What I Just Read

Excellent, readable short history of the battle of Adrianople, setting it in context of the final decades of the Western Roman Empire. Worth reading in particular for valuable historical context for the various fiscal, monetary and immigration policies the USA has embraced over the past few generations. At a certain point in Rome's historical arc, its leaders discovered that it could use barbarians as low cost labor and low cost military manpower. Further, both immigration and a type of what we might call "loose fiscal policy" could be powerful tools Roman elites could use to retain power and maintain the status quo that so enriched them at the expense of the peasantry. As the saying goes, history never repeats, but it sure rhymes. And it is incredibly disturbing to see policy decisions in 300-400 AD Rome--right before its collapse--that "rhyme" so well with various fiscal, monetary and immigration policies in place here and now in the USA. Striking.  Finally, o...

I thank the author for writing this book. It is similar in theme and insights to Eckhart Tolle's "The Power of Now" but written in a direct, declarative style, rather than Tolle's indirect Socratic dialogue style, which some readers have found difficult or confusing.  Very much worth reading, and full of insights to help a sincere reader develop meta-awareness and put the problems and sufferings of modern life into context.  Full chapter notes and quotes to follow:   Chapter 1:  "...most of life will unfold in accordance with forces far outside your control, regardless of what your mind says about it." Your inner chatter as a narration of what happens outside in your experience, "a personal presentation of the world according to you, rather than the stark, unfiltered experience of what is really out there" that "allows you to buffer reality as it comes in" and allows you to control the experience of reality to some extent.  Buffering your...

A densely written, difficult book, but very much worth reading. Predictive (almost prophetic you could say) of many of the struggles the USA faces now, nearly 70 years later. See, for example, the ugly ironies of modern culture wars, the invisible ironies of modern censorship, and saddest of all, the ironic struggle of working and middle classes under our technology overlords and government elites who, under the guise of "helping" us, increasingly control what we see, what we can say, and what we can do. Niebuhr also points out in powerful ways the irony of "the pursuit of happiness" and how it places the individual in opposition to the collective, and how it leads ultimately to a vapid and vulgar culture. The more powerful we have become as a nation, the less we are masters of our destiny. Niebuhr points out, again ironically, that we were a far greater master of our nation's destiny in the early decades of our history than we are now. When Niebuhr wrote this b...