MysteriousFaith

Updated 2006 Bookshelf

What We Believe but Cannot Prove edited by John Brockman

At its worst, scientism makes claims about being able to prove everything regarding humanity’s sense of reality. This book is an interesting perspective on what scientists believe but cannot prove – at times touching on the realm of theology, the book accommodates a certain humility about what science can and can not answer. This is not to be mistaken for the respective authors (the book is divided into more than 100 small chapters written by leading scientists) claiming that science will never be able to prove what now can only be believed.

How We Believe by Michael Shermer

I strongly recommend this book for anyone suspicious that our beliefs have more to do with our cultural experiences, personal stories and familial heritage than they do any real attempt to wrestle with the logic, coherence and sensibility of what it is we say we believe. This book is one of my top books for 2006 thus far.

The Price of Loyalty by Ron Suskind

Suskind’s collaboration with Paul O’Neill, former Treasury Secretary of the United States, is a subtly scathing initial insight into the world our current President inhabits. O’Neill was the first member of the inner circle to stand up and take issue with how the President makes decisions, and how the path to the Iraqi war was conducted. The result is a shameful indictment of a President whose confidence is poorly suited to both his experience and his intellect.

The Gospel of Jesus: in Search of the Original Good News by James M. Robinson

There are enormous stakes at play within how divinity schools are reacting to the ongoing attempts to reduce the New Testament to an original document that is historically trustworthy. Robinson’s efforts here fall into the moderate to left-side of the dialogue, in that he is responsive to contemporary textual revisionism based on the role of Q and the disagreements between the Gospel narratives. His hope is to take our eyes less of this portion of the debate, and focus more on what he believes is the underlying message of Jesus: trust in a Divine Father who loves us all, but who requires us to respond to needs in this world in order to accomplish His will. A message worth hearing and responding to, regardless of the veracity of what Robinson believes is the ultimate source.

American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation by Jon Meacham

The attempts to remake America into a Christian nation are symptomatic of a deeply troubling agenda on the part of the Religious Right to have America become a nation with vaguely theocratic impulses. Both sides of this debate ask us to reflect on the Founding Fathers; as with many such attempts, we ultimately see our own reflection when we look back into the clouded mist of the past. Contemporary children of the Enlightenment see Deists; contemporary Christians see their own evangelical values reflected back to them. The reality is that the Founding Fathers were no more monolithic in their beliefs than we are now, and that they created a distinctly godless Constitution when other options existed. My friend Rich Vincent has a good review of Meacham’s book at his site here.

Lost Christianity by Jacob Needleman

This book promised a lost Christianity discovered by a wandering priest, but I never found it to deliver on this promise. What it did contribute I found to be said better in other works; hence, I would not really recommend this book.

A Brief History of Everything by Ken Wilber

Wilber’s work continues to surprise and amaze me. His AQAL (all quadrant all level) model is absolutely ingenious in its conception, execution and stability to new insights from our still developing world. This book is his integral theory at its best both conceptually and practically. Highly recommended.

Capote by Gerald Clarke

I so thoroughly loved Philip Seymour Hoffman’s rendition of Truman Capote that I picked up Gerald Clarke’s biography of Capote. Of all the biographies I have read in the last three years, this is probably my favorite both in terms of writing style and content. Clarke does just a phenomenal job of telling us Capote’s story, bending it around the Theresa of Avila saying that “more tears are shed in heaven for answered prayers than unanswered ones.” Capote so badly wanted fame, only to be destroyed by the story which gave it to him.

Untouchables: My Family’s Journey Out of the Caste System in Modern India by Narendra Jadhav

This book is the real-life story of a family of untouchables from India and their attempt to enter India’s mainstream. It is almost always saddening, were it not for the final success their children enjoyed, the book might only succeed at being one of many troubled insights into the evil of the caste system.

The One Percent Doctrine by Ron Suskind

Suskind’s most recent book is a must-read for anyone attempting to understand the Bush Administration’s post 9/11 strategy. Cheney’s direction to the intelligence and military community was that if their was only a one percent chance of a terrorist event, they must act as though it was a sure thing. This untenable proposition is a sad insight into the inability of established governments and societies to deal with terrorism. In its unconventional threat it plays on our fears more than it actually inflicts damage – its damage owes much to our response to it, and Suskind brilliantly illustrates that the Bush Administration does not understand this.

Cobra II: the Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq by Michael R. Gordon and Bernard E. Trainor

Having finished about two feet worth of books on the Iraq War, it is difficult to point to only one book which attempts to be narrative and only moderately editorialize the mistakes of the run up to, and the aftermath of the Iraq War. Cobra II and Thomas Rick’s Fiasco would be the two best I have thus far encountered which manage this balancing act.

