A post-cyberpunk book, meaning it has cyberpunk setting and elements, but those are not the primary focus of the book which can also be classified as 'SteamPunk' as much of the content deals with Neo-Victorian mores and morals. Very interesting vision of the future of nanotechnology and what would it cause if left unchecked and unregulated and completely within the domain of the corporations. Quite a bit of social critique thrown in, from classes in the society and different cultural norms and prerogatives, to the dissolution of nation-states and subsequent formation and grouping of individuals by beliefs, rather than genes.
The book follows the early life of a 'thete' a non-affiliated low-class girl who gets into a possession of a nanotech book, which is actually and educational and virtual reality supercomputer, made to instill values and train the owner to be independent thinker, empowered to tackle pretty much anything life throws at her, which is in stark contrast to the amorphous mass of pleasure-seeking, self-indulging, brain-atrophied mass of commoners and fiercely indoctrinated various 'phyle' members.
Extensive descriptions and explanations, of technology as well as of the social evolution/devolution and norms, take large runs of the book, and make it less dynamic and accessible than it should be, but add to the depth and breadth of the narrative. This is definitely not 'entertainment' sci-fi book, but closer to the intent and structure of books like 1984, although definitely not in the same class.
The story starts slow and the plot only fully develops by the middle of the book (around page 250), and new elements are added all the way to the end, while the conclusion of the book takes only the last 10-20 pages in which many storylines are left unfinished and the fate of many characters left hanging in limbo, unresolved, but this is part of the attractiveness of this book. While violent during the entire length, this violence reaches climax in the last 50 pages of the books with descriptions of rapes, mass murders, corporal dismemberment, etc.
The title of the book is a story in itself, having had the stone, bronze, iron, and the current, steel age, the author presupposes that the next age will be the diamond one, called by the predominant material used in society, as in the nanotechnological era, nanomachines and 'matter compilers' will be able to construct virtually any material directly from molecules and atoms, so producing large quantities of diamond walls, windows, pillars and other structures would be very cheap and commonplace.
The book presents an interesting and disturbing vision of the future of humanity as brought by new and uncontrollable technology, and is definitely a good read for people who also like to think while reading a book.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
"Annals of the Heechee" by Frederik Pohl
This is the fourth (and final?) installation of the Heechee saga, and by far the most mind-numbingly boring! I have no idea how and why I finished this book. I guess I wanted to learn more about the Heechee and 'The Foe' or 'The Assassins' but on a second thought I should have stopped at book 2.
90% of the book happens in the virtual reality of the memory banks of the 'gigabit space' and most of the protagonists are 'stored personalities' - digital equivalents of memories and consciousness of dead people, and their silly life which looks (and feels, apparently) as the outside world, with parties, drinks, sex, etc. etc. Ridiculous!
Much of the rest of the book is spent in conversations between the stored Robinnette Broadhead and his data retrieval system, Albert Einstein, who teaches him junior-college level science, and various other 'stored' personalities. The Heechees now live among the people and the Heechee kids go to school with human kids and even fall in love. There are a couple of old terrorists, one of them child molester who has his paws on a fragile Japanese 10 year old girl, and they get appropriately killed with knives in their throats/hearts.
At the end, the Heechee/Human alliance attacks the foe, but get a slap on the wrist instead and the big revelation that we all will one day become energy-based non-corporal consciousness like 'The Foe'.
That's it. That was the entire 400+ pages book. What a horrendous waste of time!
90% of the book happens in the virtual reality of the memory banks of the 'gigabit space' and most of the protagonists are 'stored personalities' - digital equivalents of memories and consciousness of dead people, and their silly life which looks (and feels, apparently) as the outside world, with parties, drinks, sex, etc. etc. Ridiculous!
Much of the rest of the book is spent in conversations between the stored Robinnette Broadhead and his data retrieval system, Albert Einstein, who teaches him junior-college level science, and various other 'stored' personalities. The Heechees now live among the people and the Heechee kids go to school with human kids and even fall in love. There are a couple of old terrorists, one of them child molester who has his paws on a fragile Japanese 10 year old girl, and they get appropriately killed with knives in their throats/hearts.
