Holiday Gift's For Those Who Still Read

 At some point, very shortly, the nightmare we all deal with is about to happen. That nightmare, Christmas, is just around the corner. Just the word alone brings chills to many of us. Soon you will start to notice the front ? of all retail stores looking very red and white. If you’re parent of a small child you’re faced with the real nightmare of buying expensive and ever larger presents that are rarely appreciated. If you’re kids are older, or better yet, if you are lucky enough to have them out of the house, you’re busy looking up the amount of last years check (god forbid you jipp them and give less than last year.) To that end it may be time to buy yourself a few gifts to take your mind off all this consumerism. If you are a real rebel, try books. (Hey, I’m hip. I don’t mean they actually things that have pages. I’m an Kindle guy. By the way, most of the descriptions below came from Amazon and the links are to Amazons book section.) Here are this year's reading suggestions: (WARNING:There are no novels here. Sorry, I’m a non-fiction nerd.)

I. Who We Are Books
A.  Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond. This is a      must-read about why where you were born will affect what kind of life you will have. It “answers the question of why the peoples of certain continents succeeded in invading other continents and conquering or displacing their peoples”. As Jared Diamond vividly reveals, the very people who gained a head start in producing food would collide with preliterate cultures, shaping the modern world through conquest, displacement, and genocide.The paths that lead from scattered centers of food to broad bands of settlement had a great deal to do with climate and geography. Before you give yourself credit for your great life, read this book, it’s humbling.

B. 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann. Presenting the latest research by biologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians, Mann shows how the post-Colombian network of ecological and economic exchange fostered the rise of Europe, devastated imperial China, convulsed Africa, and for two centuries made Mexico City—where Asia, Europe, and the new frontier of the Americas dynamically interacted—the center of the world. In this history, Mann uncovers the germ of today's fiercest political disputes, from immigration to trade policy to culture wars.

C. Bobos In Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There by David Brooks. Do you believe that spending $15,000 on a media center is vulgar, but that spending $15,000 on a slate shower stall is a sign that you are at one with the Zenlike rhythms of nature? Do you work for one of those visionary software companies where people come to work wearing hiking boots and glacier glasses, as if a wall of ice were about to come sliding through the parking lot? If so, you might be a Bobo. In his bestselling work of "comic sociology," David Brooks coins a new word, Bobo, to describe today's upper class -- those who have wed the bourgeois world of capitalist enterprise to the hippie values of the bohemian counterculture. Their hybrid lifestyle is the atmosphere we breathe, and in this witty and serious look at the cultural consequences of the information age, Brooks has defined a new generation.

II. God, or Lack Thereof 
        A. Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life  by Stephen Jay Gould. Is it possible to be a scientist and a believer? In his distinctively elegant style, Gould offers a lucid, contemporary principle that allows science and religion to coexist peacefully in a position of respectful noninterference. Science defines the natural world; religion our moral world in recognition of their separate spheres of influence. In exploring this thought-provoking concept, Gould delves into the history of science, sketching affecting portraits of scientists and moral leaders wrestling with matters of faith and reason. Stories of seminal figures such as Galileo, Darwin, and Thomas Henry Huxley make vivid his argument that individuals and cultures must cultivate both a life of the spirit and a life of rational inquiry in order to experience the fullness of being human.

        B. Man's Search for Meaning  by Viktor E. Frankl. This is a book that you will not want to read, but you should. I avoided it myself until I had a crisis of “finding meaning”. Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of those he treated in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. Frankl's theory—known as logotherapy, from the Greek word logos ("meaning")—holds that our primary drive in life is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful.

        C. The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason  by Sam Harris. As a leader of the “New Atheists” Sam Harris’ important and timely book delivers a startling analysis of the clash of faith and reason in today's world. Harris offers a vivid historical tour of mankind's willingness to suspend reason in favor of religious beliefs, even when those beliefs are used to justify harmful behavior and sometimes-heinous crimes. He asserts that in the shadow of weapons of mass destruction, we can no longer tolerate views that pit one true god against another. Most controversially, he argues that we cannot afford moderate lip service to religion; an accommodation that only blinds us to the real perils of fundamentalism. While warning against the encroachment of organized religion into world politics, Harris also draws on new evidence from neuroscience and insights from philosophy to explore spirituality as a biological, brain-based need. He calls on us to invoke that need in taking a secular humanistic approach to solving the problems of this world.

