The Catcher In The Rye & Other Adventures
The books I read from January - February 2021
MAKING SENSE - For 3 minutes I stared into space after closing this book. Sam Harris and the brightest minds discuss the amazing possibilities that science has discovered. From uploading ourselves for continued consciousness beyond death to David Deutch the physicist’s brilliant analogy on our purpose in this vast galaxy, the province in my mind has been stretched to galactic proportions. Proximity to such ideas guarantees to change your worldview!!
WHAT THE DOG SAW - Only with Gladwell will we know why contraception ought to have been marketed as an anti-cancer pill instead of a trigger to Christians. Only with him do we know why kitchen products like the Vege-O-Matic and Showtime Rotiserie rocked American sales. And only with him, do we discover why the shamed Enron never denied its bad record, how it was blatantly overlooked, and why the Ivy League graduates it hired brought down the organisations they were meant to propel
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE - 20 years after I first saw this book, I finally finished this American classic. Holden Caulfield is an endearing 16 year old who is kicked out of school and bumbles around NYC offering to buy drinks for cab drivers and ugly girls. The book is a rambling account of his honest thoughts. He bitches about his handsome room mate and repeatedly admits to being depressed. The author JD Salinger was said to have based Holden on his real life boyfriend. One cannot help but adore Holden. The child-like honesty of Holden and his aversion to superficiality is a key reason, I suspect for the enduring success of this book
BRAVE NEW WORLD - The 2 English fiction books that have made its way into academic and political conversions are 1984 and Brave New World. And thus I read. How I suffered! Aldous Huxley envisions a utopian world in the future where God is Ford (after the manufacturer Ford) and relationships and families are archaic concepts. People are grouped into Alphas, Betas, Epsilons and work roles are defined from birth. Any negative emotion can be whisked away by government-prepared soma (drug). This 1931 book was praised for its striking foresight in predicting the conditions of the modern world. I do concur. Perhaps just not the storytelling
MARADONA THE HAND OF GOD - The journalist Jimmy Burns suffered Argentinian vitriol and depression after writing the book. It was a book that brought on hate. How dare this man bring shame to Argentina’s legend? When he came face to face with the legend footballer, Maradona had little kindness to offer, so mired was he then with drugs, partying and a destabilising life. The book is an impressive work of journalism that reveals the beauty of a boy wonder and the ugliness of a decadent football life
THE ROAD TO UNFREEDOM - The history of Russia, Ukraine and decades of Eastern European expertise gather to tell a story of a backward country that romanticises a mythical past without looking at present day events. Russia was great once, and thus it should always be, say the Russian forces. The shocking dishonesty of Russia and its nonchalance to citizen suffering is brilliantly exposed by the outstanding Timothy Snyder. Required reading for anyone interested in the world
“After I read a good book, I have a hard time coping with reality.”
