My Book Reviews: Pt7
I wanted to publish some book reviews
I have so many book reviews on my Instagram page: @jakubreads
So, I thought I’d publish some on my Medium … cause why not?
My previous post in this series:
How to Worry Less About Money, by John Armstrong
I had high hopes for this book by the Oxford-educated philosopher, the former philosopher in residence at the Melbourne Business School and current professor of philosophy at the University of Tasmania.
The reason that this book did not connect with me, I believe, is that it was way too theoretical. No doubt due to the philosophical background of the writer.
I expected practical numbers, reference to the increase in standards of living, the rise of literacy around the globe (as high as 95%), etc. There are many reasons to be positive — none of which are how we define ‘money,’ as Armstrong believes.
Personally, I find many better reasons to worry less about money almost none of which are found in this book. If anything, I recommend Peter Singer’s, “The Most Good You Can Do” or Steven Pinker’s “Enlightenment Now”
Strange Gods: A Secular History of Conversion, by Susan Jacoby
Susan Jacoby is phenomenal. I have no idea how one writes a book like this. This is the second book I’ve read by Jacoby. I’m absolutely in love with her. I plan on reading EVERYTHING she’s written.
OK on with the brief review.
This is a large volume (500 dense pages). It was great for the research I’m doing on Christianity and the book I want to write.
Jacoby goes through the nature of conversion in Christianity from it’s early beginnings in the Roman Empire and Augustine to Jews & the Spanish Inquisition to John Calvin’s gory rule in Geneva to Luther’s hateful anti-Semitic prose. Jacoby is a genius. Her vocabulary and intellectual honesty in her scholarly pursuit could be one of the best things for secularist thought of this century thus far.
I am grateful to her and her work. I am slow to recommend it, however. It’s great, but not as important as her other books. Hopefully, I’ll be able to meet her one day.
The War on Normal People, by Andrew Yang
The first time I heard about Andrew Yang was when he was on Sam Harris’ podcast, “Waking Up”. Yang is a current 2020 presidential candidate and successful entrepreneur that has spoken to many about creating jobs efficiently, including the former US president, Barack Obama.
Yang paints a very bleak picture for the future of hunanity, our economy, and jobs. He looks at the speed of automation and how the workforce will go through a complete revolution within a couple of decades — if not sooner — because of the velocity of this change.
Toward the end of the book (I read it in one sitting — it was that enticing) I felt perplexed, depressed even, with the situation at hand. This is not a problem for my future kids. This is our generation’s problem. This is a challenge that we need to solve. That is why Yang proposes Universal Basic Income (UBI).
UBI is not a new concept. Everyone from Obama to Bill Gates to Elon Musk to John Stuart Mill to Karl Marx have predicted capitalism to run its course to the point of no longer being a functional economic system.
We’re entering a new era of post-capitalism in which we’ll have to have more control on the ecology, economy, and trade. A lot is about to change.
Yang ends in an optimistic note, however, saying if we raise awareness for the future, we’ll be able to prevent calamity, destruction, and an apocalyptic nightmare.
This is the most important book I’ve read this year. I plan on supporting Yang’s campaign financially and I urge you to consider doing the same.
Before you go…
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I write to keep you thinking and to keep me thankful and reflective. Cheers and until next time,
keep reflecting.
