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3.38 AVERAGE
3.38 AVERAGE
A good concept, if not altogether original. The intro and conclusion were nicely done, but the interior content got in the weeds a bit, in details of the lives Brooks is profiling. I appreciated his (intentional?) choice to give pride of place to women.
A fascinating collection of biographies and musings on the character of each of the people covered. Brooks doesn’t entirely succeed in convincing me that the qualities he examines in each person were necessarily part and parcel of the different mores of the time that they developed in – these were individuals who it seemed to me were pretty much early showing signs of exceptionalism – self control, dedication, attention to detail etc, or who developed them as a result of straitened circumstances such as poverty or other disadvantage.
Brooks argues that the tendency of today to allow our natures to unfold naturally without much repression of our natural desires, or the tendency to distrust institutions as we honour the individual, etc are adverse to the conditions for developing character as he defines it. And I have no argument with this, it’s probably true, and well backed up by the evidence Brooks marshals. Loyalty to something beyond the self, commitment to struggle with our less worthy side naturally leads to humility and is protective against the sin of pride. Indeed, the whole concept of sin is an old fashioned and seldom attended thing these days, probably to our detriment.
It was particularly interesting where Brooks talked about the counterpoints of virtues taken too far, the danger of self esteem being overblown pride, the danger of self discipline being coldness and insensitivity to weakness in others.
Towards the end, Brooks begins musing about Love, and writes quite a beautiful and insightful chapter with a lot to offer about Love’s transformative potential and the unique melding of souls and conscience and desire and identity. The stories he tells of famous love affairs and deep friendships are powerful proofs compassionately recorded, and render understandable Brooks’ comparison of Love to other forms of redemption and escape from ego, such as religion and self sacrifice.
This is a book which contains a lot of wisdom about life and maturity, and the way towards joy and purpose. It’s difficult to think of anyone who would not benefit from reading it.
Brooks argues that the tendency of today to allow our natures to unfold naturally without much repression of our natural desires, or the tendency to distrust institutions as we honour the individual, etc are adverse to the conditions for developing character as he defines it. And I have no argument with this, it’s probably true, and well backed up by the evidence Brooks marshals. Loyalty to something beyond the self, commitment to struggle with our less worthy side naturally leads to humility and is protective against the sin of pride. Indeed, the whole concept of sin is an old fashioned and seldom attended thing these days, probably to our detriment.
It was particularly interesting where Brooks talked about the counterpoints of virtues taken too far, the danger of self esteem being overblown pride, the danger of self discipline being coldness and insensitivity to weakness in others.
Towards the end, Brooks begins musing about Love, and writes quite a beautiful and insightful chapter with a lot to offer about Love’s transformative potential and the unique melding of souls and conscience and desire and identity. The stories he tells of famous love affairs and deep friendships are powerful proofs compassionately recorded, and render understandable Brooks’ comparison of Love to other forms of redemption and escape from ego, such as religion and self sacrifice.
This is a book which contains a lot of wisdom about life and maturity, and the way towards joy and purpose. It’s difficult to think of anyone who would not benefit from reading it.
A thought-provoking examination of the moral principles that motivate what we do and define who we are. With case-studies of notorious characters, it takes a look at some of the big moments and decisions of our role models from the past century. It asks how our cultural values are changing and how that will have an effect on our very individualized character. The most provocative take-away for me was how we're being encouraged to define ourselves as individuals and not as communities. The bonds that connected us before are changing and time will tell how that changes our character and the things that matter most.
worked at this for 1.5 years i think, but once I was in the right headspace I was able to get some good out of it. A little bit heavy on the stoicism but definitely some new-to-me people to admire qualities of and share lessons with
This was an interesting book. I read it on recommendation, mostly so I could discuss it with my recommender. Although I do not think it truly showed me the way to develop good character, it did give me some interesting ideas to think about. I do not agree with everything the author wrote, but I did learn a lot about certain historical figures, and I actually look forward to talking the book over.
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
slow-paced
The book is a series of biographical essays on various people in history, some you'll recognize, some you realize had an oversized impact on history and culture despite the nobody today knowing who they were or what they did. In the end, the best part of the book was the final chapter summarizing everything at the end. Understanding it didn't require having read the rest of the book to get the arc of the story. The rest is nice background reading but not necessary. I appreciate that the stories Brooks used were filled with people from a variety of backgrounds and each had their own internal and moral struggle in their lives. Some found strength of character through religion, some found it after leaving religion. Some through hard work and extreme discipline, others through a more relaxed approach to life. Each developed character over time as they engaged in challenges and consciously chose to engage with those towards a better end. I found myself wondering throughout the book what Brooks was getting at with the snapshot biographies that individually didn't paint any clear picture of character development or application to a broader audience. His finally chapter sums this up and focuses on the lessons that can be learned and how the broad goal of a human life is to work to improve morality over time through our interactions with others and recognizing that often we are better as a community than the individualistic push that's dominated the U.S. for the last 70 years.
I don't know how to rate this. While I liked the lucid writing and the very succinct accounts of various historical figures, the book was very dismissive about modern moral and ethical philosophy because it tends to focus too much on the individual. Even though the author doesn't want to explicitly espouse
realism and romanticism as a modern solution to character building, he presents them in a very positive light without any criticism.
realism and romanticism as a modern solution to character building, he presents them in a very positive light without any criticism.