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richardbakare's reviews
399 reviews
Civilized to Death: What Was Lost on the Way to Modernity by Christopher Ryan
3.0
This book poses a compelling argument against the current blind faith in progress and unfettered free-market capitalism. It does not argue for a whole new system but to at least look under the hood and ask questions like, does our healthcare system treat illness or actually prolong the dying process? Or, are we really working meaningful jobs that have us devoting 60% of our waking hours to an”occupation” that keeps us away from the networks that actually support us and bring us joy?
The screeching sound of the brakes being slammed on the hedonic treadmill of everyday life for billions brought on by the 2020 pandemic, has exposed a lot of “gaps” in our perception of modernity. Specifically, the idea of growth for growth’s sake. We surely can’t come out of the Covid crisis and think we can still build to the moon, that retail will be the same, not re-analyze school and education delivery models, or challenge companies to revalue frontline workers and the need to be in the office everyday.
Ryan mentions in his book that, “...the economies in which we’re currently trapped thrive on growth—even at the expense of human well-being. Endless growth is the ideology of conventional economics and the cancer cell.” I agree and think that we need new metrics and evaluations for what is progress and defining civilization; or we risk destroying ourselves chasing an unfulfilling growth at any cost game. Instead of looking at the GDP and Stock Market returns to gauge a country’s success, we should be looking at real human outcomes. Safety, health, social engagement, suicide rates, freedom of identity, and meaningfulness in work.
I gave it only three stars because I think that writers like Malcolm Gladwell achieve the same society level introspective analysis with more pragmatic application and more engaging narrative. Ryan’s style is a pessimistic one, even if his analysis is correct and anecdotes interesting. I wish he had spent more time on contrasting examples where civilization works in comparison with where it doesn’t and how we bridge the divide.
The screeching sound of the brakes being slammed on the hedonic treadmill of everyday life for billions brought on by the 2020 pandemic, has exposed a lot of “gaps” in our perception of modernity. Specifically, the idea of growth for growth’s sake. We surely can’t come out of the Covid crisis and think we can still build to the moon, that retail will be the same, not re-analyze school and education delivery models, or challenge companies to revalue frontline workers and the need to be in the office everyday.
Ryan mentions in his book that, “...the economies in which we’re currently trapped thrive on growth—even at the expense of human well-being. Endless growth is the ideology of conventional economics and the cancer cell.” I agree and think that we need new metrics and evaluations for what is progress and defining civilization; or we risk destroying ourselves chasing an unfulfilling growth at any cost game. Instead of looking at the GDP and Stock Market returns to gauge a country’s success, we should be looking at real human outcomes. Safety, health, social engagement, suicide rates, freedom of identity, and meaningfulness in work.
I gave it only three stars because I think that writers like Malcolm Gladwell achieve the same society level introspective analysis with more pragmatic application and more engaging narrative. Ryan’s style is a pessimistic one, even if his analysis is correct and anecdotes interesting. I wish he had spent more time on contrasting examples where civilization works in comparison with where it doesn’t and how we bridge the divide.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
5.0
It feels somewhat odd reading and reviewing a book that was once required high school reading for my mother and father when they were kids in Nigeria. A book about Nigeria, an almost forgotten past, and how Colonial Rule snuck its way in. I asked my mom to re-read it at the same time so I could ask her perspective on things. I wish I had read this when my dad was alive.
Achebe writes with a mastery of language that is mesmerizing and lyrical. A melodic dance of words and phrases that paint the most illustrative pictures and tell a story like a song. The pace quickening to the finale, that in its last verse that leaves you spent. I see now why Achebe and this book have been so celebrated for decades.
I knew this was not a story with happy endings, but I am left all the more heart broken by the tragedy of Okonkwo and his village. And the final sentence is like a dagger stuck into one’s pride; even if it is a reaching pride for a distant homeland. Achebe has spun a story that mourns a loss for a traditional way but also highlights the faults. A reflective tale of warning, blind adherence to customs and how outside influences can lead to things falling apart. I look forward to completing the African Trilogy once and for all.
