Subtitled 'An Inquiry into the Value of Work'. An interesting book that pursues several threads:
- the mind-numbing inutility of most work in our society at both the top and the bottom end - at the bottom because it is repetitive and mindless - at the top because it deals in nebulous concepts and half-baked ideas that don't actually produce anything, and that focus on a process that often seems to go nowhere
- the intellectual value of work that focuses on engaging with things, whether it be motorcycles or children - he explores some of the same concepts as Taleb in the idea that knowledge is born of experience and working with things, not of formulae and abstract reasoning
- the relation between mindless, repetitive work and consumerism
- the contradiction of the pursuit of freedom while living in a society where we have little agency and depend completely on technology and experts to build and maintain our 'stuff'
- he also explores how university education has been perverted by its relationship with the corporate world, both in its teaching and in its very structure
To find: The Electronic Sweatshop: How Computers are Transforming the Office of the Future into the Factory of the Past - Barbara Garson
Sunday 31 May 2015
The Lady from Zagreb - Philip Kerr
A detective novel of the hard-boiled noir variety. Well-written from a style point of view and follows the model closely. Set in Germany during the Nazi period - an interesting background for detective fiction. Well-researched - learned some new things about the period. An entertaining read, but not a lot of depth, apart from the irony of crime fiction in a time when the biggest criminals were the government itself.
The Edge of Extinction - Jules Pretty
Subtitles Travels with Enduring Peoples in Vanishing Lands. Pretty can be a bit airy-fairy at times, especially when dealing with some of the less developed native groups. Sometimes his narratives can be a bit unfocused and wander too much. There are some interesting section, though - Tuva, Russia; Karelia, Finland; the marshes of East Anglia; Nitassinan, Labrador; Atchafalaya Basin, Louisiana. He sometimes has a touching way of presenting ways of life on the edge of extinction - no pity, but an evocation of a different way of being in the world that is far from modern mass consumer society, poignant in its imminent disappearance.
Trois vies chinoises - Dai Sijie
Encore un roman par l'auteur de "Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise". Moins impressionné par ce roman. Il ne m'a pas saisi de la même façon. Les personnages des histoires semblent moches, les vies petites et cramponnées. Leurs histoires me semblent étrangers et inconnaissables. Je n'attrape pas les ondes de cette société. Il y a par contre quelques bonnes observations à propos de la propagande et le language politique du point de vue d'un enfant.
Monday 18 May 2015
Notturno indiano - Antonio Tabucchi
Piccolo libro dall'autore di "Sostiene Pereira". Mi piaceva meno. L'histoire divague ici et là sans vraiment jamais prendre une direction claire. Ce livre n'a pas cette touche du détail évocateur de son autre livre.
Pakistan: A Hard Country - Anatol Lieven
Recommended by Mohsin Hamid.
A very interesting read about a very complex country. Lieven clearly lays out the complexities of family, tribal, regional and social class relations with Pakistani society. He underlines all the divisions, conflicting agendas and endgames that complicate political, social and even personal lives. He makes it abundantly clear that Pakistan is not a jihadi monolith as reported in the West, but is in fact a rich, multilayered, complex society. On top of the tribal and familial complexities you also have to lay over that eastern/middle eastern thing of the dichotomy of reality as idealized and discussed in public space vs. reality at the personal action and decision level.
This is a society and political system built on a basis completely different from Western societies. It is far more complex than our social structures - I think we would be lost if we had to try and navigate in that social and political world. Our western politicians and foreign policy must seem like bulls in a china shop to them. It is abundantly clear after reading this book that our concepts of democracy and the free market don't have much place in that social world. As concepts they may be adopted, but would become so changed in practice I don't think we would recognize them.
I suspect the same holds true for a country like Egypt.
A very interesting read about a very complex country. Lieven clearly lays out the complexities of family, tribal, regional and social class relations with Pakistani society. He underlines all the divisions, conflicting agendas and endgames that complicate political, social and even personal lives. He makes it abundantly clear that Pakistan is not a jihadi monolith as reported in the West, but is in fact a rich, multilayered, complex society. On top of the tribal and familial complexities you also have to lay over that eastern/middle eastern thing of the dichotomy of reality as idealized and discussed in public space vs. reality at the personal action and decision level.
