review – Page 5 – Cubilone's Dimension

REVIEW: THE PSYCHOPATH TEST

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a gift from my Latvian friend Zanda for my 26th birthday. When I got it I thought it was going to be about what makes people crazy or sets crazy people apart, and I do believe Mr. Ronson set out to write this book from a kind of similar mental space. Instead, I discovered, together with him, how psychopathy is much different from what is typically understood as mental illness by most people.

A psychopath doesn’t do “crazy” things—they are very calculating. A psychopath doesn’t suffer from schizophrenia, paranoia or psychosis–the actual illnesses we have connected with the picture of madness; in fact, a psychopath could easily pass off as a completely normal, sociable, even extremely attractive person, with one key difference: psychopaths are unable to feel for other people. It’s impossible for them to experience empathy or sympathy. It’s literally impossible. According to Robert Hare, the creator of the Hare Psychopath Checklist, which lent its name to the title of this book and which has been used to spot psychopathy in people, the disorder is actually biological: a certain kind of neural activity in the amygdala of normal people connected to horror, revulsion and other intense emotional responses just do not fire up in psychopaths.

Many murders or serial killers in history have been psychopaths, but to them killing was nothing “wrong”. It was an act of curiosity or of scratching a certain itch. Furthermore, many higher-ups in important corporations holding key positions are actually psychopaths, or at least the profession with the largest percentage of psychopaths within its ranks is that of the CEO. Companies that are shaping the present and future of humanity are run by people who cannot feel remorse or responsibility and only think of their own selfish needs.

Doesn’t that go a long way towards explaining why things are the way they are in the world right now? I mean, I have been wondering for a long time just how hugely influential people manage to live with themselves and their (probably negative) actions. How they can have so much power and influence and just never use it in a way that makes any kind of ethical sense. I was imagining they must look at themselves in the mirror and every once in a while involuntarily throw up a little.

Turns out it is far more likely they go to bed each night feeling proud of themselves and how they spent another day proving the world who’s boss: predators preying on the lesser people who got what they had coming for them.

But if it’s not their fault, if they do end up becoming CEOs because that professional field vastly rewards this kind of remorseless behaviour, what are we supposed to do with that information?

What if you were born without the capacity to connect with other people, to understand why people cry or feel hurt? What if everything boiled down to “predators and prey”, as it does for so many psychopaths? What should the world do with you then? Would it be justified to lock you up and throw away the key?

Bonus: the Psychopath Test reveals the shocking truth that illnesses such as ADHD, bipolar disorder and Asperger’s or autism might not have had as much thought put into their definitions as we might like to think. By DSM V, published in 2013, you would be quite hard-pressed not to find something wrong with you and your mind, even if that were you being scared of spiders, preferring one parent over the other (Parental Alienation Syndrome), spending too much time on the net (Internet Addiction Disorder) and the list goes on.

I don’t want to make assumptions, since I’m not in any way a specialist, but I’m guessing that big pharma wanting to sell drugs for plausible-sounding illnesses, as well as therapists aspiring to categorize everybody’s quirks into a system of diagnosable mental conditions, are playing a much more important role in creating unhealthy, dependent people than the will of the medical industry is oriented towards making everybody’s lives better—be it that of sick, healthy people, or anywhere on or around the murky borders inbetween.

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REVIEW: THE TRANSANTLANTIC TRADE AND INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership by John Hilary
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another of my “cheat” books to complete my 2015 Reading Challenge. That said, I wish all cheats and tricks the world over were this beneficial and had this positive a net value as the existence of this little book and me taking the (little) time required to read it in order to complete my Goodreads challenge.

I did so in physical form but you can easily get this booklet in.pdf in various languages, including Greek, from this page. And here’s another quick summary from the Stop TTIP website of what the problem actually is.

What I have to say about TTIP and all agreements similar to it (CETA, TPP, whatever) is that in all the wickedness of the masterminds behind it, they envision a future that’s so unsustainable, so unnatural, so anti-everything that’s good, just or progressive in this world, that my hope is that these abominations, even in the event they come to pass—which, in one form or another, they probably will—will collapse under the weight of their own profound and inexcusable arbitrariness.

