Books

Summary “The Denial of Death” is Ernest Becker’s pivotal contribution to the intersection of psychology and philosophy. Rooted in psychoanalytic insights, Becker presents a framework later known as Terror Management Theory, or TMT. The central premise is that to function, one must find a way to ignore or mitigate the central fact of existence: its inevitable end. Becker argues that humanity engages in various strategies to suppress or forget this reality. For example, someone might sacrifice their life for a concept like freedom or, alternatively, for avarice. In the first case, Becker suggests that dying for ‘freedom’ is an attempt to attach oneself to a concept larger than oneself, thereby achieving vicarious immortality as the concept of ‘freedom’ lives on. Similarly, in pursuing greed, a person operates under the conception of a certain cultural hero (e.g., the gangster, the successful stockbroker), seeking to become this hero for self-justification. Becker posits that no culture has, or probably ever will, avoid evading death’s implications. ...

Summary A mother tells a boy that he will be able to go to a nearby lighthouse. The father says that it is unlikely the boy will be able to go to the lighthouse because of bad weather. Ten years pass, the father finally takes the boy to the lighthouse. Thoughts As you can guess from the summary this is going to be one of those ‘modern’ books where nothing seems to happen. For some this will be a turn off, but if you find the endless twisting and turning of your mind during one of the thousands of mundane conversations that make up a life, then this book is for you. Similarly to Mrs. Dalloway, time and experience take on new meanings as a single day, seemingly chosen at random, is played out in intricate detail. The level of emotional data that is packed into everyday exchanges will be surprisingly to all but the most mindful. Woolf’s diaries indicate that she would spend hours listening to herself think, and the emotions that would arise as responses to external stimuli. She was able to bring this clarity to each of the characters in this book. Some take up more space than others, but with each, the reader feels like they are getting the unfiltered experience that the character themselves are having. Since Woolf is a modern writer, it is not good enough to watch someone do something, we must watch someone watching something be down. Being removed twice from anything is the price we must pay for this authentic experience. Whether the game is worth the candle will be up to each reader to decide on their own. I think it was, providing a unique way to convey emotion and setting. There are moods in this book that are difficult to find anywhere else, consider the following scene when we are briefly left without any narrator so the abandoned house itself takes up the thread: ...

Summary Llewelyn Moss, a small town welder, stumbles on a briefcase full of cash in the middle of the desert. Taking the briefcase triggers a series of events that forever links the fates of him, an aging sheriff, and a hitman. Thoughts This is the third Cormac McCarthy book I’ve read this year and it may be my favorite. He wrote it a year before The Road, you can see the two stories as connected in an interesting way, but more on that later. This book is one of McCarthy’s least “fancy” book, you aren’t going to get much of his unique pacing or Hemingway-esque prose that was prominent in his border trilogy. For some, this is a loss; for others, it’s a welcome relief. Llewelyn Moss, quickly revealed to be out of his depth, knows this yet persistently tries to convince himself and others of his capability. Sheriff Bell is of course, one of the men that are too old for this country, whenever the book switches to his perspective we are usually met with a memory or utter consternation at the direction the world seems to be heading. Bell is a sheriff that everyone would consider to be an “old timer”, but he secretly knows he is not. He’s got all the common sense of the older generation but can’t manage to have the same beliefs, and this bothers him to no end. Bell’s wife acts like Dante’s Beatrice, a guide and anchor to life that he would be completely lost without. The antagonist, Anton Chigurh, a representation of fate, the unyielding code, and the inevitable end, seamlessly weaves in and out of the narrative. He embodies the universe, one that defies reasoning through its own inexorable logic. ...

