MOST INTERESTING ESSAYS 12/4/25: THEORY & TRUTH, MEMORY & INTELLIGENCE, PSYCHIATRY, WRITING, EGYPT IN 2019, LIVE OR DIE, GARDEN OF EDEN, SOCIAL DYSFUNCTION, DEATH ROW, RIGHT & WRONG, FRANTZ FANON, TRUTHINESS, CONSPIRACY, LIBERALITY, LIFE IS LIQUID, BECOMING god-LIKE, TIPPING POINT, VANISHING WORLD
The imagination of Han Kang gives reader/listener’s an explanation of how a human being can become psychotic. Kang’s characters show how psychosis comes from many sources, a major one of which is family relationship.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
The Vegetarian
By: Han Kang
Narrated by: Deborah Smith, Janet Song, Stephen Park
Han Kang (Author, South Korean writer, awarded the International Booker Prize for fiction in 2016 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2024.)
A listener/reader may be tempted to put this book aside with the thought that it is a titillating pornographic tale that is not worthy of one’s time. However, after an hour or two, one realizes this is a journey for something difficult to describe.
In Kang’s fictional story, two sisters are raised by the same parents. One is the older of the two and becomes a successful small business owner with a video artist husband; the other is a housewife who lives with a husband that seems to neither love nor respect her. Both marriages fail but for different but interlocking reasons.
The younger sister becomes a vegetarian later in her married life. She explains her vegetarianism is based on a dream she has about something that is not clearly defined. One gathers the dream has something to do with the source of meat that involves the killing of animals while vegetarian food comes from nature’s abundance. The husband reluctantly goes along with the change but becomes more and more unhappy in his life with the younger sister. The unhappiness grows to something greater when his wife begins to complain about how her meat-eating husband’ smells. The breaking point comes when the husband asks his wife’s mother, father, and sister-in-law to convince his wife to abandon vegetarianism and begin adding meat to her diet. At dinner in their house, the father forcefully demands his daughter to eat meat. She refuses and the conflict becomes violent. Her father pries her mouth open and shoves meat into her mouth. The daughter rebels and cuts her wrist with a knife in an act of defiance. Her brother-in-law grasps the younger daughter who is profusely bleeding and rushes her to the hospital.
The brother-in-law that rushed to save the vegetarian is a video artist.
The main characters of the story and the substance of their conflict is now made clear to the listener/reader. The next portentous development is the older sister’s husband (a video artist) begins to fantasize about the younger sister whom he had rushed to the hospital. His fantasy grows to the point of asking the younger daughter to pose nude for an art video he wishes to create. She agrees. A listener/reader begins to understand the younger sister is slipping into a psychosis. Her brother-in-law paints her nude body with flowers that make her feel that she is becoming part of nature, i.e., something growing like the vegetarian diet upon which she relies. The brother-in-law’s sexual desire becomes more aroused by the video and his relationship with the younger sister.
The deepening psychosis of the younger daughter grows when the brother-in-law hires a nude male model to be a part of a new video.
The male model resists but agrees to pose with her but refuses to go beyond allowing flowers being painted on his nude body and a video of the two without clothes but with painted bodies. The brother-in-law’s sexual fantasy grows from this experience but is disappointed in the male actor who refuses to have sex with the sister-in-law while the video is being filmed. The male actor did not want to be viewed as a porn star.
The brother-in-law’s fantasy leads to the sister-in-law’s agreement to have sex with him on film as long as he allows her to paint flowers on his body that are similar to what he had painted on her body. They become sexually entwined at the sister-in-law’s house. The older sister discovers them in their sexual rendezvous where the video is being produced.
The younger sister has crossed a barrier between sanity and insanity. It is not a matter of remorse for the sexual relationship but from a reinforcement of her obsessive need for being a vegetarian as an integral part of nature. She refuses her humanity. She has crossed the Rubicon between sanity and insanity. She refuses to eat anything and only wishes to drink water to feed her growth as a plant. Both her husband and the husband of the older sister-in-law essentially drop out of Kang’s story. The older sister’s husband does not forgive her husband for his sexual transgression and the younger sister’s husband never loved the vegetarian in the first place.
This amazing book, “The Vegetarian”, offers a vivid portrayal of a human beings’ descent into psychosis.
The imagination of Han Kang gives reader/listener’s an explanation of how a human being can become psychotic. Kang’s characters show how psychosis comes from many sources, a major one of which is family relationship.
Only with education and understanding of the past can society or the individual change their future.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
Cowboy Apocalypse (Religion and the Myth of the Vigilante Messiah)
By: Rachel Wagner
Narrated by: Dina Pearlman
Rachel Wagner (Author, professor of religion and philosophy at Ithaca College in Ithaca New York.)
