A moderately successful attempt to make philosophy more accessible.
A progressive treatise that intends to bring philosophy to a wider audience.
As the world inexorably turns toward increased globalization amid remarkable technological advances, stark divisions remain, and large groups of people are left behind. With that in mind, Maritz aims to map out areas where humanity can achieve greater mutual understanding and productive enlightenment. The book opens with a candid preface that directs readers to a helpful glossary. Alongside lengthy considerations of language, the human mind and society, the author presents shorter chapters on a variety of subjects such as evolution, materialism, morality, sexuality, art, education, history and politics. While some readers may struggle with the more abstract concepts, Maritz is at his best when he backs up his theories with concrete examples, often culled from his home country of South Africa: principally, the history of apartheid. He’s particularly convincing in his extended analysis of religion, making sure to acknowledge both its charitable endeavors and its destructive effects. However, lapses in editing or faulty sentence structure can sometimes interfere with clarity: “More recently we have the wars between Muslim and Muslim and Christian between Muslim.” Most readers will understand what Maritz is trying to say, but the text could have benefitted from a polish. Throughout, the author maintains a humorous, somewhat off-kilter tone, and his asides can be entertaining or occasionally jarring. For example, writing on the topic of passion, he notes: “All of us know where passionate romantic love ends and how sadists experience orgasm by not only killing their victims, but also deliberately mutilating the bodies.” Many passages also demonstrate a solid, concise writing style that effectively communicates Maritz’s message of justice and equality: “[L]iteracy without ethics empowers white-collar thugs,” he writes, “and education without opportunities for the fulfillment of material expectations creates hopelessness, if not rebellion.”
A moderately successful attempt to make philosophy more accessible.Pub Date: March 19, 2012
ISBN: 978-1434988423
Page Count: 126
Publisher: Rosedog Press
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In this highly learned yet accessible book, Robinson offers believers fresh insight into a well-studied text.
A deeply thoughtful exploration of the first book of the Bible.
In this illuminating work of biblical analysis, Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Robinson, whose Gilead series contains a variety of Christian themes, takes readers on a dedicated layperson’s journey through the Book of Genesis. The author meanders delightfully through the text, ruminating on one tale after another while searching for themes and mining for universal truths. Robinson approaches Genesis with a reverence and level of faith uncommon to modern mainstream writers, yet she’s also equipped with the appropriate tools for cogent criticism. Throughout this luminous exegesis, which will appeal to all practicing Christians, the author discusses overarching themes in Genesis. First is the benevolence of God. Robinson points out that “to say that God is the good creator of a good creation” sets the God of Genesis in opposition to the gods of other ancient creation stories, who range from indifferent to evil. This goodness carries through the entirety of Genesis, demonstrated through grace. “Grace tempers judgment,” writes the author, noting that despite well-deserved instances of wrath or punishment, God relents time after time. Another overarching theme is the interplay between God’s providence and humanity’s independence. Across the Book of Genesis, otherwise ordinary people make decisions that will affect the future in significant ways, yet events are consistently steered by God’s omnipotence. For instance, Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers, and that action has reverberated throughout the history of all Jewish people. Robinson indirectly asks readers to consider where the line is between the actions of God and the actions of creation. “He chose to let us be,” she concludes, “to let time yield what it will—within the vast latitude granted by providence.”
In this highly learned yet accessible book, Robinson offers believers fresh insight into a well-studied text.Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9780374299408
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
If the authors are serious, this is a silly, distasteful book. If they are not, it’s a brilliant satire.
The authors have created a sort of anti-Book of Virtues in this encyclopedic compendium of the ways and means of power.
Everyone wants power and everyone is in a constant duplicitous game to gain more power at the expense of others, according to Greene, a screenwriter and former editor at Esquire (Elffers, a book packager, designed the volume, with its attractive marginalia). We live today as courtiers once did in royal courts: we must appear civil while attempting to crush all those around us. This power game can be played well or poorly, and in these 48 laws culled from the history and wisdom of the world’s greatest power players are the rules that must be followed to win. These laws boil down to being as ruthless, selfish, manipulative, and deceitful as possible. Each law, however, gets its own chapter: “Conceal Your Intentions,” “Always Say Less Than Necessary,” “Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy,” and so on. Each chapter is conveniently broken down into sections on what happened to those who transgressed or observed the particular law, the key elements in this law, and ways to defensively reverse this law when it’s used against you. Quotations in the margins amplify the lesson being taught. While compelling in the way an auto accident might be, the book is simply nonsense. Rules often contradict each other. We are told, for instance, to “be conspicuous at all cost,” then told to “behave like others.” More seriously, Greene never really defines “power,” and he merely asserts, rather than offers evidence for, the Hobbesian world of all against all in which he insists we live. The world may be like this at times, but often it isn’t. To ask why this is so would be a far more useful project.
If the authors are serious, this is a silly, distasteful book. If they are not, it’s a brilliant satire.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-670-88146-5
Page Count: 430
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1998
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