This is a society and political system built on a basis completely different from Western societies. It is far more complex than our social structures - I think we would be lost if we had to try and navigate in that social and political world. Our western politicians and foreign policy must seem like bulls in a china shop to them. It is abundantly clear after reading this book that our concepts of democracy and the free market don't have much place in that social world. As concepts they may be adopted, but would become so changed in practice I don't think we would recognize them.
I suspect the same holds true for a country like Egypt.
A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide - Taner Akçam
This is a very good book on the topic. Akçam steps away from the mythology, hype and rants of both sides to undertake a thorough examination of the historical documents and records around the Armenian genocide, and the history of Armenian Ottoman relations in the late 19th and early 20th century. His focus is entirely on determining how this genocide came about, who planned it and how it was seen by members of the political elite at the time. In the end, based on the evidence, there is no doubt this was a planned attempt to eliminate the Armenians from the Ottoman empire; it was a more systematized approach to what had been going on since the late 1800s under Sultan Abdulhamid. The events of 1915 and later were directed and overseen by Talat Pasha.
His historical research reminds me of the work of Ilan Pappé - using careful historical research to clarify events and set this up against the myths of the victors in a political or social conflict.
He raises some interesting points related to the background of the Ottoman state at the time. They were experiencing a number of violent revolts in the Balkans through the late 1800s early 1900s which led to Muslim deportations and a refugee crisis within the empire. These revolts caused a growing mistrust of Christian subjects, a growing Muslim/Christian dichotomy, and the newly arrived refugees harboured anger and resentment towards Christians in general. A dangerous mix.
After centuries of feeling superior as a conquering people, the Ottoman ruling class was experiencing a series of crushing failures and defeats at the hands of what they perceived to be inferior peoples. This created a sense of cognitive dissonance, which makes it hard to be rational or even perceive the reality around you.
The Ottoman government was a very old style government compared to what was evolving in western Europe - it was a system based on despotism with no concept of rights, checks on power, or duties of government towards its citizens. The Christian ethnic groups were aware of these changes through contact with outside groups, but there was no sympathy or even understanding of these new currents in the ruling Ottoman elite.
As for the Armenians, they had been through several decades of mistreatment and insecurity. The were subject to arbitrary property confiscation especially by local Kurdish tribal leaders, kidnapping (especially women), murder and other abuses. The Armenian leaders complained repeatedly to local governors and the Sultan but the Sultan showed no interest in protecting his Armenian subjects. This rankled even more, as the Armenians, through contact with Western Europe, were aware of political developments there, and such concepts as citizen rights, government duties, accountability, etc. This treatment would have only further increased their interest in these new political ideas. It also pushed them to try and use the large foreign powers to pressure the Ottomans to guarantee better treatment.
The Ottomans and the Young Turks perceived the Christian minority groups as a weak spot which allowed European powers to interfere in matters within the Ottoman state. The Christian groups did use the foreign powers to try and advance their agendas to there some truth in this viewpoint. The European powers, under the guise of humanitarian motives, used these opportunities to take advantage of the weakness of the Ottoman state.
It seems the Porte and the Sultan's cabinet were kept in the dark with regard to the plans for the elimination of Armenians. Much of the communication between Talat and the regional authorities was carried out is a very indirect kind of code to mask what they were really up to.
The Young Turks not only eliminated Christian groups, they also assassinated any regional administrators and politicians who objected to or resisted their policy regarding the Armenians and Greeks.
His historical research reminds me of the work of Ilan Pappé - using careful historical research to clarify events and set this up against the myths of the victors in a political or social conflict.
He raises some interesting points related to the background of the Ottoman state at the time. They were experiencing a number of violent revolts in the Balkans through the late 1800s early 1900s which led to Muslim deportations and a refugee crisis within the empire. These revolts caused a growing mistrust of Christian subjects, a growing Muslim/Christian dichotomy, and the newly arrived refugees harboured anger and resentment towards Christians in general. A dangerous mix.
After centuries of feeling superior as a conquering people, the Ottoman ruling class was experiencing a series of crushing failures and defeats at the hands of what they perceived to be inferior peoples. This created a sense of cognitive dissonance, which makes it hard to be rational or even perceive the reality around you.
The Ottoman government was a very old style government compared to what was evolving in western Europe - it was a system based on despotism with no concept of rights, checks on power, or duties of government towards its citizens. The Christian ethnic groups were aware of these changes through contact with outside groups, but there was no sympathy or even understanding of these new currents in the ruling Ottoman elite.