Good thing the mega-corporations, the only ones who will benefit from these deals and have lobbied sufficiently to have infiltrated various administrative and legislative national and international bodies, such as the European Commission itself (one wonders if that really did need any lobbying at all), are becoming more and more blatant with all this; unbeknownst(?) to them, they are giving us a blessing in disguise: in these times of widespread uncertainty, passivity and double-think, having a deal such as this where there are zero benefits for the common people, for Europe, for democracy, all those things we’ve come to think are sacrosanct (no matter if they really are), having a deal which pulls the curtains like this in the name of profit, control and inequality… it all leaves very little room for doubt and alternative readings: TTIP is corporate greed in paper form, no questions asked. It really is that simple.

It is precisely for that reason it looks like it’s serving as a call for action to people of all kinds of political beliefs. It’s working similar to how “We are the 99%” could have worked and is absolutely in the same spirit of mass participation. One look at the Stop TTIP petition, which gathered more than 3.3 million signatures, should convince you. Us. Them. Everybody.

Is that a record, Ben? It must be a record.

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REVIEW: CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Cultural Anthropology by William A. Haviland
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Phew! Finally done with this 500-page+ undertaking of a textbook. Reviewing textbooks is kind of weird, but I have to say that staying with this book and reading it bit by bit over almost a period of two years has made me seriously consider studying (cultural) anthropology more formally. I mean I already have a BA in Cultural Technology, why not add some cultural anthropology in there?

Seriously, after reading this book, my official position is that anthropology is for the humanities what physics is to the hard sciences—psychology would be mathematics and sociology would be chemistry. Just like studying physics, studying anthropology (especially combined with cultural studies) you can’t help but look at reality and your circumstances from a more detached standpoint, more objectively as it were. You get to see that your life is the result of the mixture of an endless array of possible sets of circumstances. It teaches humility, it teaches tolerance, curiosity, it awakens a deeper awareness of what being a human person in a world of human and non-human persons is all about.

I still think it’s about laughing, cooking and listening to/ playing music, but that’s just me.

My favourite chapters were on sex and marriage, art, ~~patterns of subsistence~~ food, language, cultural change and the anthropology of futurology. Any overlap with any of my more general interests, including what I believe to be the fundamentals of human culture as exposed above, is purely coincidental, I swear.

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REVIEW: MUCHAS VIDAS, MUCHOS MAESTROS

Muchas Vidas, Muchos Maestros by Brian L. Weiss
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Este libro se me sugirió de Fede, un uruguayo que conocí por suerte en el candombe de un domingo como todos los otros. Dijo que cambió su vida y le hizo pensar en su “misión de vida”, que para él era algo como ofrecer el amor a los otros en cualquier oportunidad. Sólo unos días después, lo ví en la librería Moebius al lado de la Posada al Sur donde viví cuando estaba en Montevideo, y era casi la mitad del precio de todos los otros libros. No podía no comprarlo.

Bueno, claro que me interesaba el tema, y aunque no podía entender todo, como sigo aprendiendo el idioma español, creo que era un libro bién escrito. Quiero decir que la manera de escribir de señor Weiss era simple pero comunicaba mucho.

Estoy en una fase cuando estoy leyendo muchos libros y material sobre la reencarnación, y algunas veces lo que se encuentra en un libro se contradice por lo que hay en otros. Diferentemente dicho, lo más que investigas, lo más dificil es encontrar fuentes válidas que tienen algo que ver entre ellos en los detalles. Creo en la reencarnación, pero no creo que Muchas Vidas sea el mejor libro para presentar el tema y su profundidad verdadera a alguna persona que ya no está convencida y que mira a la cuestión con un mente crítico, tan por su falta de algún tipo de prueba (quién es Catherine?) como por la impresión que intenta de darnos, que es un libro escrito por un psiquiatra, es una impresión que sin embargo no puede sostener. Este estilo me hizo preguntarme si todo esto realmente sucedió. Parece un mito, una historia basada en hechos reales y como todas las historias similares, es dificíl separar en ella lo verdadero de lo falso. Por eso no valen como pruebas sino como inspiraciones, y esto es sin duda algo muy personal y no cuantificable.

En todo caso, todavía era una lectura interesante con puntos espirituales válidos y con valor para ver la vida por otros ojos, como si el hecho de la inmortalidad del espíritu fuera un hecho indudable, y todo esto la verdá me está poniendo a pensar cada vez más.

