Multi-Book Review

It's time to change the reading list!  Listed in order of enjoyment...

Candide by Voltaire    *****

Voltaire's Candide is an Enlightenment piece that remains relevant today. The Bush Administration's idealized version of Iraqi society seems strikingly similiar to Candide's El Dorado.  In El Dorado, there is so much gold that nobody fights over it.  In utopian Iraq, there is so much oil that nobody worries about the enormous cost of waging war.  Unfortunately, Candide is unable to return to real society with all of his riches.  Sound familiar? 

The book offers a well-developed and thoroughly entertaining caricature of Leibniz as well.  The caricatured outlook, to believe that all things happen for the best, reminds me of that Monty Python skit... "always look on the bright side of life!"

The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs  ****

This book is a must-read for anyone with the least bit of concern about world poverty.  He sets forth an interesting plan to eradicate extreme poverty.  It's highly idealistic (and perhaps infeasible) but, with a dose of humility and a bit of goodwill, it represents the best idea that I've seen yet.  Sachs points out that poverty efforts are hamstrung by developed countries failing to meet promised funding goals.  I think, given the current international situation and devotion of resources to unpopular military efforts, it would take a lot of luck before these funding goals ever come to fruition. 

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad ***

Conrad writings describe his experiences in the Congo during the late 19th century.  Even considering all of the televised images of the current strife in the Congo and the historical images developed by Conrad's pen, it is hard to imagine what life was like in the Belgian Congo during that period.  King Leopold of Belgium managed to turn the Congo into a personal profit-center.  The territory was not even a traditional colony, it had nothing to do with Belgium... it was a personal profit center.  Amazing.  And amazingly awful. 

The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama  **

The Closing of the Western Mind by Charles Freeman **

Freeman's stated goal is to demonstrate how the growth of the Christian church put the kibosh on intellectualism in the western world.  I'm not convinced, but the book did paint a fascinating picture of the political workings of the ancient world.  His sections about comparative religion also shed light on the annoying "because that's the way it is" doctrines that pervade Christianity. 

An example is the concept of the Trinity, which receives very little support from the Bible but was very important politically.  The Roman government, then Christian, needed an officially approved orthodox position to prevent division over the apparent biblical ambiguity.  Unfortunately, the early Christians were a divided lot.  The Romans simply unified them with the threat of excommunication.

The text quickly becomes a series of grudge matches between early Christian thinkers and the Hellenistic philosophers.  In this book, reason takes the field.