Books

Spending all my time during the semester submerged in books and articles, additional reading outside my curriculum doesn't strike me as a way to relax. Holidays, however, are redemption time!

I have just finished two great books in the last week and a half. The first, "Consolations of Philosophy", tries to tie human hardship together with a philosophy which can provide consolation. Using philosophies of the likes of Socrates, Epicurus, Michel de Montaigne, John Stuart Mill, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche, the book is a quick glance at the evolution and realm of philosophy, written in a very accessible fashion. It is a great way for first-time readers of philosophy to get acquainted with some of the major works in this field, as well as a change of focus for more experienced readers.

The second, "Escape from Camp 14", is the story of Shin Dong-hyuk, the only known person born in a North Korean political prison to have escaped. Based on interviews with Shin and other escapees, the author Blaine Harden (who writes for the Washington Post and the New York Times and has become a somewhat specialist on political implosion) couples his story with an account of the political environment in North East Asia and North Korea at the time. The book describes the life of a human being born into a society where snitching is rewarded with extra food, where beatings, 15-hour days of forced work, and public executions are the norm. It depicts an individual having no conscience, no concept of love, trust, merit, faith, hope, or freedom, and has no knowledge of the outside world in which he lives. Shin grew up chronically hungry, and the story from a fellow prisoner about the joys of roasted meat, as well as an inconceivable amount of fortune and endurance, ultimately led to escape and 2 year trek across North Korea into China.

I tend to prefer factional books to fiction, allowing me to study subjects such as history and politics which develop me a person. My brother often shakes his head and thrusts massive novels or epics into my lap in his quest to save my soul from becoming homo economicus. I do enjoy novels, but having spent most of my childhood reading them, I am now becoming fond of books which challenge me and teach me something, rather than fantasize myself into an imaginary world. Thus my next book, "Thinking, fast and slow" by economics Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, on the psychology of of human decision-making and the influence of intuition and biases on our thoughts and behaviour, will be a treat. Sorry.