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Discontent and Its Civilizations: Dispatches from Lahore, New York, and London by Mohsin Hamid
anshumanchurian's review against another edition
4.0
An important, illuminating, engaging and surprisingly timely (considering that the pieces were written over the span of more than a decade) collection of essays - required reading for all of us, people from India, Pakistan, the UK, the US and all over the world.
josienaron's review against another edition
3.0
I am genuinely so confused by the structure and politics of this book, loved a lot of the first section of essays, eh about the second, very in the weeds about the geopolitics of the third. also had a good laugh at trying to reconcile his anti-imperialist and (at least to my reading) pro open borders politics with???? working at McKinsey????? lol
hollysmith54's review against another edition
4.0
LOVED. Moshin Hamid’s books are new to me this year but I have devoured 2 now and that seems to be the only way to consume his work. I’m okay with that.
“On our globalising planet, where the pace of change keeps accelerating, many of us are coming to feel at least a bit foreign, because all of us, whether we travel far afield or not, are migrants across time.”
“My own life has had its share of highs and lows, and like a character in one of my books, it may well be that the environment I perceive around me is but an echo of what I feel within. (Or equally, perhaps, the reverse might be true.)”
We’re born with an inbuilt capacity for language. It is wired “into our brains, just as an inbuilt capacity for breathing is wired into our lungs. We need language. We need language to tell stories. We need stories to create a self. We need a self because of the complexity of the chemical processes that make up our individual humanities exceeds the processing power of our brains. // The self we create is a fiction. On this point, religion and cognitive neuroscience converge. When the machine of a human is being turned on, it seems to produce a protagonist, just as a television produces an image. I think this protagonist, this self, often recognised that it is a fictional construct, but it also recognises that thinking of itself as such might cause it to disintegrate.”
“At this point in our technological evolution, to read a novel is to engage in probably the second-largest single act of pleasure-based data transfer that can take place between two human beings, exceeded only by sex. Novels are characterised by their intimacy, which is extreme, by their scale, which is vast, and by their form, which is linguistic and at aesthetic. The novel is a kinky beast.”
“Civilisations are illusory. But they are useful illusions. They allow us to deny our common humanity, to allocate power, resources and rights in ways repugnantly discriminatory. // To maintain the effectiveness of these illusions, they must be associated with something undeniably real. That something is violence. Our civilisations do not cause us to clash. No, our clashing allows us to pretend we belong to civilisations.”
“On our globalising planet, where the pace of change keeps accelerating, many of us are coming to feel at least a bit foreign, because all of us, whether we travel far afield or not, are migrants across time.”
“My own life has had its share of highs and lows, and like a character in one of my books, it may well be that the environment I perceive around me is but an echo of what I feel within. (Or equally, perhaps, the reverse might be true.)”
We’re born with an inbuilt capacity for language. It is wired “into our brains, just as an inbuilt capacity for breathing is wired into our lungs. We need language. We need language to tell stories. We need stories to create a self. We need a self because of the complexity of the chemical processes that make up our individual humanities exceeds the processing power of our brains. // The self we create is a fiction. On this point, religion and cognitive neuroscience converge. When the machine of a human is being turned on, it seems to produce a protagonist, just as a television produces an image. I think this protagonist, this self, often recognised that it is a fictional construct, but it also recognises that thinking of itself as such might cause it to disintegrate.”
“At this point in our technological evolution, to read a novel is to engage in probably the second-largest single act of pleasure-based data transfer that can take place between two human beings, exceeded only by sex. Novels are characterised by their intimacy, which is extreme, by their scale, which is vast, and by their form, which is linguistic and at aesthetic. The novel is a kinky beast.”
“Civilisations are illusory. But they are useful illusions. They allow us to deny our common humanity, to allocate power, resources and rights in ways repugnantly discriminatory. // To maintain the effectiveness of these illusions, they must be associated with something undeniably real. That something is violence. Our civilisations do not cause us to clash. No, our clashing allows us to pretend we belong to civilisations.”
amityvillehorror's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
3.0
nasek2's review against another edition
5.0
this is a great exploration of many themes, ranging from prejudice, to religious identity, to regional pluralism
it is a great clarifier for the quality of life and regular experiences of an individual from a country that many are unfamiliar with!
it is a great clarifier for the quality of life and regular experiences of an individual from a country that many are unfamiliar with!
varsha14's review against another edition
3.0
Good but not great. Some interesting and insightful musings but scattered amongst many unmemorable essays.
everthereader's review
4.0
Interesting anecdotes from the author about culture and religion, among other things. Mohsin Hamid has had such a fascinating life from spending his childhood in America and teenage years in Pakistan and working with Toni Morrison while attending Princeton. What impresses me the most is Hamid's introspective writing style. I really can't put my finger on it, but there's something soothing and almost thoughtful in his narration in both the audiobook and in his writing. I did find the middle to be quite tedious and some essays were uninteresting, but overall, Mohsin Hamid managed to write an impressive collection of essays.
alyskarstark's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
Listened to the audiobook, read by the author.