Rachel Wagner has written a highly personal book about American gun culture that will resonate with some and appall others. As an academic philosopher and professor of religion, Wagner analyzes gun violence and sexism and how belief in “might makes right” is deeply ingrained in American character.
There are so many stories of death and injury from gun violence in America that one becomes numbed by Wagner’s apocalyptic story.
We were living in Las Vegas when 59 people were killed, and 527 were injured by one gunman in a hotel room less than 3 miles from our home. When one looks at statistics of children murdered in school rooms since 2010, a solution for gun violence should be urgent, but it appears not.
Rise in school shootings between 2010 and 2o19.
Wagner argues gun violence in the U.S. is viewed by much of the public as a belief in the myth of the “good guy with a gun” that is embedded in the history of America and reinforced by fictional stories, books, television, and the movies. She argues detective fiction like “The Big Sleep”, TV series like “Have Gun Will Travel”, and movies like “Die Hard” have lone heroes who defeat dastardly villains.
Think Alan Ladd in “Shane” or John Wayne in any of his westerns, and one believes gun-toting man-gods keep the world safe.
Wagner shows how malleable society is and why the gun lobby is rewarded and sustained by the myth of the “good guy with a gun”. Wagner argues gun-toting Americans have become gods in their own mind. What they really are is examples to potential killers of school children and unsuspecting tourists.
HAVE GUN WILL TRAVELDIE HARD
Wagner believes American gun obsession has wheedled its way into a religious narrative based on Christian apocalypticism and romanticization of American history. She notes the myths of armed vigilantes who are seen as saviors who can reset society when it goes astray. This myth seeps into American cultural shibboleths of white supremacy and patriarchal dominance that pervade video games, movies, and novels.
Wagner argues sexual and racial inequality are exacerbated by America’s gun culture. Wagner notes an experience in her personal life and her education in religion show how “might makes right” has been, and still is, a danger to society.
Wagner argues America needs to look in the mirror and quit glorifying firearms and vigilante justice. She suggests the January 6th attack on the capitol shows how widespread belief in vigilante justice is in America.
January 6, 2021, insurrection when a mob of supporters of then-President Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol.
The philosophical and religious beliefs of the author are made clear in her final chapters. Only with education and understanding of the past can society or the individual change their future.
Unless homelessness is addressed with affordable housing, America’s future looks bleak. A land of have and have-nots will grow to crush American prosperity.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
Abundance
By: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson
Narrated by: The Authors
Ezra Klein (American political commentator and “NYT’ journalist.) Derek Thompson (American podcaster and journalist @ “The Atlantic”.)
These two young Americans offer an insightful view of politics and American government in the 21st century.
Donald TrumpKamela Harris
Klein or Thompson could have voted for either Trump or Harris in America’s last election. Their book argues American government is both a boon and bane for citizen “Abundance” in the 21st century. They note America has contradictory economic policies that have created great abundance among Americans while exacerbating inequality. Evidence for their opinion is growing homelessness, an immigration crisis, loss of manufacturing jobs, and government’s failure to creatively adjust public policies to provide solutions.
Those who have shared in the abundance of America have voted for candidates to preserve their privileges.
The authors note homelessness is a function of affordable housing that is denied by government policies that regulate zoning and construction requirements. Government policies make affordable housing too costly to build and impossible to locate because of zoning restrictions. The number of people living on the street is a self-inflicted American tragedy. Some of the homeless are young, some are old, some have mental or physical problems, and others are victims of drugs or their own weaknesses. What they have in common is unaffordable housing.
Historically, immigration has been a great boon to American economic growth.
Klien and Thompson note restrictive immigration policies have created obstacles for workers needed for manufacturing in key industries like agriculture, auto industry assembly, housing construction, and clean energy infrastructure. Rather than wasting money on building walls and deporting workers, the authors advocate immigration reform that meets the needs of American business. One can imply the authors meaning is that to “Make America Great Again” requires immigrants willing to work in agricultural and manufacturing jobs. The end of the baby boom requires help from immigrants to meet the needs of increased manufacturing and construction in the United States.
Some believe what Trump is doing is good for the American economy in the long run.
The criticism is that in the short run, the economy may collapse. Tariffs being used as a ham-fisted way of negotiating fair international trade is a fool’s errand. America needs labor and material in the short run to achieve equal and greater prosperity than it had in the 1970s. Added manufacturing will aid American prosperity, but it will be surpassed in the long run by automation. It is the automation race America needs to win or compete with to remain a world leader. Competing in that race depends on education, and scientific research. The irony is that Trump is firing government employees who have responsibility for public education, research, and funding that have been the engines of America’s prosperity.
The government employees discharged by the Trump administration to solely reduce costs is short sighted.
