issues such as abortion, the environment, welfare, the military, feminism and more, that define conservatism and liberalism. Though Lakoff identifies himself in the introduction as a liberal, he respects and even admires the way that conservatives in recent years have been able to frame political arguments to make it appear their stand on each issue is a natural consequence of what is right and wrong. He brings the reader up through the the Supreme Court ruling on the election of George W. Bush to show that political actions follow the belief in the metaphorical concepts he discusses. In keeping with any good theory, this one should allow one to predict the conservative and liberal views on almost any political issue, though Lakoff is careful to say that many individuals are variants of the conservative/liberal dichotomy...and he illustrates this with convincing analyses of the libertarian and feminist variants. I will not reveal the closing argument that he makes that confounds the Strict Father metaphor, but it certainly seems irrefutable to me. Two thoughts were prominent when I finished the book: 1) I grasped that "the way things are" is by no means the only way they can be, or the way they must be, or the way they should be. It is the metaphorical worldview we have that seems to be firmly set in a concrete of the mind that is harder to chip away at than any rock found on the ground. 2) he who frames the issues, wins the debate. It's Lakoff's goal to break the conservative framing within which American political discourse is trapped. I found his presentation convincing. ...more | Notes are private!
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Jan 26, 2012
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Jan 25, 2012
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| 0192802593
| 9780192802590
| 3.73
| 309
| 1994
| Feb 21, 2002
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really liked it
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I continue my wonderful readings of the "Very Short Introduction to..." books with this illuminating little book on Arthur Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer w I continue my wonderful readings of the "Very Short Introduction to..." books with this illuminating little book on Arthur Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer was born in 1788, two hundred years after Thomas Hobbes. If you read my review of "A Very Short Introduction to Free Will" you will know that Hobbes was a pioneer in breaking free of the theological view of man. He insisted that human beings are just another form of animal life and Schopenhauer follows the same path. For Schopenhauer, we are driven by our will and our will is only the pressure of life present in any living creature that drives it to reproduce and fulfill other less necessary drives. Whatever we may think about why we act, beneath it all we are completely physical beings different from other animals only in our ability to imagine reasons for our actions that allow us to claim individual motivation. To Schopenhauer, we live under a delusion that makes us blind to the unity of all life. Schopenhauer believes, in accord with Buddhism, that the only way to escape the misery of endless desire without satisfaction is to calm the restless, craving mind through meditation. His pessimistic view of life will not admit that there can be real happiness, at best there can only be calm endurance until death brings eternal peace. His pessimism extends so far as to deny that existence is better than non-existence and I disagree. There can be joys in life, equally true back in the first half of the 19th century when he lived, so the idea that nothing at all is better than life astounds me. Perhaps the prison inmate, wrongfully convicted and sentenced to a life of incarceration, or a slave destined for nothing but hard labor could sympathize with Schopenhauer's view. For the rest of us, isn't being able to love and be loved, or to take pleasure in one's children more than adequate to offset the loss of everything in death? Nevertheless, Schopenhauer's cold, clear view of reality that has not a word to say about God is refreshing for the time in which it was expressed. Though he was born several decades after Jefferson and Adams, I believe they would have found much of what he wrote congenial to their Deist thoughts of God setting the world in motion and then letting things take care of themselves from then on. Schopenhauer was precocious in his view of the unconscious, writing of how much lies below and contradicts the reasons we consciously give for our behavior. His thinking aligns with that of Darwin far before Darwin and with Freud far before Freud at a time when early science was mapping out the physical world and new ideas were tumbling from minds that questioned what had been handed down from history. Yet even Schopenhauer was blind to the equality of women, dismissing them as obviously inferior to men. Nobody can completely escape their times...or their ego! Christopher Janaway has done a fine job writing this book. The editors of the "Very Short..." series must also be commended for insuring the readability of all the works that compose it. Philosophy in particular has a reputation for being difficult to penetrate (though Schopenhauer is a notable exception) yet I have had no trouble following the ideas in all of the series books I have read to date. ...more | Notes are private!
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Feb 16, 2016
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Feb 16, 2016
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| 0316545562
| 9780316545563
| 3.86
| 9,373
| 1992
| Jun 01, 1993
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really liked it
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This is a whirlwind overview of the period around 1500 (give or take 100 years) using Magellan's voyage around the world to frame the work. This isn't
This is a whirlwind overview of the period around 1500 (give or take 100 years) using Magellan's voyage around the world to frame the work. This isn't to say it's a slap-dash work, because Manchester brings in a remarkable amount of detail in so few pages, but it isn't in the same category (nor does it claim to be) as something from Barbara Tuchman or Doris Goodwin. The author does a job on the Catholic Church, and with relish. He's out to let the reader know just what a benighted time it was, where ignorance allowed all manner of superstition and fear free reign. Of course the powerful exploited their position, as they still do, but the vast majority of European mankind was out of the picture, living in tiny towns or squalid larger towns that passed for cities, keeping tight hold on all of the religious mythology he had been taught in fear of the devil and disease. We're shown how the debauchery of the Italian popes was accompanied by their support of the arts and artists that produced what we now consider masterpieces. The glorious cathedrals of Europe had (by 1500) long been built and it was no idle belief that there would be an afterlife in either heaven or hell; religion was wound deeply into the minds of all. The coming of the Reformation, which is the meat of the book, gives an excellent account of the life and personality of Martin Luther, a man of the Holy Roman Empire calling out the hypocrisy of the Roman church, only to bring forth a kind of religious dictatorship that reacted to license with an anti-human proscription of desire in any form. We are also filled in on the amorous life of Henry VIII and the Italian political world of Machiavelli. A quick read, I ended the book thinking, as probably most readers will, that I sure am glad I wasn't around in those days. It was a terrible fall from the glory of Rome into an intellectual pause of a thousand years, relieved by the Renaissance, but at the same time succeeded by terrible religious wars and the bloody rise of nationalism that we are only now escaping (I say with my fingers crossed). Oh - one minor annoyance was the use of Spanish when it wasn't called for. Usually, an author will use a foreign phrase because it conveys something that is difficult to express in English, then the best English attempt will follow. In this book, Manchester reverses this in two ways - first by putting something he has just said in English into Spanish within parentheses, and second, the translation is always mundane. I'm wearing a hat (llevo sombrero) he said. The word for this is gratuitous. ...more | Notes are private!