At the end, the Heechee/Human alliance attacks the foe, but get a slap on the wrist instead and the big revelation that we all will one day become energy-based non-corporal consciousness like 'The Foe'.
That's it. That was the entire 400+ pages book. What a horrendous waste of time!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
"Randevouz with the Heechee" by Frederik Pohl
The third book in the Heechee saga, and I must admit the most uninteresting so far, which is why it took me so long to finish it. It seems that the quality of the Heechee saga steadily declines after the first, and best, book 'Gateway'. Some critiques argue that this is because after the first one the books have become more and more about explaining the mysteries and unsaid things from the first book, than concentrating on new plots, interesting twists or character development, and I largely agree with it.
In this book we find Robinette already quite old (close to 100) but still in good health (and able to have and enjoy frequent sex with his wife) brought by the money he has to purchase 'Full Medical +'. However, since most medical advances in this universe seem to consist of transplanting organs from healthy people, Broadhead feels very guilty that somebody else had to die or become handicapped so he can have his organ.
Also people have started to understand Heechee technology and constructed their first ships, almost completely man-made, from the knowledge learned from the Heechee machinery, and especially the ubiquitous 'prayer fans' which turn out to be the Heechee equivalents of books and any other data storage device. Heechee Heaven is owned by Broadhead and renamed 'S.Ya.Lavarovna' after his wife, with most machinery removed it is used to transport human colonist to 'Peggie's Planet' which is the only inhabitable planet (M-class in Star Trek speak) that has been found so far.
The book also follows a scouting expedition from the Heechee lair, a block hole in the middle of the galaxy, who discovers the terrifying fact that humans are running around the galaxy in their ships, and almost certainly have awoken 'the assassins', a pure-energy lifeform, which have destroyed all other matter-based intelligent lifeforms in the known universe, and because of which the Heechee went into hiding in the black hole.
We see Wan/One, now a grown up man with severe psychosis, running around the universe, poking into black holes in search of his father who disappeared on a Gateway prospecting trip. Wan seduces Dolly, the wife of an old friend of Robin's, and takes her around the universe in his ship, using her as a cook, cleaning lady, and sex object. Terrorist are also introduced, as earth is overpopulated and most people are poor, they turn to terrorism, now using the 'bed' from the Heechees to transmit the thoughts and feelings of a clinically insane girl.
Albert the AI, becomes more of an independent being, with emotions, feelings, and even upsets. Near the end, Robinnette dies (his transplanted gut fails) and he is transferred to the Heechee machinery, to be stored as an 'analogue' which seemed to preserve all the memories and most of the self-consciousness of a living being. Klara, Robinette's first love, is rescued from the black hole by Wan, and becomes his substitute for Dolly for a while, to be eventually captured by the Heechee scout ship, who uses her to communicate with the earth.
When the Heechee arrive near Earth, the first earthling reaction is to attack them and prepare for war, which is completely non-understandable to the Heechee, but eventually things get smoothed out, and the earthlings learn of the 'Assassins' which they call 'The Foe' and start to get evacuated from earth into the Black Hole where the Heechee were hiding.
The book is enjoyable enough, mainly through continuation of the old characters and story devices, but brings really nothing new or exciting, and can be a tedious reading at time. The insistence on Robinnette and S.Ya. having sex all the time (both 90+ years old) gives a pretty silly impression. Recommended reading as a continuation of the Heechee Saga, but otherwise largely uninspiring.
In this book we find Robinette already quite old (close to 100) but still in good health (and able to have and enjoy frequent sex with his wife) brought by the money he has to purchase 'Full Medical +'. However, since most medical advances in this universe seem to consist of transplanting organs from healthy people, Broadhead feels very guilty that somebody else had to die or become handicapped so he can have his organ.