        D. Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism.  by Susan Jacoby. At a time when the separation of church and state is under attack as never before, Freethinkers offers a powerful defense of the secularist heritage that gave Americans the first government in the world founded not on the authority of religion but on the bedrock of human reason. In impassioned, elegant prose, celebrated author Susan Jacoby traces more than two hundred years of secularist activism, beginning with the fierce debate over the omission of God from the Constitution. Moving from nineteenth-century abolitionism and suffragism through the twentieth century's civil liberties, civil rights, and feminist movements, Freethinkers illuminates the neglected achievements of secularists who, allied with tolerant believers, have led the battle for reform in the past and today.

        E. The Relaxation Response by Miriam Z. Klipper and Herbert Benson. I put this book under the God heading but it really should be in its own area. It is not really about either God or religion but is about spirituality. Even that word creeps me out. Take a read, you’ll like it. For those who always wanted to learn meditation but didn’t want to deal with all the BS, this book is for you. When Dr. Herbert Benson introduced this simple, effective, mind/body approach to relieve stress in The Relaxation Response twenty-five years ago, the book became an instant national bestseller. Since that time, millions of people have learned the secret of the relaxation response--without high-priced lectures, drugs, or prescription medicine. The tremendous success of this approach has turned The Relaxation Response into the classic reference recommended by most healthcare professionals and authorities to treat the harmful effects of stress. 

III. Economics, Ecology and/or Politics
        A. The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge. If you are a “Lefty”, this is a must read. No matter what side you are on politically, and I am going to assume that most of my readers are left leaning and vote Democratic, you need to understand and empathize with conservatism. This book will help you understand your conservative friends. No conservative friends- you really need to read this book. How did America's government become so much more conservative in just a generation? Compared to Europe-or to America under Richard Nixon-even President Howard Dean would preside over a distinctly more conservative nation in many crucial respects: welfare is gone; the death penalty is deeply rooted; abortion is under siege; regulations are being rolled back; the pillars of New Deal liberalism are turning to sand. Conservative positions have not prevailed everywhere, of course, but this book shows us why they've been so successfully advanced over such a broad front.

        B. The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy by William Greider. From the Godfather of Moral Capitalism comes The Soul of Capitalism. Greider examines how the greatest wealth-creation engine in the history of the world is failing most of us, why it must be changed, and how specifically it can be transformed. Brilliantly perceptive and sweeping in its ambition, The Soul of Capitalism is also hard-headed and practical, as Greider, one of our most eloquent populist spokesmen, assures us we are not powerless. He illustrates how American capitalism can be aligned more faithfully and obediently with what people want and need in their lives, with what American society needs for a healthy, balanced, and humane future. He proves that it is within our power to reinvent capitalism to make it work for us.

        C. The Ecology of Commerce Revised Edition: A Declaration of Sustainability (Collins Business Essentials) by Paul Hawken. Unfortunately many business people believe that environmentalism is anti-business. In this book we see a way to be both pro-business and at the same time an environmentalist. In this book Hawken makes an impassioned argument—that business both causes the most egregious abuses of the environment and, crucially, holds the most potential for solving our sustainability problems and this updated book is more relevant and resonant than ever.

        D. The Divine Right of Capital: Dethroning the Corporate Aristocracy by Marjorie Kelly. This book is for true believers. Wealth inequity, corporate welfare, and industrial pollution are the symptoms of our sickened economy, Marjorie Kelly suggests. The underlying illness is shareholder primacy. In The Divine Right of Capital, she shows that the corporate drive to maximize shareholder profits at any cost is not only out of step with democratic and free-market principles, but is detrimental to the long-term health of individual companies and the economy as a whole. Kelly offers a far-reaching solution to rebuild corporations in a way that serves all.

I hope that you enjoy my suggestions. Some of these are new (published in 2012), some older (some originally published in the late 1940’s) but all are worth the effort. If you are an electronic book reader you can always download a sample to see if you like them. It has been my experience that when I went from book (hardcover and paperback) to electronic Kindle (or any electronic variation) I more than doubled my reading. Maybe you can kill two birds with one stone and get your kids hooked on reading using a Kindle. One of the things we did in our family (since I was the first Kindle reader) was to purchased all subsequent Kindles under my account so we can all share the books purchased. This makes your purchase even better.Have a nice holiday.