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Mar 05, 2013
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Mar 05, 2013
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| 1862073708
| 9781862073708
| 3.97
| 1,893
| 1999
| 2000
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liked it
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If only everyone had the parents they deserve! It's an unfortunate fact of life that the physical requirements to produce offspring have very little t
If only everyone had the parents they deserve! It's an unfortunate fact of life that the physical requirements to produce offspring have very little to do with the ability to raise a child to be a self assured, responsible and socially productive adult. There are plenty of psychological children in adult bodies who are overseeing the development of children. Perhaps our expectations of child rearing are way beyond what nature intended - that small two footed animals unable to protect themselves should be protected until they are able to go out and forage on their own. This might allow for successful hunters and gatherers, but it leaves the psyche out on a limb. Edward Said (sah-EED) was a child of two Palestinians. His father had been to America, had learned business and was hugely successful running a office supply business in Cairo, Egypt. His parents had an arranged marriage, his mother being 20 years younger than his dad. With his three sisters, he lived a life free from financial need, so this is not a story of material, but emotional deprivation. As he searched for identity he was alternately receiving adoration then, often in the next sentence, stern criticism from the same person - his mother. Not surprisingly this left him anxious and insecure. Dad was emotionally and physically distant, limiting conversation to short admonitions to behave while being the kind of large, well built man that could easy make a young boy feel inadequate. Edward simply could not do well enough, he could not stand straight enough, he could not apply himself as he should in the eyes of his parents. Each day was filled with such remarks as "why can't you be like your sister?", "why do you stand so stooped like you do?" His childhood is exactly the opposite of the kind of modern over-praised, over-prized, "you're the best" no matter how insignificant the activity, that we hear about. But, it was the 1950's and it sure sounds familiar to the kind of family experience many American children had at that time, including my own. The desire for a child to model some ideal of masculinity of femininity was very powerful in those days. Edward Said's parents were over-protective to an extreme. He laments that he could not participate in outside activities. He was literally kept in a compound in Cairo that exposed him only to the children of the wealthy British or Americans who lived there. He father was very proud of his American background, always favored English over Arabic and kept everything under control - even to the point of vacations that always had the same itinerary and always kept the family apart from others. Claustrophobic is the word that springs to mind. He lived in Cairo for years but never saw anything beyond the few blocks where he lived. Within the immediate family, politics have no place so he looks for opportunities to find out what is happening in the outside world through more or less distant relatives who visit. He had the British empire view (they were only kicked entirely out of Egypt in the 50's) pumped into him through the early education he received, but he never accepted it and was constantly aware that as an Arab he just didn't measure up no matter what he did. Top this off with a strait-laced view from his parents that sex was not to be spoken of, or if mentioned, clearly put into the category of the disgusting or disagreeable and one can understand how poor Edward was very late in having his first encounter with a girl. There is an incredible scene in which his parents burst into his bedroom when he is about 12 holding a pair of his pajama pants. They are outraged that he is "abusing" himself. This all comes as a complete surprise to young Edward who hasn't the slightest idea about masterbation. What is their proof of his crime? That his pajama pants show no indication of wet dreams, so he must be doing it to himself! I kept longing for him to break out, particularly when he was ordered off to America for his high school education by his father (all expenses paid, of course). But he never makes the rebellious break and continues to whine about how much he finds this activity or that person lacking as he keeps to himself. This is the account of a rich kid who is under the command of strict and demanding parents. It does have interest because he a combination of elements that are never all acceptable in any place he finds himself - the reason for the title - he is always placed somewhere instead of making his place. The book was written, as he explains to the reader, after he found out he had incurable cancer. This may explain why it is so somber. There is scarcely a moment of joy or happiness in it, elements that should be a large part of childhood. Looking back on his life, he feels he was two people, one of them Edward and the other his intellectual self that made its mark in his writing and teaching. Said is best known for his excellent book, Orientalism, that I've read and reviewed (5 stars). He was an outstanding intellectual and a powerful spokesman for the plight of the Palestinians. ...more | Notes are private!
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Dec 09, 2011
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Dec 09, 2011
| Paperback
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| 0943875897
| 9780943875897
| 3.66
| 114
| May 25, 1990
| Sep 18, 1998
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really liked it
|
This book was written before the huge surge in interest in terrorism in the United States brought on by 9/11. Since so much has been written since 199
This book was written before the huge surge in interest in terrorism in the United States brought on by 9/11. Since so much has been written since 1998, to read this book alone would leave the reader a bit behind the times on the subject. Nevertheless, I would recommend anyone interested in the topic starting here. The parts dealing with the psychology of terror are quite relevant - how do terrorists justify to themselves what they do and how can engaging in terrorist acts alter the views of those who commit them? How do the defenders of terrorism in the name of religion get around prohibitions on suicide? If ever there were a vivid description of rationalization, you'll find it in the chapter, "The Moral Logic of Hizballah" in the account of the views of a Lebanese cleric that adapt to the level of enthusiasm of the public, the judgments of peers and the effectiveness of terror. Success can do much to muffle opposition just as in conventional warfare techniques that were formerly abhorred can find favor if they prove useful. Who would have thought the President of the United States would scarcely hide his approval of torture (while denying it, of course). You'll find a good historical summary of the Weathermen in the United States, the Bader/Meinhof Gang in Germany and the IRA in Northern Ireland providing evidence of how terror acts on the population in general as well as those who plan and carry out the acts. Did terror do what it is hoped that it would do? The book is not a difficult read but it is not a casual read either. You'll need to concentrate to follow the points of the several authors and keep their ideas in mind as you move from one to the next. If you do, you'll find broad coverage that approaches the subject from many angles and reaches back in time to the first century AD. I'm keeping my copy as a good reference on the subject. ...more | Notes are private!
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Nov 2008
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Nov 19, 2008
| Paperback
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| 0143036491
| 9780143036494
| 3.95
| 16,380
| 2004
| Oct 04, 2005
|
really liked it
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John Barry is in love with science and we are the beneficiaries in this comprehensive account of the influenza epidemic that came at the end of WWI. S
John Barry is in love with science and we are the beneficiaries in this comprehensive account of the influenza epidemic that came at the end of WWI. Some of his prose is quite lyrical when he praises the scientific method and the virtue of rational thinking combined with imagination in some of the researchers he covers. But there are villains as well as heroes here as we enter an earlier time where government did almost nothing while private initiatives and funding allied with individual effort to fight disease. You'll get a view of the Wilson administration and the issues of post-war politics. You'll discover the primitive state of American medicine at the turn of the 20th century. You'll learn why the Germans and the French were far ahead in medical research in the beginning of the book and how one American was instrumental in pulling together the human and financial resources to advance the training of a group of American doctors to equal that of the Europeans. Any history should teach the reader a thing or two and this book excels in that. Medical terms are introduced and carefully explained as are the basic concepts of genetics. How does a virus attack a healthy cell and why does a virus mutate so rapidly that any drug is hard-pressed to remain effective even over a period of months? You'll find out. I happened across an article in a current newspaper dealing with the attempt to find a vaccine that would be effective against all viruses and to my surprise I found I understood all of the terms because I had read this book. Written with an intensity and urgency that will keep your attention, The Great Influenza deserves a read. ...more | Notes are private!
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Mar 05, 2009
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Mar 05, 2009
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| 0937165093
| 9780937165096
| unknown
| 4.33
| 30
| Nov 01, 2006
| unknown
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it was amazing
|
Paul Findley was a U.S. Congressman from Illinois, defeated in 1988 by Dick Durbin with the aid of the Israel lobby. Durbin has gone on to become one
Paul Findley was a U.S. Congressman from Illinois, defeated in 1988 by Dick Durbin with the aid of the Israel lobby. Durbin has gone on to become one of Illinois' Senators. His newly elected fellow Senator from Illinois is Mark Kirk, the Congressman most heavily financed by the Israel lobby in his previous position. This book is a collection of fallacies, each one followed with a detailed explanation of the truth the fallacy attempts to hide. You'd think this would be a very boring, monotonous read, but the writing is well done and the topics all come together to impress the reader with the fact that the entire history of Palestine has been presented to Americans in a way that tortures the truth if it doesn't completely hide it and that the propaganda has been both relentless and comprehensive. With extensive footnotes, Findley uses quotations and historical facts to prove his points, never expecting the reader to simply accept his opinion. One fact that hit me - Findley admits that when he was in Congress he never voted against Israel. What hope do we have with others who do not share Findley's knowledge of history? A second fact that is very depressing to me is that this book was written in 1993 and I don't believe there is one word of it that would need to be changed to be an accurate account of the situation today, almost 20 years later. Even worse, George Ball, who served in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations (and pleaded with JFK to stay out of Vietnam) was opposing the U.S. position regarding Israel 20 years before Findley, 40 years ago today. Americans are completely misled and/or indifferent to the terrible plight of the Palestinians due to the powerful influence of wealthy and influential Zionists in America. Any person who thinks for him/herself should read this book as a tutorial for a new approach to Israel based on the facts. The rest of the world (and many Israelis) is on to Israel's game, it is time for the U.S. to take off the blinders. ...more | Notes are private!
