Review of The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs (Mass Market Paperback)

This book contains the famous description of the madman announcing theDeath of God.Obviously Nietzsche sees himself as the madman, sacrificinghimself to bring humanity the awful news.What's odd is that Nietzsche wascertainly not the first person to proclaim God's death; in fact, as hehimself notes elsewhere, many educated people had already become eitheragnostic or atheistic.None of them, however, found this as earthshakingas Nietzsche.The reason, I think, is that he had an essentially religiousnature. The word "spiritual" recurs throught the book.In oneremarkable passage he even chastises St. Augustine for being insufficientlyspiritual.

The Gay Science is a pivitol book for Nietzsche because it isthe first in which the tension between the spiritual seeker and the atheistbecomes manifest.Gone is the skeptical pose of "Human All TooHuman"; instead we have the anguish of a man torn between twoconflicting ideals.The tension, while it ravaged Nietzsche, did producesome brilliant ideas and unforgettable prose, even if it did not ultimatelylead to a liveable philosophy.



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Review of A User's Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain (Paperback)

"Mental problems, from hot temper to laziness, from chronic worry to excessive drinking, all have roots in the biology of the brain." (p. 357)

This is a report on a revolution taking place in neuroscience, psychiatry, psychology and kindred disciplines.The old paradigms are crumbling under the onslaught of a new understanding of how the brain really works.Harvard Medical School psychiatrist John J. Ratey's "guide" (it's more than that) is an admirable exercise in bringing us up to date on what is happening in brain science--what we suspect, what we know, and how this knowledge is affecting clinical practice.

In a sense Ratey's book is a report on a new paradigm.It is biology-based and relies first and foremost on the physiology of the brain and body as they have developed over time.Gone are the artificial constructs of Freudian psychology and the very limited black-box psychology of behaviorism.The new psychology is based on opening that black box and looking inside.Of course what we find there is enormously complex, and we are, to use Ratey's expression (p. 124), "still on the first step of a very long staircase."Yet, because of the growing power of neuroscience to study and access the living brain in ways that were impossible just a few years ago, we are entering an exciting time, full of hope and wonder.

As Dr. Ratey explains in "Acknowledgments," this book began as a cooperative research effort by many people toward writing a "primer on the brain for mental health professionals."Then it was suggested by Pantheon editor Linda Healey that a smaller version "that would try to instruct the public at large" be written.A professional science writer, Mark Fischetti, was hired and schooled.The result is a book written in an engaging and very readable manner.However, its organization--neat and reasonable as it is--actually detracts from the book's effectiveness because the most interesting and helpful chapters are near the end. I realize that Ratey and his editors and writers came to the conclusion that the material in the last three chapters, "The Social Brain," "The Four Theaters," and "Care and Feeding" could be better appreciated after having read the more fundamental material in the first seven chapters.Nonetheless I believe that a lot of people who would benefit from this very fine book will not get to those chapters.Too bad.Ratey's metaphor of the four theaters is a powerful tool for incorporating and understanding the new paradigm, while the final chapter gives us some very excellent advice on how to live fully while keeping the brain and our systems healthy.

Consequently I would propose that when Dr. Ratey updates this book (and I hope he will; there is so much happening in neuroscience that some of the information here will be dated in just a few years) that he structure the book so that it begins with Chapter 9, "The Four Theaters," followed by Chapter 8, "The Social Brain," and then the first seven chapters, concluding with the advice in Chapter 10, "Care and Feeding."For the reader, I recommend reading Chapter 9 first so that you can immediately share in the excitement that is at the heart of the book.

The "theaters," by the way, should be understood as "theaters of operations" and not theaters where movies might be shown.(Originally Ratey had used "kingdoms of the brain" as his metaphor.)The theaters are (1) perception; (2) attention, consciousness and cognition; (3) brain function (memory, emotion, movement, etc.); and (4) behavior and identity.He sees a flow of consequence (like a river) from perception to attention to function to behavior.He argues persuasively that the brain is a holistically operating entity that is constantly being changed by its interaction with the environment, a dynamic organism that is forever learning, making new perceptions and adjustments.Things can go wrong in any one of the theaters and what happens in any theater affects the other theaters down river (and even up river).What I found particularly interesting is the new approach to diagnostics and therapy this understanding affords.A good example is on pages 347-349 where Ratey tells the story of Theresa who was slow to learn, unsocial and awkward in sports.Instead of some disorder out of DSM-IV being plastered on her forehead, Ratey found that she had a perception problem, and he demonstrated how her social and functional problems stemmed from that "first theater" problem.Ratey emphasizes freeing the patient from self-doubt and personal blame for whatever the problem may be, and always looks for a biological cause first. Some bits of wisdom from the best chapter in the book, from pages 353-355:

"Modern medical practice tends to regard patients' self-evaluations as too tainted by subjectivity, but this is a grave error."