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REVIEW: CHILDREN OF DUNE

Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

That was difficult to finish. Just like with
Dune Messiah, I found that most of it wasn’t about Arrakis itself. It tried to have a more complex plot centred around politics, but it ended up disintegrating and getting more convoluted all at the same time. All the new characters were boring and roughly everybody from Dune #1, including those we thought were dead, somehow appeared out of thin, dry air in order to fill in the gaps.

When I started reading Children of Dune and as I do mention in my review for Dune Messiah, an acquaintance of mine remarked that he’d given up on Dune somewhere around the beginning of Dune #4; “waaay too much religion, precognition and mysticism for my tastes.” I never thought there could be such a thing as too much religion after I was done reading Dune #1, but seriously, I have the unshakable impression that this one went one spice-induced trip too far, even more so than Dune #2. So many visions, parallel paths and characters becoming less and less relatable and in some ways interchangeable, and not enough about Dune ecology and cultures that made Dune #1 so fascinating and even relevant today. Agreed, a lot of that was insinuated, but let me tell you, I’d pick discovering more about the changes in Fremen culture and the dying worms over more helpings of bland, supernatural politics any day.

I have to admit that the last few tens of pages were a bit better, and Children went out with an awesome bang, so now I am a bit curious to pick up God Emperor of Dune and find out whether the series ever went back to the more earthy, natural direction the first one had instead of going further down the supernatural path, but I’m almost certain visions, precognition, supreme retro-cognition, concepts much too abstract even for me, continued playing an important part in the series, by the looks of it an increasingly important part.

Slowly but surely I’m coming to the conclusion that it’s not only more coherent, but also more entertaining reading plot synopses of the Dune sequels than actually reading the books themselves.

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REVIEW: Η ΜΕΤΑΝΑΣΤΕΥΣΗ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ

Η μετανάστευση στην Ελλάδα by Βασίλης Παπαστεργίου
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Η Μετανάστευση στην Ελλάδα είναι πόνημα του Ελληνικού Παραρτήματος του Ιδρύματος Ρόζα Λούξεμπουργκ και διανέμεται δωρεάν (εδώ μπορείτε να βρείτε και το .pdf). Δεν ξέρω αν μετράει στ’ αλήθεια για βιβλίο, γιατί διαβάζεται μέσα σε μια ώρα και κάτι και δεν έχει ISBN. Αλλά ξέρετε κάτι; Είναι βιβλιόμορφο, το διάβασα και είμαι πίσω στο 2015 Reading Challenge, οπότε μετράει!

Και πέρα απ’ την πλάκα(;), είναι μια εξαιρετικά καλή ερεύνα που ρίχνει φως με επίσημα στοιχεία και πολύ ορθολογικά επιχειρήματα και δίνει απαντήσεις σε 11 πολύ κοινες ερωτήσεις που έχουν πολλοί Έλληνες και ξένοι σχετικά με το φλέγον ζήτημα της μετανάστευσης. Το συνιστώ με τα μάτια κλειστά για να ενημερωθείτε πραγματικά για μερικά πολύ σημαντικά θέματα σχετικά με μια κατάσταση που μας αφορά όλους, ειδικά στην Ελλάδα.

Κάποια από τα πολύ ενδιαφέροντα στοιχεία είναι τα εξής δύο (παραθέτω):

Τα στοιχεία της Εθνικής Στατιστικής Υπηρεσίας της Ελλάδος καταδεικνύουν ότι η μικρή αύξηση του πληθυσμού της χώρας κατά το χρονικό διάστημα 2004-2010 οφείλεται αποκλειστικά στη φυσική
αύξηση των αλλοδαπών, καθώς οι γεννήσεις τους είναι πολύ περισσότερες από τους θανάτους τους. Αντίθετα, οι θάνατοι Ελλήνων είναι περισσότεροι σε σχέση με τις γεννήσεις από ελληνίδες μητέρες.

Συγκεκριμένα, το διάστημα 2004-2010 οι γεννήσεις από ελληνίδες μητέρες ανήλθαν σε 647.803, ενώ οι θάνατοι ελλήνων πολιτών σε 737.872. Αντίθετα, το ίδιο διάστημα, οι γεννήσεις παιδιών από αλλοδαπές μητέρες ανήλθαν σε 140.366 (17,8% επί του συνόλου των γεννήσεων), ενώ οι θάνατοι αλλοδαπών ήταν μόλις 13.401 (1,8% επί του συνόλου των θανάτων).