Achebe writes with a mastery of language that is mesmerizing and lyrical. A melodic dance of words and phrases that paint the most illustrative pictures and tell a story like a song. The pace quickening to the finale, that in its last verse that leaves you spent. I see now why Achebe and this book have been so celebrated for decades.
I knew this was not a story with happy endings, but I am left all the more heart broken by the tragedy of Okonkwo and his village. And the final sentence is like a dagger stuck into one’s pride; even if it is a reaching pride for a distant homeland. Achebe has spun a story that mourns a loss for a traditional way but also highlights the faults. A reflective tale of warning, blind adherence to customs and how outside influences can lead to things falling apart. I look forward to completing the African Trilogy once and for all.
The Hamster Revolution: How to Manage Your Email Before It Manages You by Mike Song
2.0
I was hoping that in this book I would pick up some new tools and techniques. There in fact helpful processes and methods for managing email and document overload. However, the analogous hamster trope was overused and distracting from the goal of the book.
I believe “Deep Work” by Cal Newport, “When” by Daniel Pink, and “Atomic Habits” by James Clear are effectively and stylistically better at teaching you core philosophical changes to being more productive and consistent. This book could have been summarized as a long blog post or article. There is just not enough there to warrant its purchase.
I think the book missed the opportunity to go deeper psychologically and socially into the problem of “noise” in email and how it kills productivity in the aim of looking buys. That is what Newport’s Deep Work nails perfectly. However, if you are overloaded with email and want a quick fix, check it out from the library or borrow it for some helpful tools.
I believe “Deep Work” by Cal Newport, “When” by Daniel Pink, and “Atomic Habits” by James Clear are effectively and stylistically better at teaching you core philosophical changes to being more productive and consistent. This book could have been summarized as a long blog post or article. There is just not enough there to warrant its purchase.
I think the book missed the opportunity to go deeper psychologically and socially into the problem of “noise” in email and how it kills productivity in the aim of looking buys. That is what Newport’s Deep Work nails perfectly. However, if you are overloaded with email and want a quick fix, check it out from the library or borrow it for some helpful tools.
Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe
4.0
Following the masterful “Things Fall Apart,” Achebe’s work here shows a community tested now by the arrival of British colonialist but too embroiled in their own prideful squabbling to see the demise on the horizon. Growing up in a Nigerian household, the word Pride is heard a lot. Often in the context as a warning or rebuke. “Don’t let your pride... because of his pride... he is so prideful.” This book does a wonderful job of encapsulating the entire philosophy about the problem with pride.
Flying in close formation with self respect and dignity, the lines where prideful behavior starts and ends is blurry. Pride is a complicated thing. I look back on things and see where I also was to prideful, where I thought originally I was self-respecting. A line from the story that perfectly sums up this stubbornness is, “It troubles me,” he said, “because it looks like the saying of our ancestors that when brothers fight to death a stranger inherits their father’s estate.”
I really enjoyed and was pulled into the second part of The African Trilogy and look forward to finishing it with “No Longer At ease.” With every page, I see myself retracing my parents’ footsteps and understanding them a little more. The only disappointment is that I wish I had engaged these books when I was much younger.
Flying in close formation with self respect and dignity, the lines where prideful behavior starts and ends is blurry. Pride is a complicated thing. I look back on things and see where I also was to prideful, where I thought originally I was self-respecting. A line from the story that perfectly sums up this stubbornness is, “It troubles me,” he said, “because it looks like the saying of our ancestors that when brothers fight to death a stranger inherits their father’s estate.”
I really enjoyed and was pulled into the second part of The African Trilogy and look forward to finishing it with “No Longer At ease.” With every page, I see myself retracing my parents’ footsteps and understanding them a little more. The only disappointment is that I wish I had engaged these books when I was much younger.