The Great Transformation: the Beginning of Our Religious Traditions by Karen Armstrong

Armstrong’s most recent book is an attempt to take us back into the Axial Age and see the formation of the world’s great religions along some common lines of development. I most appreciated her treatment of the development of the Jewish Old Testament, but her typically thorough handling of Buddhist and Confucianism is equally good. Armstrong believes that the spiritual energies of this period of time were broadly responding to nationalistic tendencies within different nations by emphasizing compassion and humility more than orthodoxy.

Boomeritis: a Novel that Will Set You Free by Ken Wilber

This book is certainly not for everyone, and many will not get it. My extended review of the book can be found here.

The Force of Reason by Oriana Fallaci

Fallaci recently passed away, and in the months after her death, we would be the better were we to wrestle with her insights into the murky world of religion and reason. Her questions are in many ways those the current Pope is attempting to answer; his utter lack of originality is easily contrasted to Fallaci’s scathing insight which her questions illuminate. She was one of the first thinkers to see the evil of Islam and the ineptness with which Western Europe was responding.

Mr. China: a Memoir by Tim Clissold

Clissold was one of the brave few who went into China much before people such as I flew business class and checked into the Hongquaio Marriott. His story is absolutely fascinating and shows just how much the country has come in the last twenty years.

China’s New Nationalism: Pride, Politics, and Diplomacy by Peter Gries

China understands the potential of its own power, but it also has its own political needs which it must pay attention to. Gries works to provide us with an insight into how China’s own political needs might manifest itself in various policy changes which owe their inception to a new sense of nationalism within the country. This work is of particular importance as well all attempt and imagine what the middle ground solution will be as China embraces both its collective socialist drive with its emphasis on individual capitalism.

Foreign Babes in Beijing: Behind the Scenes of a New China by Rachel DeWoskin

Judging from the pictures on her book, DeWoskin is certainly a babe, and her story of being in Beijing as a Chinese soap opera starlet is really good. It manages to be personally interesting while also showing us a number of different insights into the life of Chinese young adults. Very worthwhile reading.

An Empire Wilderness: Travels into America’s Future (Vintage Departures) by Robert D. Kaplan

Kaplan’s last book Imperial Grunts left me a bit under-whelmed; however, his older books never cease to illuminate ideas I have not been able to fully flesh out for myself. This book may be one of the first to begin to tap into the resource limitations and impact of Hispanic culture in America’s West.

Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Koran Zailckas

Poignant, funny and incredibly sad, Zailckas’ debut book is about her own struggle with addiction to alcohol. One wonders if personal tragedy is the sole ink well her author’s quill may be successfully dipped into. Let us hope not for her own sake.

American Theocracy: the Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century by Kevin Phillips

Profoundly troubling. American Christianity is undergoing a continued infatuation with the idea that political power is the key to personal change. In this, its intellectual justifications parallel those whose excesses we see very clearly in Islamic theocracies around the world today. But Phillips wants us to see more than just this: he wants us to see that the Republican Party is at odds with its historical beliefs within religion, domestic fiscal policy, and the role oil is playing in the movement’s foreign affairs. His analysis should be given much credibility if in no small part because of his role as a campaign adviser to numerous Republican Presidential campaigns. When those from within a movement are warning it of its own excesses, change or further putrification are the only two choices.

Imposter: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy by Bruce Bartlett

In a similar vein as Kevin Phillips’ book, Imposter echoes the idea that George Bush is no real conservative. In fact, he is only hungry for power, and willing to do whatever he must to hold onto it. Bartlett is yet another conservative ideologue warning how far astray this administration has gone from anything resembling traditional conservatism.

Pre-Emption: a Knife that Cuts Both Ways (Issues of Our Time) by Alan M. Dershowitz

This book is profound, and Dershowitz must be credited for his attempt to find a way of establishing a conception of pre-emption that can be fairly adjudicated. I still need more time to wrestle with his thoughts, as I am not sure his solution actually mitigates any risk.

While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within by Bruce Bawer

Bawer is one of my favorite authors. His last two books are indispensable cultural commentaries: Place at the Table is my favorite treatment of what it means to be a homosexual in America, and his Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity marked the beginning of some questions I had long known I needed to wrestle with. While Europe Slept is deeply troubling in that it captures the weak-kneed response Western Europe has had to the onslaught of vitriolic Islam within their own countries. Bawer’s analysis of why this occurred and Wilber’s analysis of the problems of pluralism are very mutually compatible.

Doctors from Hell: the Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans by Vivien Spitz

This book documents, unfortunately not in a particularly well-written fashion, the various experiments Nazi doctors did on groups of refuges, Jews and homosexuals in Hitler’s Germany. Man’s evil to man truly knows no bounds. It was deeply troubling to me to read this book and remember how the church I was raised in made no bones about believing that criminals (who would include more than today’s justice system would, had they had their way) should be used for medical experimentation.