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May 16, 2011
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May 16, 2011
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| 0192802836
| 9780192802835
| 3.91
| 1,597
| Jan 01, 2002
| Aug 29, 2002
|
it was amazing
|
From Oxford comes another little jewel of a book, a model for the efficient use of the English language. Samir Okasha looks at the methods of science a From Oxford comes another little jewel of a book, a model for the efficient use of the English language. Samir Okasha looks at the methods of science and the ideas of critics who ask us to think a bit more carefully before we declare that what science tells us is unquestionably true and objective. The power of science is undeniable in its practicality. The theories that support our modern world of technology are based on reason, reason that suggests experiments whose results either support or undermine ideas about how the world works. But the theories do not come out of a vacuum. Scientists have a definite agenda, a concept they are out to prove, not some purely objective idea that leaps into existence. History shows that it is quite possible to come up with a theory that is false but nevertheless appears to be supported by the evidence. A quite involved theory seemed to explain the motion of planets across the sky, yet a far simpler theory replaced it and remains in use today. We work with the theories we have until something better comes along. Caution is advised before pronouncing any theory as absolute truth, but at the same time it is nonsense to dismiss a theory because it doesn't explain every tiny detail (critics of evolution, take note!) Science rests on inference. If something occurs without fail every time it is tried, then it is quite practical to say that it will always occur. That doesn't mean it will, but to refrain from putting a theory to use because of this extremely small amount of uncertainty would have prevented all the beneficial advances we enjoy in so many areas - from medicine to air travel. A reader might wonder why this book is needed. We know science works, why bother scratching the head over the methodology? It is because we can easily be fooled by assumptions we make. We want certainty and look for it everywhere. Once it appears to be found, we can too easily stop examining what we do, closing off alternatives that may be hidden by our own satisfaction that we can't be wrong. Okasha presents several conundrums of science that have not been decided. He clearly describes contesting views so the reader can weigh the evidence. For example, is there such a thing as absolute space? Newton thought so, Leibnitz didn't, and it's still not settled. In the manner that Einstein loved to use - the thought experiment - a suspended bucket of water is presented that is rotated (something anyone can reproduce) that causes the water to behave in a way that poses the profound question about absolute space. The jury is still out. What of the idea that only what we can directly observe is real? We can all see fossils and agree they are real, but once we get to atomic particles that are only indirectly sensed, is it legitimate to talk of protons and neutrons as real things, or are they entirely a product of the theory we construct about them? Is human thought modular or distributed? Strong evidence is presented for both sides, one of the most interesting for modularity being a simple line drawing with arrowheads, the arrowheads are then inverted with the line length remaining the same. No matter how hard the reader tries, knowing (use a ruler if you will) that both lines are of equal length, your brain will refuse to see it, indicating that our reasoning is walled off from our visual perception in this case. You should be intrigued. In no time at all you've covered the 133 pages effortlessly...but maybe not if you stop to ponder the puzzles presented. If this book doesn't provide the joy of thinking, nothing will! ...more | Notes are private!
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Aug 13, 2016
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Aug 13, 2016
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| 0395854059
| 9780395854051
| 4.18
| 717
| 2006
| Nov 15, 2006
|
liked it
|
We all get lucky breaks but few can do as much as a result of it as has Jane Goodall. Starting out as a secretary for Louis Leakey, a wonderful scienti We all get lucky breaks but few can do as much as a result of it as has Jane Goodall. Starting out as a secretary for Louis Leakey, a wonderful scientist with a fondness for inexperienced young women and a burning desire to send them off to study apes, Goodall found herself in the environment of African animals that she had dreamed of as a child. From her initial solo observations of chimpanzees, she proved her abilities as a researcher, scientist, author and humanitarian. This list of her accomplishments and the amount of energy she has put into them are remarkable and admirable. I thought to myself as I read this book - what would the world be like if all humans though history had made the effort to communicate with other species that Goodall did? Native-Americans certainly had an understanding of the ways of animals, as did those who lived on farms. So perhaps this question only reveals my identity as a city-dweller and what Goodall discovered was only re-discovered after having been lost. Peterson has co-authored works with Goodall and this is a very friendly book for her. At times it reads like a mild novel but invariably Goodall comes up shining as one would expect from an admirer. This book isn't the place to look for the unexpected or a deep character analysis. It's a valuable account of her work and very attractive in the way it moves in and out of both chimp and human culture, building a strong case for sympathetic treatment of all animals. Goodall has had a series of good ideas that have continually expanded the work of her institute. No one should doubt this is a better world because she came along. People can be driven for various reasons. For many people money is the lure. For Jane Goodall, it has been a desire to improve the lot of all living things. ...more | Notes are private!
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Jun 25, 2010
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Jun 25, 2010
| Hardcover
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| 1400032059
| 9781400032051
| 4.01
| 47,823
| 2005
| Oct 10, 2006
|
really liked it
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As time goes by, Native-American cultures rise from the ashes in the estimation of historians supported by the evidence of archeology. In this book, C
As time goes by, Native-American cultures rise from the ashes in the estimation of historians supported by the evidence of archeology. In this book, Charles Mann writes of the latest evidence that the pre-Columbian "new world" had a larger human population and far more of an impact on the environment than has been thought. Far from being an undisturbed forest primeval, Indian cultures actively altered plants and selectively hunted animals to create the best living environment for their settlements. Even in the dense Amazon rain-forest, known for poor quality soil, there are patches of fertile soil that appear to be man-made. Mann takes the reader on a tour of the centers of early American civilization while introducing what had been accepted wisdom for each and the evidence for modifying, if not overturning, established ideas. He's no fan of the environmentalism that credits the natural world with perfection and mankind with mindless destruction that must be reversed. Man is simply another actor in the ecological process. His account of the passenger pigeon in North America is a good example of this. While I had always assumed the huge numbers that covered the skies were the norm that the white man as hunter destroyed, Mann shows evidence that this was an unusual burst of population far exceeding the passenger pigeon numbers of earlier times. Analysis of old Indian cooking sites shows the pigeon to have been almost rare. Is it possible that the disappearance of the Indians that competed with the pigeons for mast (nuts and berries) resulted in the population explosion? If there's a message to this book, it's that Native-American civilizations were too quickly written off as of limited significance and size. With new information, these cultures appear ever more fascinating and worthy of respect. Mann provides many interesting sub-stories within this book that keep the reader entertained even on the driest of subjects. This is painless education at its best. ...more | Notes are private!
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Apr 30, 2010
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Apr 30, 2010
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| 0805075593
| 9780805075595
| 4.05
| 2,024
| 2000
| 2004
|
it was amazing
|
Blowback was written before 9/11, the event that was to make the word known. It refers to the U.S. actions in the world that bring a response detrimen
Blowback was written before 9/11, the event that was to make the word known. It refers to the U.S. actions in the world that bring a response detrimental to the U.S., 9/11 being a the prime example. Americans like to think of the U.S. as a rational actor with good intentions in opposition to crazed people out to do us harm. It's what we are fed by our government and by our news media, but it's mythology. Blowback presents the truth, where foreigners are just as rational as we are and have understandable reasons for their actions. The book is the work of a man who has experience regarding the topics he discusses. He lived in Japan for several years, speaks Japanese and is president of the Japan Policy Research Institute, so when he discusses U.S. policy with regard to Japan and the conditions on Okinawa where the U.S. has a very heavy presence, he tells a story worth hearing. Chalmers Johnson's writing style avoids jargon and acronyms, assuming the reader is simply a curious, likely uninformed American citizen and not a foreign policy expert or history buff. His ability to convey foreign views of American policy is impressive and convincing, undoubtedly because of his personal interaction with foreigners throughout his career. I was particularly impressed by his comparison of American economic terms such as "the free market" to communist terms like "the dictatorship of the proletariat". Terms we accept as explaining how things are sound very different to people outside our country. We have our own ideology and blind spots just as do Marxists. Going into international affairs in different theaters, Johnson gives clear explanations for American policy successes and failures. These accounts are quite different from what we have been told by our politicians and reveal in detail the reasons events have unfolded as they have. Time after time this book illuminated history for me, in particular concerning the Korean War and trade relations between the U.S. and Japan. The North Korean leadership is crazy, right? Read this book. Blowback is a must-read because of the danger of the over-extension of the U.S. military that fields special operations forces in a multitude of countries. These forces act not as defenders of the United States but as trainers, in effect working for U.S. arms manufacturers who sell to all manner of governments. A foreign government deciding to buy U.S. equipment does necessarily make that government a popular one with the people of the country it rules (think the Shah of Iran). This sets up the conditions for blowback. Bin Laden railed against the stationing of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia. The fullest regional examination in the book is of Okinawa, used as a lever for policy between Japan and the U.S. regardless of the wishes of the local people. Okinawans want to end the stationing of U.S. forces there, but the value of those forces in the Asian plans of the U.S. Department of Defense is such that Japan has been able to get what it wants from the U.S. in trade concessions. Thus it goes the world over with the U.S. planning its moves on the international chessboard, pursuing the impossible task of keeping a lid on unrest anywhere and everywhere so that business can be safely pursued while local people are ignored. The message of the book is if we don't back off from our empire project, we can expect to see consequences we will not like. Our very expensive and extensive efforts are counterproductive. Finishing this book you will not only be well informed, you will be freed of the confusing official history of U.S. relations with other countries that you get from listening to U.S. administrations and TV news. What makes no sense (because it is largely fiction) becomes clear when it is accepted that others have reasons for what they do. Knowing the motivations of others allows the creation of a constructive foreign policy. ...more | Notes are private!