No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe
4.0
Layered with Irony and circular reflections, No Longer At Ease, ties out the African Trilogy with equal doses of melancholy and wisdom. The lives of Okwonko and his namesake grandfather mirror each other in some ways and diverge in others. The most noticeable common thread being how their moral uprightness is washed away by the wave of progress and the crushing solitude of pride.
You can’t help but grimace at Okonkwo’s references to phrases and ideas from the first book that were once foreboding, transformed into ghostlike echos from the past. I particularly found it impressive how Achebe addresses the white colonialist narrative with a subtle story arch going from grand aspirations to begrudgingly accepting the reality of the African situation. In the end, everyone exits, hat in hand, with the balloons of their big ideas popped by the bitter realities of life.
The entire book is a denouement of the journey of a tragedy; a real one as Okonkwo mentions, without happy endings. The entire trilogy is a moving embodiment of the intersection between progress, culture, and a struggle of wills in Africa. I am so glad I have taken the opportunity to read it. I am left feeling closer to the Nigeria of my mother and father and better understanding of who they are and their feelings towards their home.
You can’t help but grimace at Okonkwo’s references to phrases and ideas from the first book that were once foreboding, transformed into ghostlike echos from the past. I particularly found it impressive how Achebe addresses the white colonialist narrative with a subtle story arch going from grand aspirations to begrudgingly accepting the reality of the African situation. In the end, everyone exits, hat in hand, with the balloons of their big ideas popped by the bitter realities of life.
The entire book is a denouement of the journey of a tragedy; a real one as Okonkwo mentions, without happy endings. The entire trilogy is a moving embodiment of the intersection between progress, culture, and a struggle of wills in Africa. I am so glad I have taken the opportunity to read it. I am left feeling closer to the Nigeria of my mother and father and better understanding of who they are and their feelings towards their home.
Dune by Frank Herbert
5.0
I am so torn by Dune. A sprawling space saga that artfully weaves religion, love, war, death, politics, and fantasy. That are some aspects that have not aged well, at least for me. I could do without the heavily patriarchal tone and the white savior narrative. Aside from those modern resentments, the story is gripping and perplexing at the same time. With every page I am either unable to pull away or reluctant to turn the page in fearful anticipation of of doom played out on the following pages.
I see now why Frank Herbert’s magnum opus is celebrated as one of the cornerstone’s of Science Fiction. A story as old as time of betrayal, conflict, love, and triumph is given new life by the setting that becomes a character in it’s own way. The thread of a unforgiving landscape that bends all to it’s will, pairs nicely with the fire of destiny that will not be tamped down of Paul’s journey to becoming the legend Maud’Dib. It is easier to see how this pairing of space, destiny, mystical powers, and lineage could inspire so many pop-culture films and works that came after it.
I said I was torn by Dune, because it is truly a great story, and well written. But all the while, something felt missing or there was a desire to pull it forward. In my own mind rewriting plot lines and characters to fit a modern lens. Science fiction for me has always been a carnival house mirror reflecting the failings and potential pitfalls of current man as represented in his future. In Dune, the one relevant judgment on current man that I find most concurrent with today, is the danger of fervent religious fanaticism. Herbert was spot on in waning that “When religion and politics ride the same cart, “the riders believe nothing can stand in their way.”
I see now why Frank Herbert’s magnum opus is celebrated as one of the cornerstone’s of Science Fiction. A story as old as time of betrayal, conflict, love, and triumph is given new life by the setting that becomes a character in it’s own way. The thread of a unforgiving landscape that bends all to it’s will, pairs nicely with the fire of destiny that will not be tamped down of Paul’s journey to becoming the legend Maud’Dib. It is easier to see how this pairing of space, destiny, mystical powers, and lineage could inspire so many pop-culture films and works that came after it.
