11104

History, science, philosophy and poetry

Revisado: 12-30-24

What a wonderful book. The relationship of humanity with the moon is as old as our species and very complex. I had only the most general idea about knowledge of the origin of the moon, and very little about its cultural, religious and proto-scientific history. I enjoyed the review of thought about the moon from the Middle Ages, through Copernicus, Keppler and Galileo and into the evidence-based studies of the 19th and 20th Centuries. Boyle writes a clear-eyed narrative of lunar exploration from the Apollo missions of the 60s and 70s into the dicey prospects for exploration, exploitation and international competition in the future. All of this is written with great literary style and a poetic view of where we came from long ago and may be heading.

My only reservation is about the narrator. She has excellent diction but also a regular rising-falling-rising-falling tone that - what's the right word? - lacked emotion or grip. I mostly listen to audiobooks while driving and at the gym, so I prefer narrators whose style holds my attention. This one often did not.

Still, well recommended.

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Definitions, definitions

Revisado: 11-07-24

So what is a/the self? Look in any online dictionary and you will find many shades of meaning. If I understand the author correctly, he equates the term self with the Hindu atman and the Western psyche, both equivalent to the concept of soul. Garfield seems to mean the idea that there is something transcending our physical existence that perhaps preceded our present life and will continue after our deaths. He trashes that idea, citing arguments from Buddhism, David Hume and contemporary neuropsychology. So far, so good, as far as I’m concerned, especially with the last part of it.

Garfield never talks about the obvious challenge to the basic concepts of Islam-Judaisim-Christianity that his thesis suggests. No self, no soul, no afterlife. He describes our behaviors as the product of complex interactions among our biology, neurological states, very limited sensory apparatus (see Ed Yong’s wonderful book, An Immense World, about the huge range of other species’ sensory systems), our interpersonal connections and social conventions. He lightly criticizes the concept of free will (but that’s another definitional problem), blaming it on St. Augustine’s theory about how a perfect God could make creatures, Adam and Eve, He knew would sin and be punished. It sounds reductionist. Yet the author urges us to virtuous behavior once we have lost a belief in the self. What, then, is doing the choosing, and why? I couldn’t figure out Garfield’s point here. Maybe I just didn’t understand him.

I found the middle part of the book tedious; I wouldn’t have made it through if I had been reading rather than been listening to the audiobook flow by. It consists of a long, technical discussion of modern and contemporary defenses of the self with Garfield’s long, technical refutations. It’s the kind of stuff that puts many people off philosophy.

This book may be best for those with a Buddhist-y viewpoint and a taste for the arcana of philosophical debate.

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So many behind the scene things I didn't know

Revisado: 10-03-24

As a life-long fan of classical music and opera, I was surprised to learn how much goes on behind the scene in the lives of conductors and performers. It's hard work! I enjoyed the stories and analysis about many conductors I know, particularly Bernstein, who I saw for the first time at age 10 at a NY Phil Young People's Concert. Mauceri narrates his book with a clear voice and perfect andante moderato pace.

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Explosives, terrorism, police and state power

Revisado: 07-17-24

The most engrossing audiobook I have listened to in some time. Johnson skillfully weaves stories from Alfred Nobel's invention of nitroglycerin and dynamite, through corporate and state violence against workers; the rise, fall, philosophy and methods of anarchism (which I understood poorly); the origins and growth of scientific crime detection from developments in data collection in Europe, the powerful New York police department and to J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI; to idealistic anarchists bitter disappointment at the failures and abuses of Lenin's brand of Marxism. Johnson does an excellent job of explaining how all of these streams influenced one another, written in a style that was hard to put aside. The author is a very good narrator, with good diction and cadence.

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Learn what influences your choices

Revisado: 07-12-24

I'd never heard of the term choice architecture, but now I realize its importance. It is fascinating to see how we are influenced, without realizing it, by the many ways choices can be presented. The narrator has excellent diction but his style is a bit dull.

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Interesting for fans; awful narrator.

Revisado: 06-04-24

The book is well-researched and of interest to philosophy fans. It provides a detailed analysis and comparison of the lives and ideas of Liebnitz and Spinoza, given that the former had a much longer and more eventful career. A reader might sometimes get lost in the reeds of abstract philosophical minutae and Stewart's evaluation. Indeed, in the afterword on sources, Stewart acknowledges that plenty of other scholars disagree with him. It left this listener feeling like a witness to an intellectual he said-she said argument. But if this is your cup of tea, you will learn a great deal.

The real weak spot is the awful narrator. His overblown, declamatory style sounds a lot like a pitchman on a late night TV infomercial. I kept waiting for him to say, "But wait, there's more!" I gave him two stars because his diction is excellent.

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What a beautiful, clear and sensible book

Revisado: 04-19-24

So you think you are in control of your destiny? Klass' lucid analysis of causation and randomness shines. Every detail, including those we cannot notice, counts. Everything depends on everything. Theories of free will assume something magical, something non-physical that determines the physical; quantum mechanics doesn't help the case, since substituting randomness for causation does not support a self-determining agent. There is joy to be found by reveling in the infinitely complex web of the universe and how it can shine in our individual lives. The language and arguments are very clearly written, without technical jargon. One of my most enjoyable and stimulating recent listens.

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A parade of misery, focusing on elites

Revisado: 02-25-24

Written with clarity, but the book is often a chronicle of the actions of egotistical, violent leaders, with little about the suffering they created. The story line is about the nobility, generals and religious leaders. There is next to nothing about the lives or ordinary people, the arts and cultural trends. A positive is that the story is not confined to Europe. It includes the Middle East, Persia, India, China, Korea and Japan, with a bit about the Americas. However, the long parade of unfamiliar names is difficult to follow. The narrator speaks clearly but too quickly for me to keep up. I set the playback speed to .9, which worked better.

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Entertainment for unbelievers

Revisado: 12-13-23

Please excuse the awful metaphor, but Andrews is pretty much preaching to the choir. The book might be of interest to those grappling with doubts and provide for entertainment to those who have resolved their doubts on Andrews' side.. It is well researched with lots of detail. The drawback for me is the rather snarky tone. I almost gave up a quarter of the way in because Andrews' narration sounds like a late night infomercial. (But wait, there's more!) In the end, I decided that his tone was consistent with the writing and took it as fun for another non-believer.

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What a beautiful book

Revisado: 10-23-23

This was a refreshing, joyous read for someone who long ago rejected religion. I was raised Catholic and went to a parochial elementary school and Jesuit high school but, at the age of 14, it stopped making sense to me. Granted, to use a somewhat awkward comparison, Cohen's book for me is like preaching to the choir, but it described so many possibilities I had not considered: home-made, non-religious holidays; how to raise skeptical children; creating secular spaces that provide some of the benefits of churches/temples/mosques; interaction with religious people and institutions; how societies that are much less faith-based than the U.S. have so much more of the richness of life, to name but a few. Most of all, it motivates us non-believers to be public about our convictions and, without reference to a supernatural authority, take responsibility for our own welfare and that of society. One of the most satisfying books I have listened to in a long time.

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