Also people have started to understand Heechee technology and constructed their first ships, almost completely man-made, from the knowledge learned from the Heechee machinery, and especially the ubiquitous 'prayer fans' which turn out to be the Heechee equivalents of books and any other data storage device. Heechee Heaven is owned by Broadhead and renamed 'S.Ya.Lavarovna' after his wife, with most machinery removed it is used to transport human colonist to 'Peggie's Planet' which is the only inhabitable planet (M-class in Star Trek speak) that has been found so far.
The book also follows a scouting expedition from the Heechee lair, a block hole in the middle of the galaxy, who discovers the terrifying fact that humans are running around the galaxy in their ships, and almost certainly have awoken 'the assassins', a pure-energy lifeform, which have destroyed all other matter-based intelligent lifeforms in the known universe, and because of which the Heechee went into hiding in the black hole.
We see Wan/One, now a grown up man with severe psychosis, running around the universe, poking into black holes in search of his father who disappeared on a Gateway prospecting trip. Wan seduces Dolly, the wife of an old friend of Robin's, and takes her around the universe in his ship, using her as a cook, cleaning lady, and sex object. Terrorist are also introduced, as earth is overpopulated and most people are poor, they turn to terrorism, now using the 'bed' from the Heechees to transmit the thoughts and feelings of a clinically insane girl.
Albert the AI, becomes more of an independent being, with emotions, feelings, and even upsets. Near the end, Robinnette dies (his transplanted gut fails) and he is transferred to the Heechee machinery, to be stored as an 'analogue' which seemed to preserve all the memories and most of the self-consciousness of a living being. Klara, Robinette's first love, is rescued from the black hole by Wan, and becomes his substitute for Dolly for a while, to be eventually captured by the Heechee scout ship, who uses her to communicate with the earth.
When the Heechee arrive near Earth, the first earthling reaction is to attack them and prepare for war, which is completely non-understandable to the Heechee, but eventually things get smoothed out, and the earthlings learn of the 'Assassins' which they call 'The Foe' and start to get evacuated from earth into the Black Hole where the Heechee were hiding.
The book is enjoyable enough, mainly through continuation of the old characters and story devices, but brings really nothing new or exciting, and can be a tedious reading at time. The insistence on Robinnette and S.Ya. having sex all the time (both 90+ years old) gives a pretty silly impression. Recommended reading as a continuation of the Heechee Saga, but otherwise largely uninspiring.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
"Beyond the Blue Event Horizon" by Frederik Pohl
This is the second book in the Heechee series. It is less tight and organized than the previous tome, as Robinette Broadhead doesn't play as big of a part until the very end of the book. It is even more concentrated on description of technology that a super-advanced intelligent race would have, and has even less action/character development than the first volume, if that is possible. Except for some discourses of human sexuality, especially around puberty, not much of human nature is discussed, but mostly astrophysics, artificial intelligence and general futurism.
I also read this book when i was a kid, and remember very well how the Heechee solved the problem of traveling faster than light. It is different than how other imaginary FTL travel species did it, usually through traveling in 'subspace' or 'hyperspace'. The problem with FTL travel is, by Einstein's equations, the mass of a body exponentially increases with its travel speed, and if/when it reaches the speed of light, its mass is going to become infinite. With infinite mass comes infinite gravity, and a body with infinite gravity is actually an infinitely strong black hole, which will suck all of the universe into itself and destroy it. The fact that the universe still exists proves that no one has achieved travel at the speed of light in this universe.
The Heechee, however, found a way to remove mass down to 0. So a body with mass 0 could reach any speed, including and surpassing the speed of light, and its mass is still going to be zero, as any number, including infinity, when multiplied by 0 - gives 0. In the second book humans have discovered a Heechee food factory which creates edible food from comet and asteroid chunks, a Godsend for the starving (mostly) Earth. A ship is sent over, with about 3.5 years travel time, as the factory is beyond Pluto, with a crew of an old man, his two daughters, one 13 the other 39 and the husband of the older woman.