In the 1980s, 60% of basic research in the U.S. was funded by the government. In 2022 that funding dropped to 40%. Advances in semiconductors, global positions systems, biotechnology, and aeronautics were government-funded discoveries in the 1980s. American government-funded scientific research gave America the internet, GPS technology, mass production of penicillin, Space exploration, human genome project discoveries, and renewable energy innovations. The Department of Health and Human Services has lost 20,000 employees, the Department of Education 1,300, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 800, and the National Institutes of Health 1,200. One wonders how many of these employees may have been on the edge of scientific discoveries that could change the world.
The truth of “Abundance” is that America has caused many negative ecological impacts and aggravated the gap between rich and poor.
Klein and Thompson have written a provocative book. However, the truth of “Abundance” in America has caused many negative ecological impacts and aggravated the gap between rich and poor. Looking only to abundance does not address either social inequality or the environment. The NIMBY (not in my back yard) resistance to affordable housing aggravates inequality and increases homelessness. Unquestionably, higher density housing impacts the environment.
Klein and Thompson fail to address the increased power of corporations in America.
The 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission gave corporations the power to spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns. The influence of corporations on elections has disproportionate power in the election of government policy makers. That decision by the Court is a distortion of one person, one voter’s influence on public policy.
Aristotle emphasized the importance of “All things in moderation”. NIMBY communities must open their minds and hearts to homelessness and moderate their resistance to neighborhood accommodation. Government agencies must supervise and service higher density housing impacts wherever they are built and after they are completed.
Unless homelessness is addressed with affordable housing, America’s future looks bleak. A land of have and have-nots will grow to crush American prosperity.
In light of Donald Trump’s disruption of government employment, one wonders what foreign and domestic conspiracies are being missed?
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
The Looming Tower (Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11)
By: Lawrence Wright
Edited By: Alan Sklar
Lawrence Wright (Author, writer and journalist.)
Lawrence Wright won the Pulitzer Prize for his meticulous research and writing on the origin of Al-Qaeda and its lead up to the 9/11 attack on America. “The Looming Tower” is not a popular audiobook for some Americans. It tells listener/readers of America’s intelligence failure in the early 21st century. A militant Muslim religious organization is created in the Middle East with intent and successful execution of an attack on the United States in 2o01.
Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966, Egyptian Author, Educator, Islamic Theorist, Poet, former leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood.)
A name not well known by most Americans is Sayyid Qutb (pronounced koo-tube), a Muslim religious believer and scholar. Wright suggests Qutb laid the groundwork for Islamist extremism in a religious organization called the Brotherhood. Though Qutb was raised in Egypt and gained his education at a Cairo teacher’s school called Dar al-‘Ulum, he spent two years at the University of Northern Colorado between 1948 and 1950. Wright argues Qutb’s experience in America shaped his views of Western society and, in particular, America. He believed and wrote that the moral and cultural nature of non-Islamic society was decadent. Wright suggests Qutb warranted violence against the West because his experience in Colorado showed Western culture corrupted Islamic values.
The World Trade Center collapse killed 2,753 civilians, firefighters, and law enforcement officers.
In The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright suggests the primary motivation for 9/11 stemmed from ideological and cultural grievances rooted in extremist interpretations of Islam. Osama bin-Laden is shown to have adopted beliefs that were the same as those of Qutb, i.e. the belief that all who were not adherent to the Muslim religion were infidels and subject to damnation in this life and in their life after death. Wright emphasizes the influence of figures like Sayyid Qutb, who’s disdain for Western values and culture laid the philosophical groundwork for jihadist movements. Qutb, and subsequent al-Qaeda leaders like Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, believed that Western influences were corrupting Islamic society and threatening Muslim values and beliefs.
Osama bin-Laden is estimated to have inherited $25 million to $30 million dollars from his father Mohammed bin Laden when he died. Osama chose to use his wealth to destroy American cultural and religious symbols he believed were contrary to Muslim beliefs.
The book outlines how bin Laden and his network were driven by anti-Western ideology to oppose U.S. foreign policies in the Middle East. Al Qaeda wished to assert power by attacking symbolic targets. The 9/11 attacks were meant to provoke a dramatic response from the U.S. and further polarize the world along ideological lines, feeding into their long-term vision of a global jihad. Wright meticulously explores how these motivations were cultivated over decades. “The Looming Tower” is a compelling and deeply researched account of the events leading up to 9/11 in 2001.
Abdullah Yusuf Azzam (1941-1989, father of global jihad, a Palestinian-Jordanian’ Islamist jihadist and theologian, is killed in a car bomb, along with his 2 sons, in Peshawar, Pakistan.)