Επομένως, προκύπτει ότι: α) η θετική φυσική μεταβολή του πληθυσμού της χώρας οφείλεται στις γεννήσεις από αλλοδαπές μητέρες, και β) οι μετανάστες αποτελούν μείζονα παράγοντα ανανέωσης του δυναμικού της χώρας, το βασικό αντίδοτο στη φυσική γήρανση του πληθυσμού.

Για την ακρίβεια:

Ας σημειωθεί ότι η ανανέωση των ευρωπαϊκών κοινωνιών μέσα από τη μετανάστευση –είτε με τη μορφή των γεννήσεων είτε με τη μορφή της εισόδου νέων μεταναστών– είναι μια διαπιστωμένη ανάγκη. Σύμφωνα με την Πράσινη Βίβλο, στην ΕΕ τα 227 εκατομμύρια των οικονομικά ενεργών ατόμων θα μειωθούν σε 201 εκατομμύρια το 2025 και σε 160 εκατομμύρια το 2050, χωρίς τους μετανάστες.

Για τη διατήρηση του ίδιου ορίου συνταξιοδότησης και την επιβίωση των ασφαλιστικών ταμείων από το 2010 έως το 2030 θα χρειαστούν 20 εκατομμύρια μετανάστες.

Άρα, η εισροή των Σύριων και άλλων μεταναστών/προσφύγων μας σώζει από το δημογραφικό πρόβλημα που υπάρχει σε όλη σχεδόν την Ευρώπη, ιδιαίτερα στον Ευρωπαϊκό Νότο (απλά κοιτάχτε την κατάταξη της Ελλάδας εδώ, είμαστε 5 θέσεις από τον πάτο παγκοσμίως) αλλά και σε μέρη όπως η Γερμανία, που δεν απέχει και πολυ από εμάς. Βρε λες;

Τελικά:

Μια ορθολογική αντιμετώπιση του δημογραφικού ζητήματος

Υπάρχουν δύο τρόποι να αντιμετωπίσει κανείς τα στοιχεία αυτά. Μια φοβική αντιμετώπιση, γνώριμη στη Δεξιά και την Ακροδεξιά, θα εστιαζόταν στην «απειλή» που δήθεν αντιπροσωπεύει αυτή η εξέλιξη για το έθνος και θα κατέληγε σε –αναποτελεσματικές, φυσικά– εκκλήσεις για άνοδο της γεννητικότητας των Ελλήνων.

Μια πιο ορθολογική αντιμετώπιση θα θεωρούσε ότι τα στοιχεία υποδεικνύουν ουσιαστικά τον δρόμο που πρέπει να ακολουθήσει η ελληνική μεταναστευτική πολιτική: ο αυξημένος αριθμός γεννήσεων παιδιών από μεταναστευτικές οικογένειες αποτελεί ευκαιρία για την Ελλάδα, που πρέπει να υιοθετήσει μια πιο ανοιχτή πολιτική για την ιθαγένεια των παιδιών των οικογενειών αυτών.

Αν το ένα στα έξι παιδιά που γεννιούνται σήμερα στη χώρα είναι παιδί μεταναστευτικής οικογένειας, τότε η πολιτεία οφείλει να το αντιμετωπίσει ως μελλοντικό έλληνα πολίτη, να εξασφαλίσει τη δυνατότητά του να αποκτήσει πρόσβαση στις διαδικασίες κτήσης της ελληνικής ιθαγένειας.

Διαφορετικά, η ελληνική πολιτεία αναλαμβάνει την ευθύνη να διαμορφωθεί μια γενιά νέων ανθρώπων χωρίς πλήρη δικαιώματα στη χώρα. Οι κοινωνικές συνέπειες μιας τέτοιας προφανούς αδικίας και ανισότητας δεν μπορούν παρά να είναι σοβαρές και επώδυνες για την κοινωνία.

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REVIEW: ΕΞΙ ΠΕΡΙΠΛΑΝΗΣΕΙΣ ΣΤΟ ΔΑΣΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΑΦΗΓΗΣΗΣ

Έξι Περιπλανήσεις στο Δάσος της Αφήγησης by Umberto Eco
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Αυτό ήταν βιβλίο της σχολής που δεν το είχα αγγίξει για πολλά χρόνια, για το μάθημα της Καταπότη Ανάλυση και Σύνθεση Κειμένου αν δεν απατώμαι, πριν το αλλάξει και το κάνει πιο edgy.