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Feb 28, 2017
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Feb 28, 2017
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0805077979
| 9780805077971
| 4.13
| 1,376
| 2003
| Apr 01, 2005
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really liked it
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In 2004, early in the endless war in which the United States is now engaged, Chalmers Johnson set out to write an overview of the American Empire, one
In 2004, early in the endless war in which the United States is now engaged, Chalmers Johnson set out to write an overview of the American Empire, one characterized not by colonies around the world, but by a network of military bases and an economic system (globalization) that forces all countries except the United States to adhere to the rules of neoliberalism. Simply put, this book is about the results of neoconservatism in pushing American military power, and neoliberalism pushing American economic power. Since these two terms are thrown around daily in the news, Johnson's concise definition of each one is very helpful. Both are based on American "exceptionalism" that sees U.S. military power as a benign protector of the "free market". The U.S. is said to be taking on the burden of policing the world in order to guarantee universal access to the blessings of unrestricted capitalism. Sorrows of Empire describes the in detail a sampling of over 700 military bases that are for the most part unwanted by the people who live around them (though national leaders may be more than happy to profit by a cozy relationship with Washington), and the dictatorial financial rules imposed by the WTO that demand austerity while the U.S. itself operates with an astronomical load of debt free of any control. Do as we say, not as we do is the credo of the American empire. The first part of the book tells of the crony capitalism that finances unnecessary military bases and weapons systems in the name of the national defense of a country that has not been threatened by any other armed force, or combination of armed forces for decades. Bases sit all over the world, many not in any condition of readiness or capable of conducting warfare, where all on duty know full well that no threat exists. Services to the services are farmed out to private enterprise that makes a hefty profit year after year, with no end in sight. Descriptions of how life on base is lived in such places as Germany and Okinawa are quite interesting. With weapons manufacturing being the only significant U.S. export remaining, all members of Congress are keen on keeping assembly lines running regardless of need. We have new aircraft and naval vessels on the drawing boards when the present craft are far more than adequate and have no opposition on the sea or in the sky. Nuclear weapons proliferation is denounced by the United States even as it modernizes and upgrades its own nuclear weaponry at will, contravening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that required the nuclear powers to reduce their stockpiles. The classic example of hypocrisy is the demand that Iran not even think of a single nuclear weapon and is denounced for test firing ballistic missiles. In the second part of the book, Johnson takes on the economic ways of empire, where, again, the methods by which the U.S. and Europe rose to financial power through protectionism are specifically denied to developing countries. The newcomers must allow their currencies to float, they must open up their domestic market to multi-national corporations, while "intellectual property rights" are set up to protect the patents of the haves from the have-nots. Johnson gives specific examples of the new American practice of flouting international agreements at will, citing the G.W. Bush renunciation of treaties at the beginning of his administration and the many un-Constitutional operations of the U.S. government following 9/11, codified in the infamous and still operative Patriot Act. Johnson sees the American empire as just the latest in a long history of empires that rose and inevitably fell under their own corruption and over-extension. He concludes that while we the people theoretically have the ability to reverse the decline, the chances of it happening are slim since so many unconstitutional practices are now accepted as normal, most importantly the idea that the president can make war when and where he decides to do so with that Congress obediently rolling over. Because of this, we are electing emperors now. Though the book is 12 years old. I read nothing in it that is contradicted by what has happened since. In fact, the book mentions the probability that Africa will become another "command" of the American Empire and, sure enough, there is now just that, called AFRICOM. Too many are making comfortable lives off of the empire, all of whom will put up a defense if any attempt is made to roll it back. With most of our former manufacturing base gone overseas, the Empire is our primary product. No matter that we push it on others, at least to the point where our economy collapses under the load. ...more | Notes are private!
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really liked it
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I enjoyed this book for the history of the Educational Testing Service, the makers of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) it provides an account of the
I enjoyed this book for the history of the Educational Testing Service, the makers of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) it provides an account of the experience of well meaning people in politics. The Big Test takes us from the time when the elite of the "Episcopacy" presided over America from the East Coast. College was for the few and the rich who spent their time on campus having fun and making social connections rather than achieving much in academics. Getting rich was hardly a goal for a collegian because they he or she was already rich. Then a move came to create a meritocracy - where the elite would achieve their position through study and hard intellectual work. As a result the country would be lead by those who had earned their place at the top. Anyone who had the intelligence and drive could get on track to move up. To provide the highway for this advancement of talent, testing stepped up and took over. But the author believes that we've only traded one elite for another. Now the rich provide their young with tutoring and test prep and we end up with the rich passing their young through the colleges generation after generation as before. Though not mentioned, I think George W. Bush would be a perfect example of this, in fact a throwback to the old elite, shown by his admission to a carefree life at Yale with mediocre grades. Nicholas Lemann would like to see higher education be full and not simply a ticket to big bucks and career security. He longs to see education be broad and wide in a way that would make of colleges something more than occupational way-points, issuers of professional credentials. The most engaging sub-topic covered in The Big Test is affirmative action. AA contradicts the whole purpose of testing to bring out the best and brightest. It does so in order to provide an alternate path for those who are not college ready simply by being exposed to a rich intellectual environment from the moment of birth. It is an admission that a rather narrow range of abilities are promoted by testing and that some accommodation must be made to create equal opportunity. But, of course, the danger of AA is in putting some ahead of others simply by reason of ethnicity in the hope that this injustice on an individual basis will make it unnecessary to have it continued in the future. AA creates a perilous political situation and The Big Test follows the course of Proposition 219 (to kill AA) in California. The issues that come up in societies will always launch certain individuals on remarkable careers and The Big Test provides many examples of this, particularly in the life of Henry Chauncey, who rode the wave of testing to the top of the Educational Testing Service. Yet as some are elevated, others are frustrated. We meet every variety in this book. We get a quite detailed look at ETS, a non-profit that takes in money from every SAT test. ETS claims that it is impossible to study for the SAT, though the Kaplan test tutoring company has proven this false. There is the remarkable account of the MAT (Measure of Academic Talent) test that was developed by ETS that took into account the differences in background of test-takers and was able to isolate those who were likely to excel in higher education regardless of background. It was killed (by ETS) because it would have brought down the scores of the current high scoring pupils relative to others. Winners like to keep on winning. Leavened with clever humor, The Big Test is must reading for those who, like me, want to know why America is the way it is. Things don't simply happen - people make them happen and often because they are obsessed. Personalities always play a large part; the best of intentions can be thwarted by foibles over which an individual has little control. Not only must the time be ripe for an idea, the person presenting the idea must know how to do so effectively. Investigating how something comes to be, a book like this shows all the angles on a topic and can help one define one's own position, or change it. This is education at its best. This book puts the educational testing idea out on a big plate for us to examine in delicious detail. ...more | Notes are private!