Osama bin-Laden’s father was a billionaire construction magnet in Saudi Arabia. Osama bin Laden, and the many heirs of his father, enabled his many children to live lives in luxury if they chose. Osama chose to use his wealth to destroy American cultural and religious symbols he believed were contrary to Muslim beliefs. Abdullah Azzam was often referred to as the “father of global jihad,” Azzam was a mentor to bin Laden and played a significant role in shaping his ideology. He encouraged bin Laden to channel his resources into the Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union. The irony of bin Laden’s choice is that he was an incompetent military leader but an effective promoter and steward of jihad, the effort to live a righteous life, avoid sin and uphold the principles of Islam. A further irony is that bin Laden’s murder of innocents seems a sin of the highest degree.
Osama bin Laden was killed on May 2, 2011, during a U.S. military operation called Operation Neptune Spear.
The mission was carried out by SEAL Team Six, a special operations unit of the U.S. Navy, at bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. This was eleven years after the world trade center, Pentagon, and flight 93 crash. The Trade Center collapse killed 2,753 civilians, firefighters, and law enforcement officers. The Pentagon attack killed 184 military and civilian personnel. Flight 93 resulted in 40 passenger and crew deaths. In a complex web of influence and support, “The Looming Tower” emphasizes the attacks were the result of al-Qaeda’s planning and execution by followers of Osama bin Laden.
Wright notes Ayman al-Zawahiri became Bin Laden’s second-in-command and a key strategist for al-Qaeda. Zawahiri takes control of al-Qaeda after bin Laden’s death.
Ayman al-Zawahiri’s background in Egyptian Islamic Jihad and his partnership with bin Laden were pivotal in the group’s evolution. Ayman al-Zawahiri became the leader of al-Qaeda after Osama bin Laden was killed. An American operation that killed al-Zawahiri in 2022 was carried out by the CIA that targeted him on the balcony of a safe house in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Wright notes that bin Laden received financial support from members of the Saudi elite during the early stages of his jihadist activities, though this relationship soured over time.
Jamal al-Fadl was an al-Qaeda operative who helped establish the organization’s financial infrastructure. He later defected and provided critical intelligence to the U.S. about al-Qaeda’s operations. Many individuals and entities played pivotal roles in enabling bin Laden’s vision and the expansion of al-Qaeda. Wright’s book delves deeply into their motivations and actions. It’s a fascinating, albeit chilling, exploration of history.
John P. O’Neillwas an FBI counter-terrorism expert who tirelessly pursued bin Laden.
John P. O’Neillwas an FBI counter-terrorism expert who tirelessly pursued bin Laden. Tragically, O’Neill died in the 9/11 attack while serving as head of security at the World Trade Center. The FBI had gathered significant domestic intelligence on al-Qaeda operatives within the United States, including their movements and activities. However, the CIA, focused on foreign intelligence. They withheld crucial information about al-Qaeda’s overseas operations and connections because foreign intelligence was their exclusive responsibility. This lack of coordination with the FBI (limited to domestic terrorism), and rivalry between the agencies, meant that neither had a complete picture of the threat. The CIA had knowledge of al-Qaeda members Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi who were two team members for the attacks on 9/11. Because of a lack of cooperation between agencies, the FBI did not know they should be tracking these individuals. They became key players in hijacking American Airlines Flight 77 which plowed into the Pentagon.
In The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright emphasizes the significance of John O’Neill, an FBI counterterrorism expert, as one of the most important figures who recognized the threat posed by Osama bin Laden. O’Neill was deeply committed to tracking al-Qaeda and warned about its intentions, but his efforts were often hindered by interagency conflicts and bureaucratic obstacles. Wright portrays O’Neill as a passionate and prescient individual who understood the gravity of al Qaeda’s threat long before many others did.
In The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright highlights the CIA’s Alec Station, who tracked Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. This unit was led by Michael Scheuer, a CIA analyst who played a pivotal role in gathering intelligence on bin Laden during the 1990s. Alec Station was instrumental in understanding al-Qaeda’s operations, though the book criticizes the interagency conflicts that hindered surveillance effectiveness. Wright paints a vivid picture of the challenges faced by intelligence agencies in the lead-up to 9/11.
Michael Scheuer, a CIA analyst who played a pivotal role in gathering intelligence on bin Laden during the 1990s.
On the CIA side, Michael Scheuer, who led Alec Station (the CIA’s unit that was monitoring bin Laden), played a role in identifying the danger. However, Wright notes the lack of collaboration between the FBI and CIA, ultimately undermined their ability to prevent the attacks. The book paints a vivid picture of the challenges faced in navigating institutional rivalries while trying to protect the nation. Wright’s narrative is both compelling and sobering.
“The Looming Tower” highlights how some individuals connected to al-Qaeda faced legal consequences. For example, figures like Ali Mohamed, a former U.S. Army sergeant turned al-Qaeda operative, was prosecuted for his role in supporting terrorism. Mohamed provided critical intelligence and training to al-Qaeda and was eventually arrested and convicted in the U.S.
In light of Donald Trump’s disruption of government employment, one wonders what foreign and domestic conspiracies are being missed?