Αυτό είναι το πρώτο βιβλίο του Έκο που τελείωσα. Δεν μπορώ να αποφασίσω καθόλου αν μου αρέσει ως συγγραφέας τελικά. Πρέπει σίγουρα να τον μελετήσω καλύτερα. Απ’ τη μία μου βγάζει κάτι το εξυπνακίστικο το οποίο με ενοχλεί. Σίγουρα όμως ο συγκεκριμένος τίτλος είχε κάποια ενδιαφέροντα κομμάτια σχετικά με το ποιον τέλειο αναγνώστη έχουν οι συγγραφείς στο μυαλό τους όταν γράφουν ή πώς λειτουργεί ο χρόνος στα μυθιστορήματα—«…ο εμπειρικός συγγραφέας πρότυπο γνωρίζει (ακόμα κι αν ο εμπειρικός συγγραφέας δεν θα ήξερε πώς να το εκφράσει) ότι σε ένα μυθιστόρημα ο χρόνος παρουσιάζεαι κάτω από τρεις μορφές — τον θεματικό χρόνο, τον λεκτικό χρόνο και τον αναγνωστικό χρόνο.» Ακόμα, αφιερώνει μία από τις περιπλανήσεις του στο δάσος της αφήγησης στο πώς το Παρίσι όπως παρουσιάζεται στους Τρεις Σωματοφύλακες και οι οδοί που αναφέρονται δεν θα μπορούσαν να έχουν υπάρξει πραγματικά, και στο ερώτημα ποια τελικά είναι η σύγκλιση και η τομή του εναλλακτικού Παρισιού σε αυτό το έργο και του πραγματικού Παρισιού; Ποια είναι αλήθεια η σύγκλιση οποιουδήποτε έργου που λαμβάνει χώρα στον «πραγματικό κόσμο» με τον «πραγματικό κόσμο» (see what I did there?);

Γράφοντας για τα περιεχόμενα του βιβλίου κάπως άρχισα μυστηριωδώς να το συμπαθώ λίγο περισσότερο. Χμ. Ίσως να έχω πάρει και τον Ουμπέρτο με κακό μάτι. Κακά τα ψέματα, σίγουρα θα το απολάμβανα περισσότερο αν είχα διαβάσει έστω και ένα από τα distέργα τα οποία αναλύει, όπως το Sylvie, το οποίο έγραφε ότι το είχε διαβάσει άπειρες φορές αλλά πάντα ένιωθε ότι ήταν σαν την πρώτη. Για κάποιον λόγο έχω την αίσθηση ότι βιβλία που αρέσουν στον Έκο θα τα έβρισκα απίστευτα δυσπρόσιτα, την περιπλάνηση στα δάση τους υπερβολικά απαιτητική για την μέτρια αναγνωστική/πνευματική μου κατάσταση, τα αναγνωστοπεζοπορικά μου παπούτσια που θέλουν τσαγκάρη και το γεγονός ότι έχω διαβολικό smartphone με GPS, facebook και άλλα τέτοια πράγματα που σίγουρα αλλοιώνουν το όποιο προφίλ μου ως αναγνώστη-περιηγητή.

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REVIEW: THE CONSOLATIONS OF PHILOSOPHY

The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was the first link of the chain of thoughts and instants that led me to reading this book by philosopher Alain de Botton.

This is one of those rare applied philosophy books that pose the question peculiarly left untouched by many contemporary professionals in the field of how one can use philosophy and philosophical ideas, some of them quite old, to make their life better and happier. To me, and by all appearances to Mr. de Botton as well, simplicity is a virtue of itself, and there is very little value to be found in ideas that need several tomes of derivative works and commentary to be decoded.

Consolations of Philosophy book has none of that. You could call it anti-philosophy, in an almost ying-yang sense. Mr. de Botton took six problems commonly faced by some—I’m tempted to say all— people and asked “what would Socrates, Seneca, Montaigne, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche do?”

It worked. It gave me a sense that these famous thinkers basically had the same insecurities I do, and it did so amazingly eloquently, informatively and most of all intelligibly. His train of thought was clear and I felt invited to hop on for the ride from the get-go.