I said I was torn by Dune, because it is truly a great story, and well written. But all the while, something felt missing or there was a desire to pull it forward. In my own mind rewriting plot lines and characters to fit a modern lens. Science fiction for me has always been a carnival house mirror reflecting the failings and potential pitfalls of current man as represented in his future. In Dune, the one relevant judgment on current man that I find most concurrent with today, is the danger of fervent religious fanaticism. Herbert was spot on in waning that “When religion and politics ride the same cart, “the riders believe nothing can stand in their way.”
Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil
5.0
Cathy O’Neils work illuminates all of the problems with poorly thought out Algorithms and Models (Weapons of Math Destruction), when unleashed on an unsuspecting public, can deepen divides, falsely reaffirm prejudices, and compound social ills in the pursuit of efficacy. In clear and well written language, O’Neil spells out for the layman and experienced Data Scientist alike, the definition of a Weapon of Math Destruction and its key traits. She also does a great job of providing clear and actionable ways we can spot, prevent, and hold these models accountable. I believe this book is essential reading for everyone in our modern data driven culture. Reminding the builders of their fiduciary responsibility to uphold fairness in their modeling design; and teaching the Everyman how to spot the models and data gathering being applied to them. Wonderfully written and commanding.
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
5.0
In every sector of American Life we are becoming more and more disconnected from our neighbors. That disconnect finds its way into bad policies that only further widens the gulf. This book illustrates how that disconnect leads to a disastrous human toll and the cruelest injustices in the legal system.
This book, The 13th, The New Jim Crow, and many others often leave me gutted of hope at one end, and tearfully joyful for the few stories where things do work out. Everyone needs to hear these stories and truths of where we fail each other. Everyone needs to ask themselves why do we destroy each other so ruthlessly? Everyone needs to ask themselves, am I really safer when a miscarriage of justice is allowed to go unchecked?
The sad thing is that Mr. Stevenson’s memoir highlights one key blinding point in modern society. It costs us more to uphold systems of racial and socio-economic divide, then it would if we provided the resources and funding to education, mental health, and social safety nets. If we did those things, then we would be truly safer.
This book, The 13th, The New Jim Crow, and many others often leave me gutted of hope at one end, and tearfully joyful for the few stories where things do work out. Everyone needs to hear these stories and truths of where we fail each other. Everyone needs to ask themselves why do we destroy each other so ruthlessly? Everyone needs to ask themselves, am I really safer when a miscarriage of justice is allowed to go unchecked?
The sad thing is that Mr. Stevenson’s memoir highlights one key blinding point in modern society. It costs us more to uphold systems of racial and socio-economic divide, then it would if we provided the resources and funding to education, mental health, and social safety nets. If we did those things, then we would be truly safer.
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
5.0
“Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized.” - Daniel Burnham
This quote summarizes the key aspect of Don Quixote that I enjoy so much. The power of imagination to move us beyond are pre-defined selves and create a world for ourselves as we see fit. This is of course idealistic and the realities of life prove routinely that obstacles will often interrupt us along the way. I first read this book in 1998 in college. Back then I took from it mostly the idea of the conflict of self identity matched up against outside perceptions and expectations. That interpretation was particularly important for me as a black male in an American culture that routinely tries to define for me, who I am and what I am capable of; despite all my wildest dreams that crave more.
In this second reading, many of Cervantes’ genius literary triumphs really jumped out at me. His subtle and hilarious use of “Breaking the 4th wall.” The use of all of the subplots and characters to illustrate the crossroads of culture, Moorish and Christian, Chivalry and Rule of Law, along with Romanticism and Realism. Cervantes often self-references the labyrinth of layers upon layers of deep social and literary commentary of the times in which he was writing. Some of which, particularly the class, religious, and racial turmoil remain with us today.
Still, it remains the narrative about what or who is the ultimate authority on what and/or how we define the self that most intrigues me. In truth, the idea of the self is a complex formula. We are the careful balance of experience, wit, luck, and a little madness. Outside perceptions are then layered on this amalgamation of individual chemistry. This combination results in the same person waffling between genius and madman, when viewed in a myriad of different ways by an array of different eyes. Don Quixote is the vehicle by Which Cervantes masks scalding social criticism couched in the persona of a mad man.