This review does not do justice to Swafford’s excellent history of Mozart. One of the most revelatory and entertaining parts of Swafford’s history is the bawdy, funny, and clever poetry that Wolfgang’s letters reveal about his personality. Genius takes many forms.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
Mozart (The Reign of Love)
By: Jan Swafford
Edited By: Tim Cambell
Jan Swafford (Author, American composer, lecturer and writer.)
Jan Swafford has written a magnificent biography that diminishes and reinforces the comedic/tragic/brilliant characterization of Mozart in the film Amadeus. By any measure, Mozart is shown by Swafford to be a funny and brilliant musician while widely considered by musicologists as one of the greatest composers of all time.
Tom Hulse as Mozart in the movie “Amadeus”.
Vaguely remembering the film, the comedy enacted by Tom Hulce was hilarious, but Swafford shows how truly remarkable Mozart was as a violin and piano musician who began at the age of seven to tour Europe with his eleven-year-old sister, and their father, in 1762. The film is entertaining but misses the immense talent of this family’ trio in his book “Mozart”.
Maria Anna Mozart (1751-1829) Sister of Wolfgang Mozart was a highly talented musician who played piano and toured with Wolfgang when he was 7 and she was 11.
Though Maria Anna Mozart may not have been a genius like her brother, Swafford explains she was a piano prodigy as a result of her father’s guidance as a music teacher. Leopold Mozart may have been a helicopter father who dominated his children’s lives but his contribution to their success is made clear by Swafford.
Leopold Mozart (1719-1787, father of Wolfgang and Maria Anna Mozart.)
Though Leopold Mozart is criticized by some as an over controller of his son’s life, it seems unlikely that Wolfgang Mozart would have become such a great musician and composer without his father. Wolfgang came to revile his father’s control of the family’s income that is largely a result of his daughter’s and son’s talents. Swafford shows how instrumental Leopold was in creating Mozart’s legendary abilities. Leopold was a great teacher who adjusted his teaching methods to the innate interests of his son and daughter. His daughter’s precocity did not reach the level of her brother’s success, but one wonders how much of her fame and ability is related to societal misogyny?
Leonardo da VinciSIR ISAAC NEWTON (1642-1727)ALBERT EINSTEIN (1879-1955)Emily Dickenson
This remarkable history of the Mozart family makes one wonder what makes the difference between geniuses like da Vinci, Newton, Einstein, Dickinson and others and those of us who are ordinary. One presumes it is a combination of genetic disposition, education, and luck. All of these circumstances are presumed and revealed by Swafford in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s life.
Swafford notes two women in Wolfgang’s life that were important. They were sisters. In 1777, Wolfgang sent a letter to his father about Aloysia Weber (on the left) and the possibility of her traveling with him to Paris. Aloysia is alleged to have rejected his advances, but Wolfgang’s father wrote a letter that vociferously objected to his son’s dalliance with the Weber’ daughters. Leopold implies Aloysia was a gold-digger and would ruin Wolfgang’s career. One may interpret the letter as more of a concern with Leopold’s son’s ability to raise money for the family, i.e. not the scandal of her travelling with Wolfgang. In any case, Wolfgang marries Constanze Weber (on the right), the younger sister, in 1782. It has been characterized as a marriage filled with love and mutual support.
Swafford explains why Wolfgang leaves Salzburg for Vienna, Austria in 1781.
Mozart felt his music was undervalued and constrained by the archbishop he worked for in Salzburg. To the disappointment of his father, Wolfgang moves to Vienna to pursue his career. His father’s disappointment was both financial and social. Because Leopold had been a guiding force in Wolfang’s life and career, not to mention the wealth he brought the Mozart family, his move to Vienna became a break from his father’s influence. They continued to correspond, but the familial and financial bond were broken with growing hostility felt by Leopold toward his son.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791 died at the age of 35.)
Wolfgang lives until 1791. His exact cause of death is unknown, but he had endured many illnesses in his 35 years of life. There is speculation that it was a recurrence of rheumatic fever or complications of strep throat. Some suggest it may even have been poisoning. The reality of that time is that the average life expectancy in the 18th century was 25 to 40 years of age. Some certainly lived to 50 or 60 but they lived most of their lives within a wealthy or privileged group. Wolfgang had some wealth in his last years of life, but not without a great deal of hard work as a master musician, composer and son of a near-do-well father.
One of the most revelatory and entertaining parts of Swafford’s history is the bawdy, funny, and clever rhymes that Wolfgang’s letters reveal about his personality. Two examples: “Oh my dear little cousin, I send you a thousand kisses, And if you don’t like them, Send them back with your wishes.” or “To every good friend I send my greet feet; addio nitwit. Love true true true until the grave, if I live that long and do behave.”
As noted in an earlier audio book review of Professor Robert Greenberg’s lectures on classical music the innovations of great composers were greatly enhanced by audio supplements.