The sad part is that most of the original works actually are the boring, long-winded books we have come to connect philosophy with. I suppose that makes Mr. de Botton a real bearer of ideas, a cultural translator or interpreter. Whatever he is, his job is extremely valuable and that was awesome.

Excerpts and some comments:

Consolation for Unpopularity, Socrates:

“It would be as naïve to hold that unpopularity is synonymous with truth as to believe that it is synonymous with error. The validity of an idea of action is determined not by whether it is widely believed or widely reviled but by whether it obeys the rules of logic.”

…for the next time I have to confront insulting sworn carnivores, skeptics, dogmatists—anyone with a closed mind, really. Or for expressing an opinion that is over-looked in group situations.

Consolation for Not Having Enough Money, Epicurus:

“At the heart of Epicureanism is the thought that we are as bad as intuitively answering “What will make me happy?” as “What will make me healthy?” The answer which most rapidly comes to mind is liable to be as faulty. [i.e.—it’s not money!]

… for the next time I stress over not getting a review done, playing a game, or having little income.

Consolation for Frustration, Seneca:

if most philosophers feel no need to write like this [clearly], it is because they trust that, so long as argument is logical, the style in which it is presented to the reader will not determine its effectiveness. Seneca believed in a different picture of the mind. Arguments are like eels: however logical, they may slip from the mind’s weak grasp unless fixed there by imagery and style. We need metaphors to derive a sense of what cannot be seen or touched, or else we will forget.

… for the next time I worry about not being precise and finding it difficult to speak succinctly. Speak intelligibly if you want to be memorable!

Consolation for inadequacy, Montaigne:

But writing with simplicity requires courage, for there is a danger that one will be overlooked, dismissed as simpleminded by those with a tenacious belief that impassable prose is a hallmark of intelligence. So strong is this bias, Montaigne wondered whether the majority of university scholar would have appreciated Socrates, a man they professed to revere about all others, if he had approached them in their own towns, devoid of the prestige of Plato’s dialogues, in his dirty cloak, speaking in plain language. […] It is striking how much more seriously we are likely to be taken after we have been dead a few centuries. Statements which might be acceptable when they issue from the quills of ancient authors are likely to attract ridicule when expressed by contemporaries.

…for when I feel stupid, doubt my own arguments and thoughts, because they do not come complete with fancy words (thanks Dad!)

Consolation for a Broken Heart, Schopenhauer:

We should in time learn to forgive our rejectors. The break-up was not their choice. In every clumsy attempt by one person to inform another that they need more space or time, that they are reluctant to commit or are afraid of intimacy, the rejector is striving to intellectualize an essentially unconscious negative verdict formulated by the will-to-life. Their reason may have had an appreciation of our qualities, their will-to-life did not and told them so in a way that brooked no argument—by draining them of sexual interest in us. If they were seduced away by people less intelligent than we are, we should not condemn them for shallowness. We should remember, as Schopenhauer explains, that: What is looked for in marriage is not intellectual entertainment, but the procreation of children.

…for the next time I am, uh, rejected by a woman for not inspiring her to have children with me?

Consolation for Difficulties, Nietzsche:

In the eyes of people who are seeing us for the first time… usually we are nothing more than a single individual trait which leaps to the eye and determines the whole impression we make. Thus the gentlest and most reasonable of men can, if he wears a large moustache… usually be seen as no more than the appurtenance of a large moustache, that is to say a military type, easily angered and occasionally violent — and as such he will be treated. […] The secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment is—to live dangerously! Build your cities on the slopes of Vesuvius!”

…for the next time I make base judgments about others. Remember that everybody’s the centre of their own universe, the protagonists of their own movie, and ultimately the only actors on their destiny that really matter. Be subjective about others (allow them to be subjective about themselves) and objective about yourself, that is allow seeing yourself as others see you, the good and the bad, and be mindful of it. Keep in mind that most people will like you or dislike you no matter what, so go with it. Move and function from love, not fear.

See? Just writing this review inspired me to put down some of my own values and philosophical musings. Can there be any greater compliment for this book and Alain de Botton?

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REVIEW: MOONWALKING WITH EINSTEIN: THE ART AND SCIENCE OF REMEMBERING EVERYTHING

Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Guy wants to write a book about Memory championships and the field of competitive memorising; becomes USA memory champion. Guy is Joshua Foer, brother of Jonathan Safran Foer of Eating Animals and Everything Is Illuminated fame.