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| Oct 17, 1997
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really liked it
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The American Revolution is well covered in histories as is the Civil War. The period between, of the increasingly strident argument over slavery and t
The American Revolution is well covered in histories as is the Civil War. The period between, of the increasingly strident argument over slavery and the coming of the railroad, is far less documented. This was the period of the great American orators - Webster, Calhoun and Clay - who performed before a rapt nation with eloquence that called upon intellect and emotion in a way that is now lost in politics. Daniel Webster of New England, senator from Massachusetts, was not a man of the people, though the people loved to hear him speak. He was a Federalist who sided with industry and feared the power of democracy unless it was well protected from the common man, as was the case with a senate elected from the house of representatives. In the contest started between Hamilton and Jefferson (who he met), Webster was with the ideas of Hamilton. He was good friends with Nicholas Biddle who headed the Second National Bank of the United States and opposed President Andrew Jackson's successful attempt to get rid of it. We find out in this book that buying someone in Congress is nothing new. Webster openly solicited funds from wealthy friends, claiming the impossibility of holding office and making a living at the same time. He had no shortage of donors, not to his campaigns which did not involve the huge expense we know today, but to him personally. Even so, Webster was always in debt and in need of more. He wasn't shy about asking, always succeeded in his appeals, and delivered so spectacularly with his performance in office that there were no complaints. One great success was in serving as Secretary of State for a period. heading off a third war with England through diplomacy Webster detested slavery, openly denouncing it, but he was an absolutist on union and that put him in the difficult position of upholding the abhorred Fugitive Slave Act for the sake of keeping the southern states in line. He lost a considerable amount of support in New England as abolitionism rose in strength. His desire to keep the states together allowed him to retain support around the country, particularly when he would hold forth with a spellbinding speech that made all Americans proud of their country. Yet it was not enough to bring him the presidency that he longed to win. The people loved his words but saw him correctly as an elitist who could not begin to match the public affection for successful generals like Andrew Jackson and Zachary Taylor who in a time of national expansion were literally winning the day. That expansion was not to Webster's liking. He did not want to see Texas or other parts of Mexico come into the United States. He did not approve of the expulsions of the Indians. These views were not vote getters when the public was wild for Manifest Destiny and new land to claim. Webster was a Whig, the party that was for internal improvements by the federal government and tariffs on foreign goods to protect domestic manufacturing, this last very popular in industrializing New England but detested by the agricultural southern states that exported cotton to Europe. Lincoln was also a Whig before the Republican Party was established, but became known politically after Webster had died so is not mentioned in this account. There is a lot of politics in this book as you'd expect. Webster's personal life is adequately covered but not in the detail I've found in biographies of other people. His relationship with his second wife is said to be strained but we don't get more than that. Histories depend on personal correspondence and it's possible there wasn't the material for Remini to expand on intimacies. Incidentally, one woman friend, an artist, sent Webster a painting she did of her own exposed breasts titled "Beauty Revealed". Sexting in the first part of the 19th century in America, astounding! Deaths in the family, terribly common in those days, came to Webster. His first wife and all but one of his children died before him. It is difficult to imagine now how tragedy could be expected and had to be taken in stride by everyone whether rich or poor. Medicine as we know it was nonexistent and a call for the doctor could easily result in matters being made worse as the ignorant treated the ignorant. I found this book satisfying as a portrait of the man and his times. His speeches are well presented, not, thank goodness, in their entirety but with a quoted paragraph or two and then a paraphrasing of the main points. Webster was in no doubt about his ability but wanted to be sure they conveyed his thoughts exactly, rewriting parts of his speeches to improve them before publication. In the manner of the time he did not need notes when speaking. It was expected from his audience that he speak from the heart and his passionate presentations complete with hand gestures and occasional tears did not disappoint. People would press into every available space to hear him. It must have been something. ...more | Notes are private!
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| 9781851684670
| 4.39
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| Nov 02, 2006
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it was amazing
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Zionist views have been overwhelmingly influential in the United States. "The Story of Israel" that I place in quotation marks to indicate its mytholo
Zionist views have been overwhelmingly influential in the United States. "The Story of Israel" that I place in quotation marks to indicate its mythological nature, has been presented repeatedly, but most famously in the novel and movie, "Exodus". It is the story of victims struggling to an empty land where they make the desert bloom and stand proudly with weapons in hand shouting "never again". This appealing, heroic, justice-loving scenario is a fabrication. Ilan Pappé, an Israeli Jew, has, in this book, presented the facts upon which true justice must be based. From its inception late in the 19th century, mainstream Zionism, considered early on as a kind of lunatic-fringe within Judaism, put forth the clearing of the indigenous people, the Arabs living in Palestine, as a necessity for the creation of a Jewish majority there. So it has happened. Zionism struggled before WW2 because not enough Jews were interested in going to Palestine, but the holocaust put the movement over the top, not only providing the necessary influx but also creating a feeling of guilt among the nations of the world (not least Germany) that was leveraged into the creation of the State of Israel and its financing and militarization since (read The Holocaust Industry by Norman Finkelstein). This book is a detailed accounting of the horrors that occurred - the forced evacuation of hundreds of villages, executions of villagers (over 31 events are considered massacres), blowing up houses or setting fire to them with the residents inside, military attacks on unarmed civilians - pure terror by the folks who loudly denounce terror. The parallel to what happened in Kosovo is startling, particularly in view of the NATO bombing that took place to stop the activity in the former Yugoslavia compared to the lack of any effort to stop the cleansing of Palestine. In fact, the United States cannot do enough to help the process as it continues to this day. Israel, like the United States, is a country founded on injustice. The process could take place hidden away in the vastness of the American west in the 19th century, but with Israel it has been quite obvious all along. Shockingly, the world has stood by, impotent in the face of the "special relationship" between the US and Israel fostered by the political power of Zionists in the United States. This history is a blot on both countries. The ethic-cleansing has proceeded only because of US protection and not a few American Jews hold dual citizenship, having taken up residence in the Israeli settlements specifically to take the land from the natives. As the Senate confirmation hearing on Chuck Hagel demonstrated conclusively, Congress is the puppet of Zionism. Senators fell all over themselves questioning Hagel about his views on Israel while all other matters were secondary. Americans should wake up to the reality of Israel, a county that is injustice institutionalized, a living example of everything the American civil rights movement was out to end. The founders of Israel state were full and mostly eager participants in the eviction of the Palestinians, the destruction of their homes and villages and the deliberate erasure of the evidence continued to this day by the planting of "forests" by the Jewish National Fund. All the facts are evident in the archives and in particular the diary of David ben Gurion, who happily viewed empty villages flushed of the Arab residents. This history is an outrage that any person, Jewish or not, should find revolting. There is only one future for Israel - as a democracy for all people, not a place for one group (the Jews) to ride herd on others. This will come as surely as it did in South Africa. The BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) movement is a great way to make progress in this. When one's nation does wrong, only a few citizens will have the courage to point it out. My deepest respect to Professor Pappé, who was hounded out of Israel and now teaches in Great Britain, for this outstanding documentary work. My deepest apologies to the Palestinian people who have endured decades of injustice and are readily labeled terrorists be those ignorant of the past and the people. ...more | Notes are private!