This review does not do justice to Swafford’s excellent history of Mozart. Swafford’s audio book would be hugely improved for lay listeners with audio examples of Mozart’s noted contributions to classical music.
George Faludy suggests the most popular books written by Erasmus were “The Praise of Folly” and “Colloquies” which are similar in that they offer humorous and insightful stories of the human condition. One leaves Faludy’s biography of “Erasmus” with the thought that these two should be read, particularly because of the time in which we live today.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
ERASMUS
By: George Faludy
György Bernát József Leimdörfer aka George Faludy (1910-2006) Author, Hungarian poet and translator.
George Faludy’s biography of Erasmus was published in 1970. A few years ago, I purchased a paperback edition of Faludy’s book because of an interest in a 16th century “man of the cloth” (an ordained Catholic priest) who became a devotee of Francesco Petraca (better known as Petrarch who is considered the father of humanism). Erasmus was born in 1466 and died in 1536. He believed in the value, dignity, and potential of human beings. Petrarch had been dead for a hundred years when Erasmus became a proponent of humanism at a time when Catholic’ Indulgences were challenged by Martin Luther. Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses led to a schism in the church leading to the establishment of Protestantism.
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses led to a schism in the church leading to the establishment of Protestantism.
It is hard to imagine how Erasmus managed to become a leader in reforming the Catholic Church with his humanist beliefs. Erasmus walks a fine line between the schism fomented by Martin Luther and his belief in reform. Erasmus wrote the famous work “The Praise of Folly” that was a satirical critique of societal and ecclesiastical practices of the Catholic church without joining the movement started by Luther. On the one hand, Erasmus agreed with Luther on the importance of faith and the perfidy of “indulgences” sold by the Church. Indulgences were to raise money with alleged religious guaranties for a Catholic’s admittance to heaven. On the other, Erasmus insisted on faith in God and reform, not abandonment of the Catholic church. Erasmus’s academic and scholarly review and interpretation of religious texts convinced him that the Church only needed reform, not schism.
Faludy carefully explains the tumultuous relationship between Erasmus and Luther that at times seemed to break but survived their fundamental disagreement on reform versus schism.
Erasmus acknowledged many misrepresentations of religious text with an unwavering belief in the divinity of their origin. As one who is skeptical about the divinity of religious texts, it is encouraging to read of this highly respected scholar’s belief in their truth. Faludy’s biography of Erasmus may not change an agnostic’s mind about God, but it will give one pause because of Erasmus’s reported research of original religious works in Greek, Latin, and other languages, i.e., a skill beyond most peoples’ capabilities.
Faludy does not write of Erasmus as a saintly person but as a well-educated and diligent scholar.
A surprising note by Faludy is that Erasmus suffered from syphilis which suggests something less than perfection in Erasmus’s character. However, Faludy’s note is not corroborated by any other information known to this reviewer.
Faludy suggested the most popular books written by Erasmus were “The Praise of Folly” and “Colloquies” which are similar in that they offer humorous and insightful stories of the human condition. One leaves Faludy’s biography of “Erasmus” with the thought that these two should be read, particularly because of the time in which we live today.
Government is not a business for profit and should not be solely measured by its cost. America will survive the catastrophic mistakes being made by President Trump but American citizens, and the welfare of the world will suffer for years to come.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
Who is Government (The Untold Story of Public Service)
By: Michael Lewis, Casey Cep, Dave Eggers, John Lanchester, Geraldine Brooks, Sarah Vowell, and Kamau Bell
Edited By: Michael Lewis
The stories of these writers are a tribute to those who have chosen careers in American government. Having personally earned a master’s degree in public administration, worked as a local government manager, then as a manager of a private business division, and finally, as a personal business owner, I have an opinion about President Trump. My experience is based on three different types of employment. All were rewarding experiences but in fundamentally different ways.
DONALD TRUMPELON MUSK
The writers of “Who is Government” show how ignorant business creators and managers like Donald Trump and Elon Musk are in discounting the contribution of employees of government organizations. Private corporations do not survive without profit to its owners. Public organizations do not survive without service to the public.
Profit is simple to measure. Public service is measurable but more abstract and difficult to quantify.
One can choose, like Musk did with Twitter, to reduce costs by firing employees. That may improve profitability but at a cost that may hurt or destroy the future of a business. In the case of Twitter, the company lost much of their advertising revenue because an unsupervised public forum could spread false and defamatory information that embarrasses advertisers who were protected by Twitter’ employees that were fired. No analysis was done by Musk about Twitter information’ controls provided by employees. The new entity, “X”, seems to have assuaged some advertisers’ concerns because they have started to use Musk’s new company. The point is that if Musk had taken more time to evaluate what fired employees were doing, he may have retained many of the advertisers who left the forum.