I’m happy to say that with this book, Joshua did what few other people have managed to do: he escaped his brother’s shadow. I recognise him now as a separate author of his own worth; even though they obviously have a lot of things in common which subtly influence their writing, most obviously their Jewish-American upbringing, the fact that he’s Jonathan’s brother comes as more of an afterthought.

To get to the gist: if Eating Animals was the book that turned me into a vegetarian, or if you’re more willing to discuss the matter, a selective omnivore, Moonwalking with Einstein (I couldn’t for the life of me remember this book’s title, until it just clicked, and the fact that it clicked, clicked) made me realise how memory is an art form that can be trained, not really a talent, unless you’re one of the (very) few savants that exist out there whose existence remains quite a mystery. This is valuable information that contradicts most commonly held beliefs about what memory is and how it works.

If I had a cent for each time someone has told that their memory just isn’t good enough as an excuse for not remembering my name, an appointment, a date, a birthday, something—the fact that Google is never farther than a few movements away certainly doesn’t help—I’d probably have enough money to treat myself to a small beer. They, we, just aren’t interested. Even really smart people can’t seem to figure out how their minds work best, and school systems the world over are forcing deadly disingenuous rote memorisation down child and adolescent throats. It’s amazing how we have managed to make the entire educational system a failure the way we have, given the fact that children and adolescents have a much more impressionable memory than adults, which could be used much more intuitively. Just think of all the random things—not taught at school—that you remember from your early years. Such untapped potential!

Talking about untapped potential, what seriously annoyed me while reading the book were its protagonists, namely various memory champions that have made their life’s point memorising strings of random numbers and cards. I know I might be completely missing the point here, but what I would do with such a skill as having a wealth of memory palaces in my mental possession and the ability to use them would be something more, I don’t know—useful? Interesting? Unless they’ve already memorised all that and just decided to use their skill to get some money and recognition. Perhaps. Anyway, it does look like the Art of Memory has moved a long way from way back when it was utilised for reciting speeches, epic poems and the like by heart. Let’s just be happy that in this world of memory externalisation it has been preserved at all.

If you enjoyed this book, or think you could, I would recommend the segment on memory from Derren Brown’s Tricks of the Mind.

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REVIEW: CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD BOOK 2

Conversations with God, An Uncommon Dialogue: Living in the World with Honesty, Courage, and Love by Neale Donald Walsch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I don’t have much more to say about the 2nd book of Conversations with God than what I did in my review of the 1st one, at least not as far as the whole concept goes. It was on the same wavelength as the first one, with an emphasis on world politics, social topics and economics, suggesting for example that a good way to end income inequality would be to have all money-related data public and visible—“nothing breeds fairness faster than visibility”.

An analysis I particularly enjoyed was on the subject of education and how it should teach children how to think, not “memorise” facts (right now I’m reading another book, which is on memory, and that one says that it’s not even proper memorising we’re doing at school, which makes what most children and youngsters do there even more useless. But I digress).

On the other hand, I was rather surprised to read that God thinks we should have a world government as a solution for stopping wars and competition for resources. The idea was that once upon a time, the precursors of the United States, before they were unified that is, were competing between themselves and could not co-operate, however, their unification proved that it was possible to have a working federation which would go beyond nationalism, which is really tribalism on a larger scale. Hey, it was a matter of fact of the mid-’90s zeigeist that the US had to lead the march of progress of the civilised world, no doubt about it. God was speaking through the writer, with all cultural filters in place, don’t forget that.

I do wonder what God would have to tell Neale Donald Walsch about the current European crisis and how much of a success the EU has or hasn’t been. In a way, it’s been more successful than the US, since it’s covered a lot of ground towards federatio in a short period of time, considering it had both world wars fought on its soil. Today, no matter the shape of current events, it still is possible to envision a world where the benefits of having a completely united Europe would outweigh the downsides. I should know: the EU has granted me with thousands of euros on its intention to make me feel stronger about my European identity than my national one(s), and while it hasn’t completely succeeded, I must admit I can see where they’re coming from.

As it is now, however, twenty years after this book was written, a world government, or a more integrated European Union, would not be a good idea. I said before that I wondered what God’s comment would be. Allow me to rephrase: having read the book, I can easily imagine what God would have to say about all this, as well as about our freedom of actions and that we have everything we need on this planet to make it work, we’re just choosing not to. Huh, maybe I should go write my own version of this book. No; God would say I’m already doing so! I’m exiting this loop before it’s too late.

