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10. References and ReviewsVersion 1.2 September 2019 Previous Version Introduction Here we propose to add reviews of some of the literature (books, papers, videos, etc) that has led us to these conclusions. These will initially all in English. Not sure if translations will ever exist. We’ve read the books, but haven’t done the reviews yet! The section in which works are to be listed is often an obvious choice but for some it’s not. ● Many works on personal development, society, politics and economics mix scientific and historical facts or theories with prescriptions of what we should do – value choices. ● Here we try to present scientific and historical facts and theories in Parts 2 (Science) and 3 (History) so that Parts 6 (Personal Practice) and 7 (Politics) focus on value choices. ● Rather than list such works in two or more sections we list them in the section where we think most people will expect to find them. ● For instance, Wapshott’s Keynes – Hayek, which covers the debate between two influential economists, is listed in section 10.7 (Politics and Economics) rather than in 10.3 (History).
10.0 Multi-Domain, Comprehensive Works The works listed here cover more than one knowledge domain, or a very wide field. By, Title, Pub, Place, 20xx Comment? more (later) 10.1 Philosophy By, Title, Pub, Place, 20xx Comment? more (later) 10.2 Science Cordelia Fine, Delusions of Gender: The real science behind sex differences, W.W. Orton & Co, New York, 2010 A brilliant, well referenced book that points out that most of our commonly accepted, supposedly scientifically based, notions of gender are not based on the evidence, or even contrary to it. more (later) By, Title, Pub, Place, 20xx Comment? more (later) 10.3 History Niall Ferguson, Civilization: Is the West history?, Let’s overlook the arrogance in the title, which links civilisation only to the West. Worst still we must overlook Ferguson’s assumption that the West is represented by America. Nevertheless Ferguson does present an interesting set of explanations as to why America has been more economically successful than South America, Africa, China and Europe. Ferguson lists his answers: competition, science, democracy, medicine, consumerism and the protestant work ethic. How good are these? This also was a TV series. more (later) By, Title, Pub, Place, 20xx Comment? more (later) 10.4 Religion Karen Armstrong, The Case for God, pub, place, yyyy I love Karen Armstrong, but many Atheists are antipathetic. She writes with insight and authority, covering the major theistic religions from the beginnings of human history. She acknowledges the errors of the fundamentalists and other idolaters, but presents her view of the best religion as a reverent approach to life rather than a fixed set of beliefs. She’s an optimist, but so am I, we just look at it differently. more (later) John Gray, Seven Types of Atheism, published by Allen Lane, 2018. John Gray comes across as a well-informed but opinionated, critical and angry man, willing and at times able to identify the flaws in others’ views, while displaying similar flaws himself. Ultimately Gray cannot envisage an eighth type of Atheism that acknowledges the value of religion, understands the limitations of humans and science and idealized doctrines, that is not either misotheistic or deistic and provides grounds for action and hope, not despair. This eighth type is like a Reasonable Global Way, which does provide meaning and purpose, a sound, valid universal narrative, moral guidance and a degree of ‘spiritual’ comfort, all without illusion or fanaticism. (more) By, Title, Pub, Place, 20xx Comment? more (later) 10.5 Art, Culture & Media
By, Title, Pub, Place, 20xx Comment? more (later) 10.6 Personal Practice
By, Title, Pub, Place, 20xx Comment? more (later) 10.7 Politics and Economics Roger E. Backhouse, The Penguin History of Economics, Penguin, London, 2002 Informative if not inspiring, but this contains good explanations of some of the profound issues and insights of economics. more (later) Niall Ferguson, The Ascent of Money: a Financial History of the World, Penguin Books, Penguin Books, London, 2008 The title is obviously a tribute to (or an abuse of) Bronowski’s Ascent of Man (see 10.0). Ferguson’s book is an excellent and very readable integration of the development of “western” economics and commerce with “western” history, but it’s not as comprehensive as Bronowski’s. This also was a TV series. David Graeber, Debt: the first 5,000 years, Melville House, New York, 2011 An analysis of the history and implications of debt by an anthropologist, which has some useful insights but is ultimately unsatisfying because Graeber’s solution to our financial system’s problems is simply to destroy it, then see what happens next. more (later) Ha-Joon Chang, 23 Things they don't tell you about capitalism, Allen Lane, 2010 A concise expose of the myths promoted by the economic liberals, whose policies have dominated the West, especially the Anglosphere, since the mid 1980s, showing that these policies have not