Trump’s employment of Musk to decimate the government employee workforce is following the same foolish path that was taken with Twitter.
No analysis of employee contributions is made. The goal is only to reduce government’ cost regardless of employee’ contribution to public need or service. The consequences have likely reduced health and welfare of American citizens; not to mention harm done to incomes of thousands of government employees’ families.
GEORGE WASHINGTONHARRY TRUMANJIMMY CARTERGEORGE WALKER BUSH (43RD PRES. OF THE UNITED STATES)
With exceptions of George Washington, Harry Truman, Carter, and the two Bush presidents, the worst former businessman that became President was Herbert Hoover who served as President before the greatest depression in America’s history. With Trump as President, one has to wonder whether he is leading America and the world toward its second great depression.
HERBERT HOOVER (31ST PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.)
“Who is Government” illustrates how government employees have contributed to the health and welfare of America. They are unknown and viewed by people like Trump and Musk as just a cost, without benefit to the public. How many science, medical, veteran, and welfare services are being decimated by their narrow vision of government management?
Government is not a business for profit and should not be solely measured by its cost. America will survive the catastrophic mistakes being made by President Trump but American citizens, and the welfare of the world will suffer for years to come.
The randomness of life and what we make of it is the most important theme of Weston’s insightful memoir about being “Alive”.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
Alive (The Richness and Brevity of Existence)
By: Gabriel Weston
Narrated By: Gabriel Weston
Gabriel Weston (Author, English surgeon, television presenter.)
Gabriel Weston’s “Alive” is an intimate, blunt, and enlightening explanation of her experience as a woman, surgeon, mother, and member of the human race. For some, Weston’s story contains more information than one is prepared to take.
It begins with a self-effacing assessment of her early education in liberal arts where she achieved an MA in English. However, she decides to go to medical school in London where she qualifies as a physician in 2000. Her very personal memoir explains a great deal about being educated as a physician but more about being a woman.
Some reader/listeners will be put off by Weston’s blunt explanation of the human body. However, some will find much of what she writes as revelatory.
Weston explains what it means to be human and a woman who becomes a mother of twins at the age of forty, with two younger children.
It is hard to imagine a younger person who is uninterested in science, technology, engineering, or math, who receives an MA in English, would be interested in becoming a surgeon.
However, Weston chooses to become a doctor and graduates from a London medical school in 2000. She briefly explains her journey in “Alive” by reflecting on her classes in body dissection to explain the details of the human body and differences in sexual anatomy. Some will choose to leave her story, but others (if they stick with it) will be enlightened and surprised by her observations and opinions.
Weston notes the equivalent of the male penis is a woman’s clitoris. This is an interesting observation that most would be unlikely to publicly discuss or write about.
Presumably, Weston is making this point to show there is a great deal of similarity between men and women. However, she notes a significant difference. Menstruation is a sluffing process where the uterus sheds a layer of bedding material that exits the body through the vagina, i.e., something unique to women. The purpose of menstruation is to prepare the body for possible pregnancy by providing a thickening to the uterus that supports fertilization. That thickening is removed (sluffed off) approximately once per month. As is often noted, only women give birth, a singular difference between the sexes.
Weston goes on to explain her experience of birthing twins.
The two girls come late in her adult life. They are delivered in a caesarian operation. Children are born in amniotic sacs. This is likely a surprise to most men because birth of a baby is thought of as a delivery with a squirming body through the birth canal rather than a body within an amniotic sac. However, Weston notes the second twin is delivered within its amniotic sac which suggests she is a fraternal, rather than identical twin.
Syria’s use of nerve gas to murder their own citizens.
Weston’s story moderates in future chapters with notes about nerve gases used by governments to suffocate their own people as well as perceived foreign enemies. The point she makes is that oxygen deprivation in the 21st century and beyond is increasing with rising pollution on earth. She notes oxygen deprivation is the same suffocation caused when governments used lethal gases to kill their own citizens as perceived enemies. The obvious inference is today’s denial of earth’s environmental degradation risks the lives of all oxygen dependent lives.
Weston is an example of a working mother who succeeds in England despite the world’s history of misogyny.
Some women become a success despite the many obstacles they face. Weston symbolizes human grit and determination in the face of sexual inequality of opportunity but, as a human being, she is subject to the physical limitations of every life. She mentions during the course of her story a heart murmur that is caused by a defective heart valve. The last chapters of her book explain Weston is on a transplant list.
The randomness of life and what we make of it is the most important theme of Weston’s insightful memoir about being “Alive”.
Murakami is one of the great writers of modern times. In “after the quake”, Murakami reduces the great and horrid loss of the many to the feelings of the “one”
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
“after the quake”
By: Haruki Murakami
Narrated By: Rupert Degas, Teresa Gallagher, Adam Sims
Haruki Murakami offers a series of short stories in “after the quake” that remind one of the frailties of human beings. Humans lie, steal, cheat and war against each in ways that exceed natural disasters. Murakami’s short stories are funny, sad, and insightful views of humanity that show we often foment our own disasters.