"It is quite beyond the average patient's ability, within the framework of...insight-oriented therapies, to pinpoint the true source of unhappiness and frustration."

"Prozac is hardly a remedy for the self-blame, lost opportunities, and intellectual insecurity of a lifetime compromised by unrecognized perceptual and cognitive deficits."

"We have to begin to think of the brain as a self-organizing ecosystem, one of such staggering complexity and delicate balance that almost any aspect of a patient's life may be relevant to a diagnosis or essential to treatment."

"[T]he clinician's duty...includes devoting more time to looking for what is good in patients' lives, for the strengths and talents that are not yet being fully realized, and for the secret pleasures and sources of happiness that they have never allowed themselves."

"We in psychiatry continually risk mistaking our labels for the disorders themselves."

"The brain's processes can be utterly transformed by self-discovery and the right pursuits in life."



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Review of A Fine Balance (Oprah's Book Club) (Paperback)

I walked by the homeless in the streets while growing up in a city by the sea not unlike the one in this book. I was repulsed by their grimy faces, their missing limbs, their tattered and dirty clothes. Fearful I might catch their poor people diseases if I ventured too close, I would cross the street to avoid them. Sometimes throwing coins into their tin cups from a sterile distance-sometimes missing, and walking away praising my own charity.

Thank you Mr. Mistry for showing me the other side of the story. Thank you for putting into plain and powerful words exactly how unfair life in India is to the poor and lower castes. You have taught me more than any text book could about the injustices that daily occur in India. I hate you for your brutal honesty and for making me feel this way. Or perhaps, like you prophesized in the begining of this book, I am only blaming you for my own insensitivity.

For those of you considering reading this book, here is my warning. Mistry will seduce you with his flowing words and his gripping story. He will make you feel for his characters. He will show you a side of life that millions of people bravely struggle through. And soon you will begin to fear turning the page for fear of what might happend to the characters. And rest assured, when you turn the last page, and look for some solace, you will find none. For all is true. I have seen the Shankars and Ishvars and Oms. Go to any Indian city street corner, and you will too.



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Review of Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution (Paperback)

This book was a challenge to read.The first two hundred and fifty pages are as dull as any social science you're likely to read and the last hundred and fifty pages lack anything like a conclusion or summary chapter.None the less, you have to give credit where credit is due and acknowledge the majesty of this work.

Bailyn, in exhausting detail, uses records maintained by the British crown between 1774-1776 to document the who, what, where and why's of British migration to the colonies in the years immedietaely proceeding the revolution.

His main thesis can be summarized by stating that there were, in fact, two parallel migrations.The first was of unattached, single men from the area around London to the middle states of Maryland and North Carolina.The second migration was of families from the british midlands and Scotland.These migrants used Pennsylvennia and New York as a jumping off point for their population of the back country.

Baiyln backs up the thesis with tons of charts, graphs and maps. This was a much heavier read then I expected.




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Review of The Civil War: A Narrative--Fort Sumter to Perryville, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

I originally read Volume 1 and its sequels about 9 years ago, my interest having being sparked by Mr. Foote's memorable appearance in the classic PBS series "The Civil War". My honest opinion back then was that the trilogy was a literary gem. Having just reread Volume 1, I hold this opinion even more strongly, jaded cynic though I am. The author combines a diligent and scholarly search for the truth--employing to this end, the methods of both the historian and novelist--with a majestic prose which elegantly and vividly brings back to life events and characters from "a world now gone to dust". The narrative paints a broad panorama of the American Civil War during 1861-1862, but I would like to comment on just one aspect of the work. Volume 1 introduces us to the two main protagonists, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, and their struggles to keep their respective nations intact. Now I have heard and read yappings that the narrative is slanted toward a pro-south point of view, and suspect that this ill-founded charge is due in part to Mr. Foote's temerity in putting Davis (throughout the trilogy, in fact) on equal footing with the now sainted Lincoln. Jefferson Davis will probably always remain the most controversial of American historical figures (along with Aaron Burr), owing to the ugly principles--namely, aristocracy and slavery--for which his Confederacy fought de facto. As Mr. Foote put it, Lincoln had "tarred" Davis by masterfully characterizing his idea of self-government as anathema to democracy and freedom. "The tar would never wear off", and to this day, Davis remains to many a villain of the first rank. However, Mr. Foote implicitly makes a compelling case that there is much to admire in Jefferson Davis, who, like Lincoln, personifies the great American dream of achievement through hard work and merit, rising, before the War, from backwater obscurity to the Mississippi planter class and high Federal office (although admittedly with his older brother's help). His simple, western background stands in stark contrast to that of the "cream" of Virginian society; as President of the Confederacy, he is painfully aware of the condescension of the Virginian elites, as they "had become accustomed to looking down their noses at what they called the middle-class atmosphere of official Richmond". Moreover, notwithstanding his renowned inflexibility in dealing with subordinates, Davis' public and private behavior was utterly beyond reproach. In short, if one reads this book while keeping a view of Lincoln and Davis as truly "the men of the hour" during the Civil War, albeit with their inevitable flaws, he or she will be rewarded with a memorable and enduring experience. A final note: the book is best suited for an energetic reader. Aside from the great length of the book, the prose, while representing the best the English language has to offer, does require some effort to master (at least it did for me). The rewards, however, are well-worth the reader's commitment.