The Courtier and the Heretic: Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Fate of God in the Modern World by Matthew Stewart

This book is a lovely treatment of the complicated relationship between the self-aggrandizing Leibniz and the self-effacing Spinoza. Spinoza has been one of my favorite treats of 2006.

Without You: a Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent by Anthony Rapp

I confess to being a RENT!-head. Rapp’s portrayal of the lead character Mark Cohen is haunting for me. This memoir is sad and utterly candid in its confession of his own indiscretions, struggles, travails and honesty about his homosexuality. If you did not like RENT! the movie, this is probably not a book you will appreciate.

Lincoln’s Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness by Joshua Wolf Shenk

Something about today’s media-rich content-poor culture is giving us political leaders who are empty shells, and perhaps this is owed much to the fact that we do not really believe mistakes shape greatness. Lincoln was one such figure whose ultimate success was made possible only through his own struggles with what Shenk believes was classic depression. It should be noted that Doris Kearns Goodwin’s most recent biography of Lincoln does not agree with Shenk’s conclusion as to Lincoln’s depression.

Fiasco: the American Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas Ricks

This book may go down as the signature piece on the war in Iraq. If you can read this and not throw the book across the room in utter frustration and anger over the incompetence that led us into and now has us firmly planted in Iraq, your ideological commitment to this administration is impenetrable to the facts.

Conservatives without Conscience by John Dean

Dean is one of the many Goldwater-era conservatives who see something truly sinister within the current American Republican party. Of particular concern to Dean is his sense that the party is being increasingly controlled by people who are authoritarian in their mental make-up, making their use of religious values a troubling combination of puritanical fanaticism with political fascism. We may very well look back post another foreign affairs crisis and economic malaise and find ourselves with a government people such as Dean warned us against.

The World is Flat: a Brief History of the Twenty-First Century by Thomas L. Friedman

Frankly, this is not Friedman’s best work. By far, his work in From Beirut to Jerusalem is much more insightful. Perhaps this is because much of the world Friedman writes about in The World is Flat is a world I know well – the “flat” globalized world of today’s businessman. I do not believe Friedman captures the destabilizing potential of a flat world at the same level of analysis as does the upside potential. On the whole, I much prefer the analysis of Robert Kaplan in this area. A Coming Anarchy is a much better treatment of the globalized world.

Defending Gary: Unraveling the Mind of the Green River Killer by Mark Prothero and Carlton Smith

Criminology has always fascinated me, namely the profiling of various criminals. This book was written by the defense counsel for Gary Ridgeway, the Green River Killer. The book is a touch over-done in terms of what is included – I felt it could have benefited from a heavy edit. Whenever I read a book like this, I am reminded of the ageless phrase Hannah Arendt in her book on Adolph Eichmann, The Banality of Evil. Her point was different - that average people can so easily succumb to pressure and become agents of evil. Ridgeway was an externally normal man whose serial killing was hidden beneath an exterior of utter averageness.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Restless Genius by Leo Damrosch

Probably the most thorough biography of Rousseau to be published in the last fifty years. Not only a restless genius, but a troubled one as well (perhaps that is the only kind of genius?!?).

On the Road to Armageddon: How Evangelicals Became Israel’s Best Friend by Timothy P. Weber

Sam Harris likes to say that American evangelicals’ end-times fascination with Israel is perfectly maladapted to a rational policy for peace in the Middle East. Weber’s analysis of how evangelicals became so wedded to Israel provides a support for what Harris suggests. If anything is lost in these comments, it is that we have many good reasons to support Israel which Christianity does not do a good job of equally emphasizing.

Bait and Switch: the (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream by Barbara Ehrenriech

This book was a disappointment in its inability to capture the other reason for why the pursuit of the American dream is failing – namely, our infatuation with living beyond our means. Ehrenriech does capture the struggles of the middle class, a symptom of a deeper calcification within American society, but her analysis is one-sided and incomplete.

Father Your Son: How to Become the Father You’ve Always Wanted to Be by Stephan B. Poulter

If I am ever a father, it will not be an easy role for me to play. To do so successfully, books like this will be necessary for my development. What many may see as common sense is anything but when it comes to this topic.

Atheism: the Case Against God (Skeptic’s Bookshelf) by George H. Smith

Atheism is not understood in America. It is largely seen as the religion of Stalin and Hitler, and devoid of morality, when it is anything but. A book like Smith’s is necessary for those who wish to understand why atheists believe what they do, and to see how sincere most are with respect to their wrestling with the question of God. Like any human ideology, atheisists have their share of vitriolic fundamentalists who are angry, having experienced the interolance or naked aggression of religious fundamentalism. A book such as this does a superb job of articulating the other, more grounded and reasonable aspects to atheism.