Each short story revolves around the social implications of the Kobe’ earthquake. Murakami cleverly weaves his stories to reflect on events that change one’s direction in life. The events can be as great as an earthquake, a war, or a singular lost love. The first is nature’s way; the second and third are humans’ way.
Human relationships are as unpredictable and destructive as natural disasters. The human’ Lushan rebellion in 8th century China is estimated to have killed 13 million people, the Mongol invasion in the 13th and 14th century 20 to 60 million, the Taiping rebellion in mid-19th century China 20-30 million, and two world wars in the 20th century at 83-107 million. This is without noting China’s famine that killed millions because of Mao’s mistakes in the Great Leap Forward, Stalin’s repression in Russia, and today’s wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Natural disasters are horrendous events, but human nature has murdered more than earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, and other natural disasters.
The cataclysmic events of nature affect the many, but Murakami shows scale means nothing in respect to the effect it has on the “one”. He cleverly shows how singular events can overwhelm one relationship as portentously as natural or man-made disasters can overwhelm all relationships.
Murakami is one of the great writers of modern times. In “after the quake”, Murakami reduces the great and horrid loss of the many to the feelings of the “one”. His stories show that a personal loss of an imaginary friend or a real love is as catastrophic to the one as a natural disaster or war is to the many.
Harmony and pragmatism undoubtedly remain important characteristics of Chinese society. Time will tell whether societal harmony can be maintained by an increasingly authoritarian leader.
Books of Interest Website: chetyarbrough.blog
The Chinese Looking Glass (The most illuminating book yet written on China and her enigmatic people.)
By: Dennis Bloodworth
Dennis Bloodworth (1919-2005) Author, journalist, British writer at The Observer, first British journalist allowed to visit China in 1955.
“The Chinese Looking Glass” is a whirlwind journey across the vast history of China by the first British writer allowed to visit China in 1955. It is a primer for a general understanding of China that was originally published in 1966 and updated in 1980. The author’s marriage to Liang Ching Ping adds credibility to his view of Chinese culture.
One reads Bloodworth’s book and is somewhat overwhelmed by its breadth. So many generations of Chinese culture are too much to cover in a 400+page book.
The author manages to give a broad understanding of a Chinese worldview that is shaped by Confucian and Taoist history, a collective identity that often conflicts with the Western culture of individualism. He notes Chinese traditions are based on filial piety (meaning duties, respect and devotion of children to their parents). Bloodworth notes, through many generations of Chinese culture, behavior and decision-making there is a focus on social harmony. Both Confucianism and Taoism play significant roles in shaping Chinese society.
Bloodworth notes Confucianism and Taoism shape Chinese society.
Piety, respect for hierarchy, education, and a focus on societal harmony were philosophical foundations of Chinese governance. Piety led governance toward strict rules and centralized authority. Historical figures like Confucius, Laozi, and Sun Tzu influenced Chinese culture and thought. The spiritual tradition of Buddhism reinforced the teaching of these cultural influencers. Buddhism emphasizes the suffering of life is caused by desire, and attachment. Buddhist teaching is that desire and attachment must be replaced by understanding and rejection of both through meditation and mindfulness.
Because democracy focuses on individual rights and freedoms, the ideals of collective harmony, hierarchical structure, and centralize authority make communism a better fit for Chinese culture.
Mao Zedong (1893-1976)
Mao unified China after decades of war and instability. Bloodworth suggests Mao Zedong had a nuanced impact on China.
However, Mao’s centralized power resulted in big economic mistakes like the famine of the Great Leap Forward that caused misleading food production reports meant to please the government when production was much less than what was needed to sustain life for Chinese citizens. With famine, the Cultural Revolution is unleashed, and China’s growth and stability were set back. Bloodworth had observed China’s governing always included pragmatism and adaptability to their drive for cultural harmony.
Though Bloodworth mentions Deng Xiaoping in the last chapters of his expanded edition of “The Chinese Looking Glass”, he does not foresee the opening of the Chinese economy and its rapid economic expansion.
The pragmatic realization that collectivization of farming led to misleading information about production compelled Deng to open agricultural production to a more market-driven incentive to preserve social stability. Deng was an authoritarian as is evidenced by his decision on the Tienanmen Square crises.
Though Bloodworth did not live to see the next iteration of China’s leadership, an element of recidivism enters with Xi’s control of the government.
Harmony and pragmatism undoubtedly remain important characteristics of Chinese society. Time will tell whether societal harmony can be maintained by an increasingly authoritarian leader.
REVIEWS AND VIEWS OF LIFE 