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Review of The Era of Reconstruction, 1865-1877 (Paperback)

This book is not and it does not pretend to be an in-depth analysis of all relevant aspects of Reconstruction or a detailed narrative of all of the events that took place in this period. Rather, it is an excellent summary of the revisionist scholarship about Reconstruction that gained currency in the '50s and '60s, and it is essential reading for anyone interested in this era of history.

The Dunning view of Reconstruction, which had almost universal scholarly and popular acceptance from the turn of the 20th Century until the '50s, held that rapacious and vindictive Radical Republicans hijacked the Reconstruction process from the just and magnanimous policies of Andrew Johnson and installed in the South state governments dominated by unscrupulous and incompetent white carpetbaggers and scalawags. These state governments were monuments to misgovernment and corruption, and the entire region (indeed, the entire country) breathed a collective sigh of relief when the white "redeemers" finally forced them out of office. The black freedmen were portrayed as ignorant, infantile, incapable of self-government, and prone to political and economic manipulation in this account of Reconstruction.

Revisionist scholars, beginning as early as 1909 with W.E.B. DuBois seminal paper about the subject but really not gaining momentum until the '50s, held that the Dunning school was substantially in error about the progress and nature of Reconstruction, and that this error was largely caused by bald racial prejudice. While the Radical Republicans did have crass economic motives, they honestly believed that the freedmen ought to have civil and political rights. While the Reconstruction state governments were often corrupt and incompetent, they were not out of the ordinary for state governments of the time, and the redeemer governments were frequently as bad or worse. Despite the corruption and the base motivations that did exist, much was accomplished during Reconstruction that should inspire pride: the Reconstruction Amendments to the Constitution, which guaranteed blacks civil and political rights; the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1875, which guaranteed blacks the equal use of public accomodations and which provided the Federal government with the legal basis to prosecute those who would deny the black man his civil rights; the institution of truly republican governments in the former Confederacy; the beginning of the reconstruction of the South's infrastructure, which had been largely destroyed by the Civil War; and the foundation of such worthwhile institutions as state-supported schools.

Stampp does an admirable job of summarizing both the historiography of Reconstruction and the revisionist view of it. His prose may be somewhat dry at times, but nevertheless it is lucid and engaging in its totality. The key merit of this book is not, however, its groundbreaking scholarship -- indeed, there is nothing groundbreaking about this book -- or its literary style. This has been an enormously influential book because it makes revisionist scholarship about Reconstruction accessible to the masses. In so doing, it has performed the invaluable task of popularizing the revisionist conclusions about Reconstruction, thus making popular acceptance of our later-day Reconstruction, the Civil Rights movement, more readily attainable.

As wonderful and influential as this book is, it is not without its shortcomings. Stampp does an insufficient job of citing his sources. This is, in part, because this book is largely the written and polished version of lectures about Reconstruction that he has given over the years; unfortunately, understanding why there are so few citations does not excuse it. His ending bibliographical essay, while very useful, ultimately does not take the place of detailed in-text citations, and his book suffers for it.

Secondly, his depiction of the freedman leaves something to be desired. One of the great modern-day complaints about the Dunning school of Reconstruction is that it does not treat Reconstruction-era blacks as actual agents in Reconstruction history. They have no will, and they are not actors in the drama. Rather, they are acted upon. Stampp certainly does not share the racist assumptions of the Dunning scholars that he seeks to replace, but he does share with them the assumption that the black man was not a prime actor in this story. It is rather amazing to me that Stampp discusses the freedman as incessantly as he does and yet fails to talk much about him.

Neither of these two criticisms should take that much away from this otherwise excellent book. Read it as an introduction to the era, and treasure it for its salutary historical influence.



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Review of The Americans: The Colonial Experience (Paperback)

I love to read American history and Daniel Boorstin is one of the best. After reading this book, I had a much better understanding of the American colonial experience. I also understood to a greater degree the affects that Christianity has had on our culture. In this book, Boorstin compares three colonies. It is interesting to read the cultural differences. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the origins of our nation.

Product Description
Winner of the Bancroft Prize. "A superb panorama of life in America from the first settlements on through the white hot days of the Revolution." - Bruce Lancaster, Saturday Review



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