worked, and presenting alternatives. more (later) Antony Loewenstein, Profits of Doom: How Vulture Capitalism is Swallowing the World, Melbourne University Press, 2013. Reveals alarming facts about the corporatisation and privatization of national security, imprisonment and war. more (later) Naomi Oreskes & Erik M. Conway, Merchants of Doubt: how a handful of scientists obscured the truth o issues from tobacco smoke to global warming, Bloomsbury, London, 2010 A startling, well documented expose of how the world has been misled into doubting reliable scientific results that affect our well being – and our survival. more (later) Carmen M Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, This Time is Different: eight centuries of financial folly, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 2009 A comprehensive presentation of data, covering many centuries and the whole world, showing how uncontrolled debt causes most national and international financial crises. The authors were criticised for an error in some other spreadsheet, but the analysis presented here seems at this stage to be irrefutable. more (later) Nouriel Roubini & Stephen Mihm, Crisis Economics: a crash course in the future of economics, (with a new afterward), Penguin, USA, 2011 An analysis of why financial booms and busts occur. Roubini is famous for being one of the few who predicted the global financial crises of 2008. They don't just explain what happened, but present practical solutions to reduce future financial risks. more (later) Richard S Tedlow, Denial: why business leaders fail to look facts in the face - and what to do about it, Penguin, USA, 2010 A set of case studies of how some corporates got it really wrong, and some got it right. more (later) Nicholas Wapshott, Keynes – Hayek: the clash that defined modern economics, W.W. Norton & Co, New York, 2011 A brilliant, well referenced book that points out that most of our commonly accepted, supposedly scientifically based, notions of gender are not based on the evidence, or even contrary to it. more (later) By, Title, Pub, Place, 20xx Comment? more (later) 10.8 Global Approaches This section is intended to include works about universal solutions to our local and global problems. We expect these to be more than self help or survivalist books, religious or political polemics, or scientific or historical overviews. Generalist works can be covered in Section 0, and other domain specific works can be listed in Sections 1 to 7. Jacob Bronowski, The Ascent of Man, first published by the BBC in 1973 This is the book of the TV series called ‘The Ascent of Man’ first broadcast by the BBC in 1973, which was a brilliant and influential overview of the history of humanity, integrating our progress in art, science and technology with implied lessons for how we should respond to the world. We overlook the sexist terminology in the title, typical of the age, to be astounded by the breadth and humanity of his vision. “The personal commitment of a [person] to [their own] skill, the intellectual commitment and the emotional commitment working together as one, has made the Ascent of Man”. Try to find the TV series, because the book contains the text but no images. Jeremy Griffith, FREEDOM: the end of the human condition, WTM Publishing and Communications Pty Ltd, Sydney, 2016 Available online at www.humancondition.com It’s a complex world, and understanding any analysis and proposed solutions is difficult and time consuming. Most people don't have the insight, knowledge, courage and persistence to devise a global; narrative, and Griffith is to be applauded for his attempt. But his analysis is flawed and incomplete. He tells us the cause of the human condition is guilt and repression caused when our conscious minds realize what horrible corrupt beings we are. He assumes that in preconscious times we were (as a species and as infants) naturally loving and compassionate, ignoring that when we became conscious we immediately saw our brutish behaviour, which must have coexisted with our compassionate side. He does not recognise the significance of choice in determining value. He narrowly defines the human condition to be the conflict between instinct and intellect, and he defines narrow solutions – that we should use modern science to understand, be compassionate and overcome our guilt. He does not address the historical grievances between ethnic groups and nations, hoping that all this will come out in the wash when upset people are redeemed. He fails to address the ongoing need to contain our competitive instincts because he thinks they are virtually unreal, arising out of consciousness, and the issues are all now resolved, given his explanation of our history. Would that it were so. more
By, Title, Pub, Place, 20xx Comment? more (later) 10.9 Promotion Methods This section is intended to include works about techniques that may be useful for promoting this way, including advocacy, activism, advertising, education, lobbying, marketing etc. By, Title, Pub, Place, 20xx Comment? more (later)
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