Summary This book follows nine main characters whose lives are deeply impacted by trees in one way or another. The story unfolds in four parts that mirror the sections of a tree: roots, trunk, crown, and seeds. Thoughts Writing a review for this book leaves me conflicted. The ‘Roots’ section sets the stage for the rest of the novel, yet I find myself wishing the book had concluded there. With its numerous main characters, the narrative functions almost as an anthology of stories about individuals, and often, several generations of their ancestors. This part of the book is outstanding—moving, thought-provoking, and, I believe, achieves what Powers intended: to view lives through the perspective of trees, or in “tree time”. You are presented with a series of images, events, tragedies, and triumphs, all the while knowing that these would be encapsulated within several inches of growth in a tree’s trunk. The subsequent sections strive to intertwine these characters in various ways as they seek to elevate awareness of industrialization’s impact on the planet. Although convincing, these sections lose the originality of the first, often veering into more predictable plot lines reminiscent of a classic Greenpeace-type narrative, akin to “Avatar”. Here, you have industrialists looking to exploit the planet’s natural resources and protagonists fighting to thwart this exploitation. In conclusion, I highly recommend the first section, and if you’re like me, you’ll complete the book out of a sense of obligation. You won’t consider it time wasted, but it won’t be a transcendent experience either. Reading this book will change the way you look at trees.

Summary Bill Bryson was flying over an ocean one day when he realized just how little he knew about how everything worked. This propelled him into over three years of research, talking to experts in various fields, visiting important museums and visiting some of the most important places on Earth, including Ohio. Bryson was unimpressed with the science books of his youth, feeling that they hinted at the wonders of the world before drowning them in abstruse terms and he set out to change that. Covering everything from Biology to Astrophysics, Bryson flies through the various disciplines giving the reader a brief and exciting overview of how they started as well as where they are currently. ...

Summary Written in 1921 while WW1 was fresh on his mind, Freud investigates the psychology of groups. Little did he know, one of the most notorious groups in history was just a few years from rising to power, ultimately forcing him to flee to London in 1938, where he would die of cancer. The book starts with a summary and critique of contemporary Gustave Le Bon’s work on group psychology and then investigates past where Le Bon’s work ends. ...

Summary In the future, firemen are not necessary because, thanks to technology, houses never accidentally catch on fire. So, you might ask, when do they catch on fire? Only when these new firemen set them ablaze, naturally. Why would they do that? They would burn houses if the owners were found harboring books. “Fahrenheit 451” (which is the temperature at which paper combusts) opens with the character Guy Montag, a fireman who relishes watching things burn. Suddenly, a chance meeting makes him question his role as a fireman. ...

Summary David Copperfield unsurprisingly tells the story of a character named David Copperfield. We see him, albeit retrospectively, grow from a very young boy into a middle-aged man. Along the way, we meet a host of characters who fill the structure of Copperfield’s life with color. Thoughts I can’t help but view this book through the lens of recently reading Kingsolver’s “Demon Copperhead.” I realized that Kingsolver’s book was inspired by David Copperfield, but I did not realize just to what extent. In short, “Demon Copperhead” could be considered a retelling of David Copperfield set in modern-day Appalachia. This affected me in a few ways; for one, it made the story less exciting because once you realized just how closely the plots in the two books were connected, the twists and events were spoiled. Secondly, it made for an interesting dynamic where you read, in a sense, to see what was redacted from the new book. As Camus says, “The censor shouts aloud what he proscribes.” Although this is an interesting way to consume a story, it probably isn’t how Dickens would have wanted to be read. With that out of the way, the story itself was good, if not a little long in the tooth at places. The characters were really strong and memorable. It has the optimism of pre-modern literature that is always a breath of fresh air. If you had to pick one to read, I would always default to the original book; this case is no exception. Dickens is a master author on default settings; he will entertain but seldom surprise. I always enjoy my time with him but have yet to be deeply affected by him. ...

Long-form essay on Camus’s The Fall—the same piece as under Reviews, listed here as an essay.

Also available as a long essay. The Fall- An Account of Modernity by John the Baptist There is always a space between the thoughts in a writer’s head and those that the reader is receptive to, yet when it came to The Fall, I found that space to be incredibly small. Camus boils down modernity to one thing: “judgement”. This unique framework for viewing our image of self and relation to others illuminates what otherwise would appear to be simple self-aggrandizement with a desperate attempt to avoid the Last Judgement. ...