Book Review: Mere Christianity

Author:	C.S. Lewis	Rating:	*****(5)
Date read:	January, 2010

Read it twice now, and the second reading was even better than the first. The first part contains a reason-based argument for the existence of God and the truth of Christianity as a religion. Then some fairly universal Christian beliefs are discussed, which are not dependent on any particular denomination, though in a few cases the described Christian morals and beliefs might be considered a rather conservative interpretation of the scriptures.

I particularly like his description of God’s mission in the Christian’s life, which is to aim toward perfection, which of course cannot be attained in this life. However, this perfection is not that of the self, but of giving up on self and allowing Christ to live in and through one’s life more and more fully. This is accomplished by a continual making of mostly small decisions on a day-to-day basis, gradually letting oneself be governed a little more by that Christ-life and a little less by the selfish self.

Another inspiring discussion was his description of human forgiveness, how it works and what it is. When we decide to forgive someone who has wronged us, we are not saying what they did was ok, nor that we like them as a person, and not even that they should not be punished. We are saying that we hope things turn out well for them, that they can move beyond whatever is wrong and come to the knowledge of life in God’s love as we know it. A key insight he provides is that there is one person I am constantly forgiving for doing the wrong things – myself. The commandment, “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” in terms of forgiveness, means I should forgive others the same way I forgive myself.

Book Review: The Alchemist

Author:	Paulo Coelho	Rating:	***** (3)
Date read:	January, 2010

Inspirational, but not life-changing. No real revelations in this story; it is mostly just a new and interesting portrayal of what you might call “cosmic principles” that most people would believe are true and important, and which many of us are in the habit of forgetting or minimizing in our lives. It is an interesting story, and well written, I think.

Book Review: The Value of Nothing

Author:	Raj Patel	Rating:	*****(5)
Date read:	January, 2010

Excellent discussion of the “market society” and some alternative ways of looking at society and economics. The title is based on a statement by Oscar Wilde: “Nowadays people know the price of everything but the value of nothing.” There is a discussion about the true cost of things, for example, if a hamburger were priced to include all the environmental and human costs associated with it, it would cost $200. Also, corporations are not having to pay the true costs of the things they are selling. For example, health care and other assistance for underpaid workers, environmental costs which will have to be paid by future generations, etc.

The author discusses why the economy and society cannot be treated separately, and how our modern concept of “market economy” came to be and what it means. Particularly that the market economy requires a market society in order to function. He goes on to describe the concept of the “commons,” giving several historical and contemporary examples of how relatively small groups of people have been able to cooperate in their management of a shared resource. Many political books are available that convincingly describe the problems in our current society, both in the US and internationally. Creative solutions, however, are few and far between. “The Value of Nothing” is the most hopeful treatise of politics and economics that I have read. The possibility of adapting the commons on a large scale is not discussed, and it may not even be possible, especially in the current world situation. However, the examples cited give me hope that people can cooperate effectively and govern themselves if given the opportunity and environment that supports such cooperation. Even if only possible on a small scale now, this concept does provide a real solution that can work today. And it couldn’t hurt to have more and more of these small, cooperative initiatives as we move into the future.

The description of the relationship between the “market” and freedom starting on page 112 is outstanding. He shares the thought experiment of the late Oxford philosopher Jerry Cohen, relating rights to tickets. Then this is applied to the sorry state of health care in the US. As a statistical example, he cites maternal mortality–women who die during or shortly after childbirth. It turns out that African American women in the US, if they were a country, would rank just below (a little worse than) Uzbekistan, a country where the average income per person is $840 per year. “In the United States, one corollary of free market liberty is dying young.”

Another key concept is that of “homo economicus,” an imaginary human that is a purely rational consumer, seeking to maximize its own comfort and rewards while minimizing the effort needed to acquire them. It turns out people aren’t really like that, but there is an entity that is: the corporation.

Overall this book provides lots of insight, as in useful ways of looking at the world, ourselves, politics, economics, society, the past, and the future. Everyone in the world should read this book!

Book Review: Field Notes on Democracy

Author:	Arundhati Roy	Rating:	***** (4)
Date read:	January, 2010

Shocking, frightening, and horrifying description of both secular and religious fascist elements at work in modern “democratic” India. I have had a sense from comments read in other places that the media’s portrayal of India and its thriving, growing middle class was not telling the whole story. Little did I know; the truth is far worse than I imagined. The book is a collection of essays, providing different angles on Indian society and government. Between selling out the country (especially the poor) and its future to the multinational corporations and the fanatic, government-sponsored religious nationalism and its massacres, it’s a dark picture. I hope someone is listening, a lot of someones.

Book Review: I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist

Author:	Geisler and Turek	Rating:	*****(5)
Date read:	January, 2010

Excellent summary of Christian apologetic ideas, giving evidence- and reason-based arguments for belief in God and in Christianity. It had two effects on me. One, it strengthened my own beliefs. Two, it made me feel more confident about discussing my beliefs with others, both believers and non-believers. Makes a very good case. Highly recommended.