U.S. National Security and Foreign Direct Investment by Edward M. Graham and David M. Marchick

The sale of a potential US national security interest to a Dubai firm was an example of nationalism getting in the way of globalization (take heed Friedman), of politics obfuscating pragmatism. My extended review of this book is scheduled to be covered in a future periodical I am not at liberty to divulge yet.

Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Robert D. Kaplan

Deeply, deeply troubling. Kaplan is the grandfather of embedded journalism. He was in Afghanistan when the Russians were, and his love of the people and culture is reflected in this page turner. To read this book is to realize that we will never win in Afghanistan because we can not control the parts of the country that their own government can not, and the Russians (never scared of the occasional heavy hand) could either.

The Fellowship: the Untold Story of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Fellowship by Roger Friedland and Harold Zellman

My wife really enjoys Wright’s homes. Genius is often times messy, and Wright was no exception to this. He was a mass of contradictions, confusion and instability. His personal life was a wreck, the exact opposite of the precise clean lines of his building philosophy. This book focuses specifically on the fellowship he established at his Taliesin compound in Wisconsin.

The Soul of a Chef: the Journey toward Perfection by Michael Ruhlman

This book is a three-part act showing the art that is elevated cuisine. The first act covers the Certified Master Chef exam at the Culinary Institute of America. The stunning detail and level of mastery of those who take this exam is amazing. My own limited culinary skills were tantalized by this book.

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

I adore Bourdain. His TV show is one of my favorites; I will confess to having most of the last season on my iPod. It took me too long to get to this book. As with many authors, I wonder if his next work will be as well received because this one dug so deeply and completely from his own story. Regardless, this book is great.

From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas L. Friedman

This book is a must read for anyone who wishes to understand the Middle East. Friedman’s analysis is unique in no small part because of his time within Beirut and Jerusalem, made more profound because he is a Jew who was willing to be self-critical as to his own heritage in equal parts as he evaluates the excesses of the Arab culture he lived within and loved. This is a really rich read.

The Plot against America by Philip Roth

While not my favorite Roth book, The Plot against America is subtle and sophisticated. In its subtlety is its power, and its reminder that evil is rarely out of reach for a society under pressure.

The Psychological Roots of Religious Belief: Searching for Angels and the Parent-God by M.D. Faber

Faber’s research touches on something I have long suspected: that religious belief owes much to the initial actually synaptic neurological pathways established between infant and caregiver. In later life, our religious impulses to turn to God for answering our prayers owes its self-sensibility to the unconscious fact that our needs were met in a similar fashion by a seemingly omniscient and omnipresent benevolent giver who just so happened to be our parents.

A Long Short War: the Postponed Liberation of Iraq by Christopher Hitchens

Hitchens is one of my favorite political commentators, but his support of the Bush administration has long been confusing to me. This short collection of essays from his Slate.Com column on Iraq is always insightful, but deeply unpersuasive. My sense is that Hitchens’ support of the war in Iraq is very deeply grounded in the idea that international law must mean something, and that his personal experience with the Kurds colors his writing.

Guanxi (the Art of Relationships): Microsoft, China, and Bill Gates’ Plan to Win the Road Ahead by Robert Buderi and Gregory T. Huang

My analysis of this book can be read at Asia Times here.

Leading the Revolution by Gary Hamel

Building a business on the basis of innovation is easier said than done. Hamel is a superb critic of what prevents most business leaders from really emphasizing innovation. A very good read.

Team of Rivals: the Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

This book is the compelling story about how Lincoln came to be President. Among the unappreciated skills Lincoln possessed was his magnanimous nature – the fact that he could allow others to take positions of power before him ultimately became a strength as he built a coalition of different personalities to lead the country through the Civil War.

Hershey: Milton S. Hershey’s Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire and Utopian Dreams by Michael D’Antonio

A fascinating biography of Milton Hershey and his work to build his chocolate empire, as well as a city which would be a real workers’ utopia. His populism is vaguely echoed in the decisions by Gates and Buffett to give their wealth away.

Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris

Thomas Paine and Sam Harris would understand each other. This is a very Paine-esque book which attacks Christian fundamentalism in America. A very short, but powerful read.

For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports by Christopher Hitchens

A collection of Hitchens’ essays from the 80s and early 90s, this book is his writing at its best, although it is, when comparing Hitchens of then to his positions now, somewhat confusing. His withering criticism of the Reagan and first Bush administration seems poorly matched to his commentary on the second Bush. As Hitchens says, change in people and countries have to be allowed for, and perhaps that is all that is needed to make sense of these differences. My suspicion is that something deeper has occurred, but more on that later.

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• September 23, 2006

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