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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
kropotkin is such a cool guy. like come for the ecology and history, stay for the genuinely uplifting rhetoric. this book is an affirmation that people are fundamentally good, that it is in our nature (and our best interest) to live cooperatively. it spits on the myth of rugged individualism and invites its readers to be a part of a larger whole.
“There is the gist of human psychology. Unless men are maddened in the battlefield, they ‘cannot stand it’ to hear appeals for help, and not respond to them. The hero goes;… the sophisms of the brain cannot resist the mutual-aid feeling, because this feeling has been nurtured by thousands of years of human social life and hundreds of thousands of years of pre-human life in societies.”
(page 160 in my edition)
“There is the gist of human psychology. Unless men are maddened in the battlefield, they ‘cannot stand it’ to hear appeals for help, and not respond to them. The hero goes;… the sophisms of the brain cannot resist the mutual-aid feeling, because this feeling has been nurtured by thousands of years of human social life and hundreds of thousands of years of pre-human life in societies.”
(page 160 in my edition)
challenging
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Considering I first read this book in college, I'd be curious to revisit it and see how I feel. Essentially Kropotkin's argument is that societies function better when they cooperate than when they compete. He uses some scientific and historical evidence to back up his claims which had rarely been done by anarchist writers before.
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
The illustrations really land in this edition. Reading Kropotkin is fascinating as a sensible inversion of the predominant narratives of competition of all against all. It still loses points for using racist language throughout the first half, but I feel like starting from the medieval section was where it took off. If it helps you get through it, I, a stranger, give you permission to skip the "savage" and "barbarian" sections.
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
One of my favourite books of all time. I even did my thesis on it. I would highly suggest it to anyone. Though negated by modern sciences and psychology you will be amazed how much of social Darwinism still lurks in today's "common sense" as manufactured by ones in control. Usually the arguments that are quite famous and repeated often to support capitalism and fascism still unconsciously arise from long negated but not yet dead social Darwinism. This work is the only complete response and scientific negation of social Darwinism. Social Darwinism in the past has been a weapon of fascists, totalitarians (tankies), and capitalists alike to support their arguments. You will be amazed how many common arguments in favour of racism, colonization, patriarchy and the mindset of such poisonous nature are production of social Darwinism. Kropotkin was amazing! I love all of his writings.
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
slow-paced