One thing the books I speak about below have in common is that they were written before the turn of the century. I am sure that this says something about our society, about me, or both. This was a time before the formula for a best-seller was highly refined, and before the rise of the ebook and self-publishing, which have resulted in glib “how to” and “10 things” books with designer covers rolling off the press, and troves of mindless, incomprehensible prose for sale on Kindle.
In no particular order, these are my forgotten texts.
THE ART OF CLEAR THINKING, Rudolf Flesch, Ph.D (1951)
‘It would be impudent to tell intelligent, grown-up people how to think.
All I h
ave tried to do here is to assemble certain known facts about the human mind and put them in plain English’. Rudolf Flesch.
Better known for Why Johnny Can’t Read, this Austrian immigrant to America spent his life working to improve communication. An advocate for plain language, spoken or written, I cannot help but think that as he thought about how to be plain, he concluded that one must be able to think clearly before attempting to communicate in plain language.
In these times, faced with the ‘incompetent’ citizen and consumer, we need more than ever to understand how the human mind works, the tricks to which we are susceptible, and how to think clearly. Practical ideas such as understanding the difference between ‘concrete’ and ‘concept’ are brilliantly explained here.
This book is a nightmare for the spin doctors and marketers, but should be compulsory for every citizen and consumer.
HOW TO LIVE LONGER AND FEEL BETTER, Linus Pauling (1986)
‘I am a scientist, a chemist, physicist, crystallographer, molecular biologist and medical researcher. When I discovered twenty years ago, that the new developments in the field of nutrition were being ignored, I became so interested that most of my effort since that time has been devoted to research and education in this field. I hope that this book will help many people to avoid serious illness and enable them to lead and to enjoy healthier longer lives’. Linus Pauling.
Two time Nobel Laureate with a wide range of interests and the intellect to match, Linus Pauling became passionate late in life about nutrition and especially the role of vitamins and minerals in human health.
Well reasoned, science based, and supported by evidence, this book contains the best explanation I have come across about the workings of the human body, and especially how vitamins (particularly vitamin C) are crucial to it.
The book recommends massive amounts of vitamins when compared to the Recommended Daily Allowance. Because of this, it has provoked huge backlash from the scientific and medical community, who have produced study after study to support the mainstream view that vitamins in excess of what is required to stop their specific symptom of deficiency (e.g. scurvy for vitamin C) is a waste.
Very early in the book, Pauling sets out his regimen for health. Several techniques are scattered throughout the book to fight several illnesses, my favourite being snorting vitamin C from a dropper, which I have found very effective.
Thirty years without a cold or flu, this is my evidence.
‘The proper use of vitamin C, together with vaccination when its use is indicated, should be effective in preventing an influenza pandemic or serious epidemic’. Linus Pauling.
ROAD LESS TRAVELED, M. Scott Peck, M.D. (1978)‘
A few have called me a prophet. I can accept such a seemingly grandiose title only because many have pointed out that a prophet is not someone who can see the future, but merely someone who can read the signs of the times. The Road was a su
ccess primarily because it was a book for its time; its audience made it a success’. M. Scott Peck
‘Life is difficult.’ So begins one of the greatest analyses of the human condition ever undertaken. Discipline, Love, Growth and Religion, and Grace; over these four sections the author uses his experience as a psychiatrist to create a prescription for mental health, and makes it clear that on the journey to healing and growth you must be prepared to do the work. This is not an easy prescription, and his conclusion that we are here to try to be God will freak out a lot of people. Nevertheless, if you follow his argument start to finish with an open mind, it is hard to find fault.
THE LESSONS OF HISTORY, Will and Ariel Durant (1968)
‘At the other end of the scale history reports that “the men who can manage men manage the men who can manage only things, and the men who can manage money manage all.” So the bankers, watching the trends in agriculture, industry, and trade, inviting and directing the flow of capital, putting our money doubly and trebly to work, controlling loans and interest and enterprise, running great risks make great gains, rise to the top of the economic pyramid’. Will & Ariel Durant.
This is a short book: just over a hundred pages in the paperback edition. I do not think more has been written in a hundred pages than here.
Why inequality? Why Trump? Why do bankers control everything? Why Brexit? Why the divide between north and south? Why civilisation? Why climate change? Why religion? Where are we going?
The lessons of history have gone unlearnt.
‘Human history is a brief spot in space, and its first lesson is modesty’. Will & Ariel Durant.
PLAGUES and PEOPLES, William H. McNeil (1976)
‘Nonetheless, the way infectious diseases have begun to come back shows that we remain caught in the web of life - permanently and irretrievably- no matter how clever we are at altering what we do not like, or how successful we become at displacing other species.’ William H. McNeil.
A look at history through the filter of plague, this book shows how the micro-parasites (virus and bacteria) that antedate humans have acted to contain and shape the macro-parasite (humans) through space and time.
It goes beyond the obvious effects on wars and populations and shows how Humanity’s drive to dominate the planet disrupts the natural balance of life, how life reacts to save itself, and how we relentlessly battle this reaction to continue our expansion.
There is one appendix to this book, it is a list of the recorded epidemics in Chinese history, and runs to five pages. It is not over yet.
PEAK PERFORMANCE, Charles A. Garfield with Hal Zina Bennet (1984)‘
Most athletes will acknowledge that 60 to 90 percent of success in sports is due to mental factors and psychological mastery. In spite of this fact we rarely encounter either recreational or competitive athletes who regularly practice disciplined, scientifically based mental training programs.’
Mental training techniques used with discipline within a coherent program greatly improve athletic (and other) performance. This is a how-to, based on science largely pioneered by Russians.
Mental relaxation, visualization, and creating and maintaining the peak performance state of mind under conditions of intense pressure. This book teaches how to recruit your mind to practice, perfect and execute.
THICK FACE, BLACK HEART Chin-Ning Chu (1995)
When you impose your will on others, that is black’. Lee, Thick Black Theory.
I was watching a Chinese reality show about business some years ago. The premise was searching for the businessman of the year. There were several finalists, each was profiled. One was an entrepreneur in glass, he made glass of all types and forms. During his interview he was asked about succession, about his children and his business. He said “I do not wish my children to suffer the indignities of business, the insults of customers, employees, bankers, to deal with government. My children must finish their education and enter professions where they can preserve their dignity and live with honour.”
This was a billionaire, who built his fortune so his family would not have to, not so that they could become “trust fund babies” but so that they could get a job.
Years later, I came across Thick Face, Black Heart and began to understand the sacrifice this man had made.
This interpretation of a relatively recent chinese text, which sought not so much to create a new philosophy as to explain what actually happens to make individuals successful in Chinese society, does a good job of explaining a complex system to someone without the context of being Chinese.
With the importance of China in the world today, this is a very important book as we are now all impacted by actions in and by China. It’s also not a bad way to be, yourself.
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