Book Review: a fine line

Author:	Hartmut Esslinger	Rating:	***** (3)
Date read:	January, 2010

The first part of the book deals with a description of the author’s (and his firm’s) approach to strategy and design, along with some case histories of clients that the author and his company, frog design, have worked with over the past years. There are success stories and failure stories, all of which are fascinating from a business and design point of view. The idea of design as strategy makes a lot of sense, as is borne out in the examples. The principal expertise and interest of frog design, and the author, is the design and manufacturing of high tech electronic products.

The second part of the book is an attempt to look at design, business strategy, manufacturing, and outsourcing in a new light based on the so-called “green” revolution. This was a noble attempt to promote strategic design and well-thought-out local manufacturing and/or outsourcing relationships as a profitable move toward a more sustainable model, including consideration of the entire product lifecycle from manufacture through recycling/landfill. It’s obvious that Mr. Esslinger is very intelligent, and that he has given some thought to these issues.

I believe, however, that he suffers from a common frailty of many devotees of technology, in believing that modern capitalism and technology can solve the massive problems which they have created and perpetuated. It is, admittedly, a hopeful thought that consumer pressure on corporations to produce more “green” products would lead to significant changes in the way businesses operate, resulting in a sustainable economic and production model. And certainly there is some possibility that some marginal progress could be achieved through this mechanism. However, other than a suggestion that electronic gadgets such as cell phones and music players could be manufactured with replaceable components, so they would not have to be thrown away every 1 – 2 years, there are no practical ideas about how these changes would come about, or what they might be.

Also, in discussing the wonderful fruits of intelligent “smart-sourcing” and working with companies in Taiwan who know how to design and manufacture electronics very well, he does not mention the issue that manufacturing was moved to places like Taiwan because of the absence of environmental controls and other worker protection laws prevalent in the US and western Europe. I had a friend who lived in Taiwan a few years ago. She said the soot in the air was so think it would turn the screens black and clog them, and it had to be swept up off the floors in the house at least daily. So it’s the same old story of exporting destruction of the environment and importing cheap labor, aka globalization (which used to be called Imperialism). There’s nothing “green” or “sustainable” in this model.

To the author’s credit, he does admit that often times outsourcing of manufacturing ends up destroying the local economies of the poor countries where the factories are built and then a few years later shut down. But what is the solution? He does discuss the advantages of keeping the manufacturing in the home country, but in a framework that includes at least some of the manufacturing being outsourced.

The bottom line is that it all depends on the bottom line, and as long as corporations and profit rule supreme, all other considerations will be secondary. I simply do not believe that following the current model of profit at all costs will lead to anything different than more of what we already have, getting worse and worse. That being said, it is admirable that the author is attempting to push for designers and business people to get together and work on profitable solutions that lead to a more sustainable world. Maybe a few people will listen, and do some good things they would otherwise not have done. That’s the best I can hope for, and maybe that’s what the author is hoping for as well.

Key quote (in the section subtitled “Adapt to Win”) on page 43:

“My wife and partner Patricia and I call this strategy “Outside-In” — the idea that we succeed by creating what our clients really need most, rather than by simply trying to replicate our own past successes.”

Book Review: In the Sanctuary of Outcasts

Author:	Neil White	Rating:	***** (3)
Date read:	June, 2010

Interesting; though not what I’d call a page-turner. We follow along as the author goes through some major life-perspective changes while an inmate in a prison that is on the same grounds with a home for people with leprosy. My personality is opposite to that of the author, so maybe I related to his story less than some readers. But I did enjoy it. I’d say it was interesting to me more in an informational sense than emotional. Not earth-shaking nor life-changing, but worthwhile.

Books I read in 2010

These are the 36 books I read during 2010, listed in the order I read them.

Works of fiction are marked with an asterisk — 8 out of 36 titles. Only 5 were contemporary novels. Apparently I lean toward nonfiction.

Number in parentheses is my rating (5 is best). My reviews for some are this blog site, others are in my GoodReads account (see the list on the right side of the page).

* The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (3)

Socialism – A Very Short Introduction by Michael Newman (4)

The Value of Nothing by Raj Patel (5)

Field Notes on Democracy by Arundhati Roy (4)

Socialism Past and Future by Michael Harrington (4)

I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist by Geisler and Turek (5)

The Greatest Story Ever Told by Richard Dawkins (3)

Tornado in a Junkyard by James Perloff (3)

a fine line by Hartmut Esslinger (3)

The Making of the Fittest by Sean B. Carroll (3)

Darwin on Trial by Phillip E. Johnson (4)

Stones into Schools by Greg Mortensen (5)

Why Evolution is True by Jerry A. Coyne (3)

Darwin’s Black Box by Michael Behe (4)

In the Sanctuary of Outcasts by Neil White (3)

* The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larsson (4)

* The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson (4)

Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof (5)

Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed (4)

* Storm Front by Jim Butcher (4)

An Introduction to the New Testament by D.A. Carson (4)

Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi (4)

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis  (again) (5)

* The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas (again) (5)

* Emma by Jane Austen (again) (4)

Rework by Jason Fried and DHH (3)

* The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (4)

Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis (3)

Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller (5)

* Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by C.S. Lewis (4)

Orthodoxy – G.K. Chesterton (5)

Miracles – C.S. Lewis (5)

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller (4)

All That You Can’t Leave Behind by Ryan Murphy (4)

Winter Spring Summer Fall by Ryan Murphy (4)