Here are some indicative quotes I’m copying from my Kindle’s clippings file, something I kind of regret I didn’t do for my review of the first book. These quotes will end up being quite a bit lengthier than the review itself, but I’d like to share them with you anyway.

“…It may be normal, but it is not natural. “Normal” means something usually done. “Natural” is how you are when you’re not trying to be “normal”! Natural and normal are not the same thing. In any given moment you can do what you normally do, or you can do what comes naturally. I tell you this: Nothing is more natural than love. If you act lovingly, you will be acting naturally. If you react fearfully, resentfully, angrily, you may be acting normally, but you will never be acting naturally.”

“Practice saying this ten times each day: I LOVE SEX Practice saying this ten times: I LOVE MONEY Now, you want a really tough one? Try saying this ten times: I LOVE ME! Here are some other things you are not supposed to love. Practice loving them: POWER GLORY FAME SUCCESS WINNING Want some more? Try these. You should really feel guilty if you love these: THE ADULATION OF OTHERS BEING BETTER HAVING MORE KNOWING HOW KNOWING WHY.”

“As Americans saw how good it was possible to have it, they sought to have it even better. Yet there was only one way to have more and more and more. Someone else had to have less and less and less.”

“Not just in matters of sexuality, but in all of life, never, ever, ever, fail to do something simply because it might violate someone else’s standards of propriety. If I had one bumper sticker on my car, it would read: VIOLATE PROPRIETY I would certainly put such a sign in every bedroom.”

“Appropriate” behavior is not always the behavior that’s in what you call your “best interests.” It is rarely the behavior that brings you the most joy.”

“Betrayal of yourself in order not to betray another is Betrayal nonetheless. It is the Highest Betrayal.”

“It is only through the exercise of the greatest freedom that the greatest growth is achieved— or even possible. If all you are doing is following someone else’s rules, then you have not grown, you have obeyed. Contrary to your constructions, obedience is not what I want from you. Obedience is not growth, and growth is what I desire.”

“It’s time to make friends with your mind again. Be a companion to it—it’s felt so alone. Be a nourisher of it—it’s been so starved.”

“Programs calling for children to develop abilities and skills rather than memories are soundly ridiculed by those who imagine that they know what a child needs to learn. Yet what you have been teaching your children has led your world toward ignorance, not away from it.”

“- As I keep saying repeatedly here, taken a look at the world lately? – You keep bringing us back to that. You keep making us look at that. But all that isn’t our fault. We can’t be blamed for the way the rest of the world is.
– It is not a question of blame, it is a question of choice. And if you are not responsible for the choices humankind has been making, and keeps making, who is?
– Well, we can’t make ourselves responsible for all of it!
– I tell you this: Until you are willing to take responsibility for all of it, you cannot change any of it.”

“On your planet you have created a society in which little Johnnie has learned how to read before getting out of pre-school, but still hasn’t learned how to stop biting his brother. And Susie has perfected her multiplication tables, using flash cards and rote memory, in ever earlier and earlier grades, but has not learned that there is nothing shameful or embarrassing about her body.”

“Your first question, always, must be: What do I want here?—not: What does the other person want here?”

“Be a living, breathing example of the Highest Truth that resides within you. Speak humbly of yourself, lest someone mistake your Highest Truth for a boast. Speak softly, lest someone think you are merely calling for attention. Speak gently, that all might know of Love. Speak openly, lest anyone think you have something to hide. Speak candidly, so you cannot be mistaken. Speak often, so that your word may truly go forth. Speak respectfully, that no one be dishonored. Speak lovingly, that every syllable may heal. Speak of Me with every utterance. Make of your life a gift. Remember always, you are the gift! Be a gift to everyone who enters your life, and to everyone whose life you enter. Be careful not to enter another’s life if you cannot be a gift.”

“(You can always be a gift, because you always are the gift —yet sometimes you don’t let yourself know that.) When someone enters your life unexpectedly, look for the gift that person has come to receive from you.”

“Know that every thought I am sending you, you are receiving through the filter of your own experience of your own truth, of your own understandings, and of your own decisions, choices, and declarations about Who You Are and Who You Choose to Be. There’s no other way you can receive it. There’s no other way you should.”

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