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| 4.12
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| May 15, 2001
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really liked it
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From Dawn to Decadence is the masterwork of an accomplished author whose cultural knowledge is both broad and deep. Moving from 1500 to 1995, Barzun t
From Dawn to Decadence is the masterwork of an accomplished author whose cultural knowledge is both broad and deep. Moving from 1500 to 1995, Barzun takes the reader by the hand directing attention to both well and little known people and the activities that characterized the most recent centuries of Western civilization. Barzun identifies themes that connect one period to another, making them stand out with capitalization. EMANCIPATION, INDIVIDUALISM, PRIMITIVISM and ABSTRACTION are four. These hold the 800 page work together in what otherwise could be a confusing amount of information. I admit that there were times when I was lost in the detail he provides. His love of the arts and the written word is evident as is the fact that he has read and can compare many of history's great works. When I think of the state of education in the United States at present, while knowing that I am ignorant of many of the things Barzun mentions, I wonder where the audience for this book is (will be) and what will happen to the history that to Barzun is so fascinating but to most people is completely unknown. When Barzun speaks of decadence, he means the loss of vision, of the eagerness to discover that carried Western culture through the centuries. Life is not taken seriously. Instead of looking forward with wonder to what may come next, there is anxiety, a lack of foundation and a restless insecurity about what we know will come next - our jobs lost to robots, for example. It seems everything has been tried before in the arts, so technique in and of itself is pursued. Culture churns rather than advances. "reality" shows are laughably contrived. Standards are suspect. The claim is made that the reader of a book is just as qualified as the author to state the meaning of the text. Nothing is sacred (religious or otherwise). Progress, except in technology, is seriously in doubt. The exciting drive to open up the new that began with the Renaissance has played out with glorious man now transformed into many individuals wanting the world to go away, to find the shelter that Mick Jagger sang about. The book could well have been titled "From Anticipation to Anxiety". Freud and psychoanalysis are not left out. Intellectuals will love the book, but the average reader will go to sleep. If you have been to the opera and the ballet, have attended orchestra concerts, have a collection of classical music and enjoy reading classic literature then you will be delighted at the evaluations Barzun provides as well as his telling of how these things came to be as you know them. If not, you'll be lost. Almost everyone can follow his account of the 20th century simply because there is enough common knowledge and known figures to which the average reader can relate, but earlier parts of the book will strike many as something only professors could enjoy. The author has tried hard to open things up to all but he can't escape what he is, the highly educated aesthete, that most are not. Be warned, Barzun makes recommendations of sources to read, noted where appropriate in his text. You may, like me, end up with many more books to read after finishing this one. ...more | Notes are private!
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it was amazing
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Philosophers are known to be difficult to read and Kant meets that description. While scholars may take on the task, for those of us with too little t
Philosophers are known to be difficult to read and Kant meets that description. While scholars may take on the task, for those of us with too little time, having someone familiar with the material write an explanation in plain English is invaluable. I can't praise Roger Scruton too highly for this little book. Immanuel Kant died at the age of 80 just after the turn of the 19th century in the same city in which he had been born. His life of thinking and teaching dealt with defending reason against attack at a time when most of what science has proven for us was unknown. Philosophers had long pondered the world that we see before us. Can we trust our senses to tell us the truth? Of what can we be certain? Are there undeniable foundations for our thinking? These questions fall under metaphysics, which tries to answer the deepest questions we have about our relation to the world. Scruton tells us how Kant sought to reconcile the thoughts of two giants of philosophy who had preceded him - David Hume, who defended empiricism, and Gottfried Leibniz, who defended rationalism. Empricism says that we are driven by our emotions. Our reason comes after, only serving to allow us to figure out a means to reach the end of our desire. We fool ourselves when we believe we are rational beings. All we really do is rationalize, creating reasons as justifications quite apart from the real motivation, of which we may well be unaware. We can have no ideas ahead of our experience of the world. Concepts are built from experience, not out of thought by itself. Rationalism says there are ideas that exist before experience, that are innate with us. The only truth we can discover comes from the construction and employment of concepts that stand above our sensual impressions, impressions that cannot be trusted and easily lead us astray. This little book traces the thinking Kant did to reconcile empiricism and rationalism to establish a foundation for pure reason (what is true), practical reason (what should I do?) the appreciation of beauty (aesthetics) and even politics. Kant sought a grand unified theory that would explain how intelligence in itself (not necessarily human) would perceive the world. His method was abstraction; moving from the specific to the general until a statement could be made that would include all instances under a limited number of maxims (rules). If you think this sounds like a reconciliation of materialism and idealism, you aren't wrong. What perplexes us as intelligent beings is our consciousness of self, the "me" that seems to float above and apart from the material world around us, independent and controlling, existing in freedom, independent of any cause, a first cause for all our decisions. It is the "soul" some believe is immortal, the unique identity of each individual. Kant was out to make a case for this view, though not for any particular religious ideology. His only faith was in reason. Most of his work can be interpreted unambiguously with careful study and the whole largely stands supported by the parts. Some parts are still debated and some have been elusive to interpreters, but the overall effort is widely admired and credited with great influence on modern thinking. The patient reader will admire the quality and quantity of work that Kant did, the work of a great mind. However, the entire construction collapses if one key point falls - the idea of free will. If the "me" in each of us is a product of physical processes, what I would call "brain state", then "I" am not something apart from the material world, a soul in charge of what I do. Instead, "I" am an illusion and all of my behavior is caused by electro-chemical processes ahead of my consciousness; ahead of my awareness of making decisions. "I" am an effect, not a cause. Logically this makes sense and supporting scientific evidence keeps coming out. Daniel Dennett, of whom I am a great fan, calls us "meat robots" and presents very convincing evidence for his views backing them up with a profound thought experiment on how evolution brought our consciousness about in his marvelous book, "Darwin's Dangerous Idea". This, of course, is a downer for anyone who likes to think of things spiritual, of eternal life, of mystical dimensions and so forth, in other words the way that almost everyone thought before science spoiled the party. Kant, only 220 years ago, was still holding the fort for a self existing in freedom, driving personal behavior. But if one claims the self exists apart from the material world, then physical experiments on the brain should have no impact on it, yet such experiments do have a profound impact on the conscious self and in detail. The conclusion is that "I" am part of my body and my behavior comes from that body, not what I feel is "me". For this reason, I think that Kant's work will at some point be relegated to the history of philosophy, an undeniable masterpiece of thought from a time in which not enough was known to test/contradict it. Roger Scruton's book is a great way to explore it ...more | Notes are private!
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it was amazing
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This is the second volume of Popper's work that warns of the great influence of thinkers who were no friends of the open society, a society in which t
This is the second volume of Popper's work that warns of the great influence of thinkers who were no friends of the open society, a society in which the rights of the individual are valued over the glory of the state. In volume one, Popper uses Plato's writings, quoted extensively, to indict Plato very effectively as an advocate of totalitarianism. In this volume, it is Hegel and Marx that are up on charges of abandoning reason for historicism, Popper's term for a mythological belief that there is a force directing the course of societies that dictates their fate and, by extension, allows prophecy about what societies will come. Historicism defeats effort. Why should you and I do anything when the lessons of the past dictate an inevitable future, for better or worse? The future will be inevitably worse, part of the predictable degeneration from the original ideal thought Plato, a pessimist, while Hegel and Marx, optimists, thought improvement was the rule. Hegel is all but entirely dismissed by Popper as a pretentious windbag writing difficult if not unintelligible prose about a world spirit moving through the ages coming to fruition in the the glorious Prussian monarchy by which Hegel was employed to philosophize for the state. For him, there is no higher calling for the individual than to be of service to the state. Marx, on the other hand, is given a significant amount of credit by Popper for being a very observant, insightful analyst of capitalism as it had developed up to the time at which Marx wrote his magnum opus, Capital (1867). Where Marx falls down, Popper writes, is in his prediction of the inevitable demise of capitalism at the feet of the proletariat (the working people) and his far too simplistic view of society as composed of only two classes, the workers and the bourgeoisie (the employers/capitalists). This mystical view of the future turned out to be wrong. The most obvious reason for the error is that Marx could not foresee the power of labor, through democracy, to impose restrictions on capitalism, taming it for a while. Popper's reasoning here, written in 1962, fails to see the power of capitalism to come roaring back in our time to essentially dismantle all of the reforms (and the unions) that restrained it, doing so through the corruption of democracy by unrestricted campaign funding that empowers the corporate lobbies. But this doesn't detract from Popper's argument, he would never claim to be able to predict the future. As powerful as volume 1 was in explaining the writing of Plato for the layman, volume 2 is even more powerful in explaining the voluminous writing of Marx, not in detail but in the fundamental ideas that Marx was attempting to relate to his readers. Thanks to Popper, I have never understood the basis of Marx' work as well as I do now, nor the atmosphere of the time in which Marx wrote that so forcefully directed his thoughts. This book is well worth reading for two reasons. The first is that Popper demonstrates the power of reason in the careful way he writes and the distance he goes to provide evidence for his thinking. This work is most of all a defense of reason. Popper is adamant that for reason to work, ideas must be able to contend for approval. Argument is vital. Advance comes only out of disputes that are resolved on evidence, concerning society this means the evidence found from "piecemeal engineering" where society is exposed to change in one small area at a time and the result is seen to be beneficial or not. Never will some grand plan for a new society work because it can never account for the many errors in detail and the internal contradictions that will defeat it. In the face of unavoidable problems with a grand plan, it will end up imposed no matter what, meaning heads will roll to take care of opposition (see the French Revolution). This is exactly the opposite of a just society that values the individual. The second reason to read this book is to get a solid grip on Marx, a man Popper feels was a humanitarian at heart, honestly eager to advance the cause of the virtually helpless multitudes of the mid 19th century. Though Marx was a believer in reason he was unable to hold to it, falling victim to a view of inevitable social change in a specific way that would follow his prophesy. That prophesy, thoroughly discredited by events since his time, has unfortunately led most to make the error of dismissing his work entirely. As for Popper's writing, a high school student would have no trouble following the logic and just might learn the power of logic in the process. ...more | Notes are private!