As for the Armenians, they had been through several decades of mistreatment and insecurity. The were subject to arbitrary property confiscation especially by local Kurdish tribal leaders, kidnapping (especially women), murder and other abuses. The Armenian leaders complained repeatedly to local governors and the Sultan but the Sultan showed no interest in protecting his Armenian subjects. This rankled even more, as the Armenians, through contact with Western Europe, were aware of political developments there, and such concepts as citizen rights, government duties, accountability, etc. This treatment would have only further increased their interest in these new political ideas. It also pushed them to try and use the large foreign powers to pressure the Ottomans to guarantee better treatment.
It seems the Porte and the Sultan's cabinet were kept in the dark with regard to the plans for the elimination of Armenians. Much of the communication between Talat and the regional authorities was carried out is a very indirect kind of code to mask what they were really up to.
Sunday 3 May 2015
1177 The Year Civilization Collapsed - Eric H. Cline
An attempt to get to the bottom of what happened in the early 12th c BC, which saw the collapse of every current major civilization in the eastern Mediterranean. Cline begins with a thorough overview of the world of the late Bronze Age. It is a fascinating picture, with every civilization built around a ruling political/religious elite that governed from a central palace temple complex. Most of these political religious elites also ran the economy, both internally and external trade. At least at the elite level, this was a very international, interconnected period, with lots of movement of both luxury goods and goods essential to the elites - such things as tin for weapon making, gold, as well as emergency food supplies to hand out to the populace in years of failed crops. I picture the sailors of these ships from Crete, from Egypt, from Ugarit, from Greece sitting down for a few drinks in bars in the big port towns of the time - that would have been really travelling!
Turns out the Sea People are a difficult group to pin down. Their presence outside of the documented attacks on Egypt and probably Ugarit, is pretty difficult to determine. Much of the destructions blamed on them seems to have been the result of earthquakes and local rebellions rather than warfare. It seems this area may have collapsed due to a series of natural disasters - earthquakes, prolonged droughts, climate shift - coupled with some external raiding, some migration pressures (perhaps caused by the natural disasters), some political upheaval, and a breakdown of a complex system of economic exchange. The large political units have evolved a complex system of interdependence and when that began to fray, it dragged most of the involved players down. It may have been that the elites lost the wealth needed to maintain their position and either buy or enforce compliance from their subjects.
Like with the fall of the Roman Empire, the area seems to have slipped into a "Dark Age" - smaller, more local political units, loss of culture, building techniques and established art styles (and writing in the case of Mycenean Greece), falling off of trade and long-distance exchange, idealization of the preceding Golden Age.
It is so long ago, it may never be possible to determine the exact causes and sequence of events at that time.
Turns out the Sea People are a difficult group to pin down. Their presence outside of the documented attacks on Egypt and probably Ugarit, is pretty difficult to determine. Much of the destructions blamed on them seems to have been the result of earthquakes and local rebellions rather than warfare. It seems this area may have collapsed due to a series of natural disasters - earthquakes, prolonged droughts, climate shift - coupled with some external raiding, some migration pressures (perhaps caused by the natural disasters), some political upheaval, and a breakdown of a complex system of economic exchange. The large political units have evolved a complex system of interdependence and when that began to fray, it dragged most of the involved players down. It may have been that the elites lost the wealth needed to maintain their position and either buy or enforce compliance from their subjects.
Like with the fall of the Roman Empire, the area seems to have slipped into a "Dark Age" - smaller, more local political units, loss of culture, building techniques and established art styles (and writing in the case of Mycenean Greece), falling off of trade and long-distance exchange, idealization of the preceding Golden Age.
It is so long ago, it may never be possible to determine the exact causes and sequence of events at that time.
Sostiene Pereira - Antonio Tabucchi
The story of the political awakening of an aging small-time journalist in Portugal on the eve of WW II. Set against the background of fascist Salazarist Portugal and the Spanish Civil War. Remarkable storytelling, in that during most of the book very little happens that stands out. There are subtle key conversations, small but important events, the main characters own thoughts and reflections. There is a further layer of distance with the stylistic effect of it being the report of what Pereira has said.
An author worth exploring further. I can also see why Mohsin Hamid speaks so highly of him - there is a similarity of style, of building slowly through minor shades and events, especially in "The Reluctant Fundamentalist".
An author worth exploring further. I can also see why Mohsin Hamid speaks so highly of him - there is a similarity of style, of building slowly through minor shades and events, especially in "The Reluctant Fundamentalist".
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