This sprawling novel that traverses the canyons between madness and sanity is a story of unbridled experience. We all want to live lives full adventure, but the world and our “place” in it often keeps us within limits that say this is ok and this is crazy. I love this journey because I believe that if we, like Don Quixote, live life as we define it, the stories would have been worth it.
This quote summarizes the key aspect of Don Quixote that I enjoy so much. The power of imagination to move us beyond are pre-defined selves and create a world for ourselves as we see fit. This is of course idealistic and the realities of life prove routinely that obstacles will often interrupt us along the way. I first read this book in 1998 in college. Back then I took from it mostly the idea of the conflict of self identity matched up against outside perceptions and expectations. That interpretation was particularly important for me as a black male in an American culture that routinely tries to define for me, who I am and what I am capable of; despite all my wildest dreams that crave more.
In this second reading, many of Cervantes’ genius literary triumphs really jumped out at me. His subtle and hilarious use of “Breaking the 4th wall.” The use of all of the subplots and characters to illustrate the crossroads of culture, Moorish and Christian, Chivalry and Rule of Law, along with Romanticism and Realism. Cervantes often self-references the labyrinth of layers upon layers of deep social and literary commentary of the times in which he was writing. Some of which, particularly the class, religious, and racial turmoil remain with us today.
Still, it remains the narrative about what or who is the ultimate authority on what and/or how we define the self that most intrigues me. In truth, the idea of the self is a complex formula. We are the careful balance of experience, wit, luck, and a little madness. Outside perceptions are then layered on this amalgamation of individual chemistry. This combination results in the same person waffling between genius and madman, when viewed in a myriad of different ways by an array of different eyes. Don Quixote is the vehicle by Which Cervantes masks scalding social criticism couched in the persona of a mad man.
This sprawling novel that traverses the canyons between madness and sanity is a story of unbridled experience. We all want to live lives full adventure, but the world and our “place” in it often keeps us within limits that say this is ok and this is crazy. I love this journey because I believe that if we, like Don Quixote, live life as we define it, the stories would have been worth it.
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
3.0
I started to read this again when the Apple released the teaser trailer for the adaptation. I read it first in middle school, but a lot of the details faded with time. Like with the rereading of Dune, our social progress highlights many of the patriarchal and white savior narrative in these books that has gotten stale. But the central message and theme remains timeless.
This passage from the book summarizes the struggle neatly, “it could be considered that science, as science, had failed the outer worlds. To be reaccepted it would have to present itself in another guise—and it has done just that.” Science as state craft, as religion, and as an economic tool would be the means for preserving scientific advancement and social and political surviving crises.
These are objectives that can’t be played out in a single story, which is why it is fitting that the foundation series is so expansive in volumes and in the narrative style. Jumping half centuries in some moments and drilling down to minute interactions in others. The book and series do a great job of demonstrating a philosophy of governance where the actors use a mix of inductive and deductive reasoning beautifully. Leveraging the right details to steer a course in keeping with a macro vision of a future prosperity they themselves will not enjoy.
This passage from the book summarizes the struggle neatly, “it could be considered that science, as science, had failed the outer worlds. To be reaccepted it would have to present itself in another guise—and it has done just that.” Science as state craft, as religion, and as an economic tool would be the means for preserving scientific advancement and social and political surviving crises.
These are objectives that can’t be played out in a single story, which is why it is fitting that the foundation series is so expansive in volumes and in the narrative style. Jumping half centuries in some moments and drilling down to minute interactions in others. The book and series do a great job of demonstrating a philosophy of governance where the actors use a mix of inductive and deductive reasoning beautifully. Leveraging the right details to steer a course in keeping with a macro vision of a future prosperity they themselves will not enjoy.