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| Jan 01, 1976
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liked it
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It's a little scary when you read a book, something in it sounds familiar and it turns out that you read a book about the same subject some time back.
It's a little scary when you read a book, something in it sounds familiar and it turns out that you read a book about the same subject some time back. This is the second biography of Bertrand Russell that I've read and it's testimony to the small impact of the first one that I could not recall it beyond the memory jog the recounting of the school for small children that Russell founded with one of his wives produced. That's a reason to write reviews on Goodreads, folks! I went back to my review of the Russell biography by Caroline Moorhead and my memory was refreshed. This book by Ronald Clark was written in 1976 only a few years after Russell's death. It goes into the philosophy and mathematical work Russell did in more depth than the 1993 bio from Moorhead. Her account of Russell's life concentrated on the emotional side of the man and his relationship to women almost to the exclusion of his intellectual life. Of course, we all have emotional lives, but very few have an intellectual life as deep as Russell's. For that reason I found this book preferable to the one by Moorhead; it seemed truer to the distinction of the man. Despite his family background and ability to go to depths of rational inquiry that few can reach, Russell was an advocate for humanity against authoritarian rule. He was a prolific writer on many subjects with a wonderful dry sense of humor and a very accessible style that brought many of his works wide readership. Even those who opposed his views appreciated the careful thought behind his words. One would expect from his social position that money would never be a problem. In fact, he had to work for a living through writing and speaking. His curiosity knew no bounds over nine decades of life that took him from the time of the Franco-Prussian war to the Vietnam War. He was intellectually alert until the end. No pacifist, he was certain that nuclear weapons would bring disaster unless disarmament came about, lending his careful thinking to a variety of peace-seeking efforts. His world travels allowed him to meet the mighty in person, his elite ancestry proof against any feeling of inferiority in relation to them. Russell was so involved with the world in which he lived and at such a high level, that one couldn't hope for a better lens through which to view the great events and people of his time. He believed in freedom to love another than one's spouse if not done on the sly and indulged accordingly with several wives and mistresses. He believed in the power of education and never missed a chance to help along the curious of any age in any subject. He had a strong sense of what was right, loved being challenged, and could state his views clearly on the basis of solid reasoning. To top it off, with a couple of short exceptional periods, he enjoyed good health throughout. If anyone could be said to have had a life well lived, it was Bertrand Russell. This book makes that clear. ...more | Notes are private!
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| Oct 01, 1993
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liked it
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Bertrand Russell was an interesting fellow, a top-notch intellectual with a gift for explaining difficult concepts to the public. A British Issac Asim
Bertrand Russell was an interesting fellow, a top-notch intellectual with a gift for explaining difficult concepts to the public. A British Issac Asimov, you might say. His personal life was exceptionally tempestuous because he was always looking for a sexual conquest, whether he was married or not. He was well known for promoting freedom for both individuals in a relationship, yet his experience shows how human emotion takes the lead over rational thought. He wrote a great number of books, most of them popular, and he took part in several social movements. He strongly opposed WW1 and, initially, WW2, but never claimed that he was a pacifist, seeing war as sometimes necessary. The account of those who stood up against conscription during WW1 (with Russell staunchly behind them) is one of the better sections of this book. Never one to see the future optimistically, he commonly predicted a short time to come for mankind and was particularly opposed to the development of nuclear weapons. Married four times, only his last relationship proved stable. This book is sympathetic to Russell, as you would expect, but it is difficult to take the treatment he gave his first wife in particular. All of his wives, with one exception, and other women as well were devoted to him. Once the appeal of a woman had faded, he wasn't hesitant to not only make it known to her, but to also inform her of his pursuit and success with someone else. This matter of fact manner indicates no understanding of human emotion, no matter how advanced his thoughts were on philosophy. Hobnobbing with the rich and famous of Britain, Russell became close to many well-known names such as Wittgenstein, Conrad, Wolff, T.S. Elliot and many more. A great conversationalist, he was sought out by the hosts and hostesses of parties for the literati. With all this, the material for a good book is present. While I enjoyed reading this biography, it comes off as somewhat cold. Though Russell's philosophical outlook is briefly discussed at certain points, it is only in passing. He goes through emotional ups and downs but I'm left with the feeling that he didn't concern himself too much with his effect on others. Of course he loved being popular with his readers but he seems removed from those most close to him. His attempts to come on to almost any attractive woman, though successful more often then not, reveal him to be driven by an urge, an insecurity beneath the intellect he promoted as the greatest possession we have. This book is very readable, tells a good story, but is not the engrossing examination of the man I would like to have read. It's loaded with who thought what about whom, which gets tiresome but is, admittedly, a big part of what life is to most people. ...more | Notes are private!
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May 13, 2012
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May 13, 2012
| Hardcover
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| 0143034669
| 9780143034667
| 4.29
| 10,380
| Feb 2004
| Dec 28, 2004
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it was amazing
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The CIA was created by Harry Truman in an attempt to prevent a surprise like Pearl Harbor from happening again. Ghost Wars is a detailed and fascinatin The CIA was created by Harry Truman in an attempt to prevent a surprise like Pearl Harbor from happening again. Ghost Wars is a detailed and fascinating book about how the CIA tried but failed to carry out that assignment before 9/11 They knew about bin Laden, they followed him as best they could with a special unit that was so engaged in their job they became known around the CIA as "The Manson Family" (many of them were female). Yet bureaucracy, technical limitations, logistics and concern about civilian deaths kept attacks from being mounted. Ghost Wars is a testament to the difficulty of bringing government to bear on any problem because of the turfs that are protected, the egos involved and the challenge of managing a priority list that all can agree on. Readers of Ghost Wars are advised to remember the ease of seeing with hindsight where the course of history is known, the goal is clear and it appears that everything conspires to thwart good intentions. There are dangers in going all out to head off threats and we are seeing this after 9/11. There are problems with marking enemies and acting against them before they do the deeds we expect them to do. We may think the world is filled with malign intentions but they are nothing compared to the malign intentions we can imagine being directed at us. Striking first may seem to be wise and the only sure bet against threats, but unless you wait until an act is made against you, there is a great risk of creating the kind of insecure and chaotic world we all want to avoid. At the moment I write, the bogeyman is Iran, and war is thought by some to be preferable to allowing just the possibility that one more country might eventually possess a nuclear weapon. Ghost Wars is richly descriptive of individuals, from the halls of Washington to the caves of Afghanistan. Ahmed Shah Massoud, the Tajik leader of the Northern Alliance, is a protagonist as he first holds off the Russians and then willingly cooperates with the CIA to the extent that he can while under pressure from the Taliban. And did you know the Taliban has been in Afghanistan for ages? The book describes how the incarnation that we know came about from the historic Taliban. And Pakistan...how can that country and the US be allies when they are so far apart in their objectives? Zia, Musharraf, Bhutto, Sharif are all here in living color as is the ISI. The insecurity of the civilian politicians, cowering before the might of the military, is fully explainied. There are so many technical details that I found fascinating. You'll read of the development of drones, the Predator in particular, that I had always thought would have been the magic bullet for bin Laden. It's not so simple! You'll read of Massoud's forces keeping decrepit Soviet helicopters running, even going so far as to cram the engine from one type of chopper into another - to the horror of Americans who occasionally were flown to see Massoud in them. You'll read of the ways in which denial of US involvement is gained by purchasing Russian and Chinese weapons in massive quantities to equip friendly forces. Ghost Wars is a huge book and I had left it on the shelf for some time because of that, but from the first pages I was snagged into a great read. UPDATE: I've just read Peter Tomsen's "The Wars of Afghanistan" and want to recommend it as a companion book to "Ghost Wars" as the two are complimentary. Tomsen's book is written from the point of view of a State Department employee challenged with promoting a policy at odds with the operations of the CIA that Steve Coll describes. Tomsen's book is far better at portraying the Afghans, the geopolitical situation of the country, and the non-American actors, while Coll's account excels in depicting the details from inside the CIA and the American actors. The result is a comprehensive look at the situation with no feeling of the same ground being covered twice. ...more | Notes are private!
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Jan 17, 2012
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| 0679724141
| 9780679724148
| 4.21
| 9,265
| 1988
| Sep 19, 1989
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it was amazing
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This comprehensive history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam cannot be too highly praised. Handled with equal brilliance are the history of the land and
This comprehensive history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam cannot be too highly praised. Handled with equal brilliance are the history of the land and the personal story of John Paul Vann. Either subject alone would make a excellent book. In this account both are entwined to create a work that I would categorize in the top ten books of the many hundreds that I have read over a lifetime. A Bright Shining Lie is a tragedy covering a disastrous war but it also bears comparison with the best novels (though entirely non-fiction) in the life of a man whose personal story as presented to others was, just as was the presentation of the war he fought in, a lie. In Vann's life genuine achievement and well-deserved advancement come repeatedly even as the war meets failure after failure. Pulling local success from general failure is a central theme of the book within a very satisfying, comprehensive background - the history of Vietnam, the reasons for U.S. intervention, the military personalities, tactics and strategies of both sides, the details of weaponry and, of course, the mindset of the U.S. leadership and how it changed from 1961 to 1973. From heated disputes among commanders to the specifics of firefights, you are there because the author was. Neil Sheehan, who was a young journalist in the early 60's working for AP in Vietnam, personally knew Vann, who was an outspoken critic not of the Vietnam War in itself, but of the way it was being handled by the U.S. right from the start in 1962 with an advisory role to the government of South Vietnam. With few exceptions the soldiers and officers of the ARVN, the army of South Vietnam, had little interest in fighting, but a great deal of interest in cashing in on the mountain of material coming in from the U.S. At the top, Diem and then Thieu thought only of maintaining power by positioning family members in key military positions and stationing the best troops nearby for protection against a coup rather than out fighting the enemy. What doomed the U.S./South Vietnamese effort from the start were 1) the legitimacy of the Communists; unquestionable nationalists who had proven their mettle by defeating the French, pitted against a South Vietnamese government of minority Catholics in a Buddhist country, saddled with corrupt political leaders by the United States who then appointed military commanders who, almost to a man, had sided with France in that country's attempt to keep Vietnam a colony 2) the strategy of the United States to bring its tremendous firepower to bear indiscriminately, killing and maiming the very people it claimed to be fighting for, at the same time destroying their villages or ordering them off their land. The appropriate lesson of Vietnam for the U.S. was one of international policy; to avoid involvement in foreign adventures that have nothing to do with the security of the continental United States. This lesson was ignored in favor of domination of the world and the results are seen today in the disaster of the Iraq War and the never-ending presence of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The lesson of the war taken to heart by the U.S. leadership both military and political, was one purely of domestic politics, of how to make war at any time or place palatable to Americans: the draft had to be ended, a voluntary army created and, above all, the number of American bodies returning dead or disfigured minimized. Thus we now have drone strikes and bombing campaigns in places where there is no air power to resist. The result is death for foreigners only, accompanied by the destruction of their lands, alienating people from the U.S., inviting retaliation with methods against which all our armed forces and weaponry are useless. The Vietnam war was a great tragedy, for the Vietnamese above all. Because nothing was learned, a more widespread though lower level tragedy proceeds without question from Congress as I write in 2017 while our president wants more weapons of war. The people who need to read this book as a necessary background for addressing world events have clearly not done so. The danger of failing to heed the lessons of experience is the downfall of the system that disregards them. For great insight on the foreign policy of the United States, a clue about why our standing in the world continues to fall, and the riveting biography of a most unusual man, A Bright Shining Lie is the book to read. ...more | Notes are private!
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Mar 21, 2017
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Mar 21, 2017
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| 0192802399
| 9780192802392
| 3.52
| 915
| 2002
| 2003
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really liked it
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You go into an art museum and find a canoe supported by four golf clubs. On top of the canoe is a rubber chicken. The title of the work is "Your Table
You go into an art museum and find a canoe supported by four golf clubs. On top of the canoe is a rubber chicken. The title of the work is "Your Table Is Ready" Welcome to Postmodernism, but realize that you are very late. In fact, this movement within the arts world is fading, having reached its peak in the 1980's and 90's. The word still pops up frequently, though, so why not find out what it is all about? Christopher Butler does us a valuable service in writing this short book that covers the topic across the arts of literature, music and painting providing many examples and a penetrating critique that carefully defines terms and is a pleasure to read. Postmodernism questions authority. It does this by revealing the influence of cultural forces behind works of art, forces that surround us so completely we fail to see that they are not natural and inevitable, if we see them at all. Most will view an artwork and be either pleased or repulsed by the superficial appearance, not appreciating how much lies beneath the surface. Postmodernism also questions authority in the sense of authorship. Can the artist really claim to be the source of his/her work in the sense of knowing what that work is about? Even if I paint a village scene, am I justified in claiming that it is simply that and nothing more? Isn't it possible (postmodernists would say inevitable) that there are influences on me when I paint of which I am unaware and that someone viewing my painting might well see these influences even in spite of my denial they were a factor in my work? It's all about meaning - who and what makes meaning. Postmodernism is valuable for casting doubt on received wisdom, gut reaction and the idea that there is one fixed, best way in which to see any work of art. It invites digging into any work, not taking what the author of the work says about it as gospel, realizing that all creativity and its reception are loaded with baggage. Perception is not antiseptic, not clean and concise. This is not to say there is no meaning, but that it isn't one thing to the exclusion of all else. Butler offers criticism of postmodernism as well as explanation. It can go too far, take itself too seriously, result in absurdity, deconstruction to the point of destruction, leaving pieces that are not allowed to be assembled in any way because no one way is better than another, a protesting critique that offers nothing in exchange. Since construction is power, said to be a bad thing, we are left helpless, unable to promote one interpretation over another. This short introduction continues the very high standard I have found throughout the series. At the end of each read, I have no doubt that the author is deeply informed and has made a clear presentation. I feel informed at a basic level about the subject. What more could one ask of an introduction? ...more | Notes are private!
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not set
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Sep 16, 2016
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Sep 16, 2016
| Paperback
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