They land on the factory and discover another human boy, around 15 years old, who is driving a heechee ship to and from another Heechee mother station, huge, 1km long artifact that is called Heechee Heaven by humans. Some of the crew goes there and marvels at Heechee technology until they are caught by a tribe of Australopithecus, human ancestor species, whom the Heechee tried to make evolve quicker, but failed miserably. Also there is a sentient robot, with the memory banks of a once-living person, as the Heechee would transfer persons after their death into a computer, to continue to operate and exist.
Unfortunately the robot thinks the modern humans are pests and tries to get away, but Robin Broadhead steals a Heechee ship and gets on the Heechee heaven and together with one crew member who didn't get caught by the Australopithecus, attack and disable the robot and learn how to navigate the heechee ships and the artifact and go back to earth where he becomes the richest man in the solar system.
The book ends with a chapter about the Heechee technology and their way of thinking and how it fits in the overall cosmology of the universe, with some teasers about what is going to be revealed in the next installment of the Heechee series.
I also read this book when i was a kid, and remember very well how the Heechee solved the problem of traveling faster than light. It is different than how other imaginary FTL travel species did it, usually through traveling in 'subspace' or 'hyperspace'. The problem with FTL travel is, by Einstein's equations, the mass of a body exponentially increases with its travel speed, and if/when it reaches the speed of light, its mass is going to become infinite. With infinite mass comes infinite gravity, and a body with infinite gravity is actually an infinitely strong black hole, which will suck all of the universe into itself and destroy it. The fact that the universe still exists proves that no one has achieved travel at the speed of light in this universe.
The Heechee, however, found a way to remove mass down to 0. So a body with mass 0 could reach any speed, including and surpassing the speed of light, and its mass is still going to be zero, as any number, including infinity, when multiplied by 0 - gives 0. In the second book humans have discovered a Heechee food factory which creates edible food from comet and asteroid chunks, a Godsend for the starving (mostly) Earth. A ship is sent over, with about 3.5 years travel time, as the factory is beyond Pluto, with a crew of an old man, his two daughters, one 13 the other 39 and the husband of the older woman.
They land on the factory and discover another human boy, around 15 years old, who is driving a heechee ship to and from another Heechee mother station, huge, 1km long artifact that is called Heechee Heaven by humans. Some of the crew goes there and marvels at Heechee technology until they are caught by a tribe of Australopithecus, human ancestor species, whom the Heechee tried to make evolve quicker, but failed miserably. Also there is a sentient robot, with the memory banks of a once-living person, as the Heechee would transfer persons after their death into a computer, to continue to operate and exist.
Unfortunately the robot thinks the modern humans are pests and tries to get away, but Robin Broadhead steals a Heechee ship and gets on the Heechee heaven and together with one crew member who didn't get caught by the Australopithecus, attack and disable the robot and learn how to navigate the heechee ships and the artifact and go back to earth where he becomes the richest man in the solar system.
The book ends with a chapter about the Heechee technology and their way of thinking and how it fits in the overall cosmology of the universe, with some teasers about what is going to be revealed in the next installment of the Heechee series.
"Gateway" by Frederik Pohl
This was the first book that got Pohl a worldwide success, though he has been active in the SF community for several decades before, notably as the editor in chief of 'If' and "Galaxy'. Gateway is written in a hard boiled style, the main character Robinette Broadhead, although having quite effeminate name, is actually a tough talking hedonist, who would risk his life and all he has for a chance to become a millionaire. His character softens in the consequent books (the 'Heechee Series' consists of four novels, of which 'Gateway' is the first one).
The action is set not too far from our present time, a 100 years at most. The earth has not been destroyed in any kind of nuclear disaster, and the nations are pretty much like today, the major powers being USA, Russia, China and Brazil, but they are much more cooperative and friendly to each other than today, The biggest problem is overpopulation and the lack of food. The population of the Earth is 11 billion people, and they are so strapped for food that they stopped using oil for anything else but to grow fungi and other edible lichens. Obviously Pohl bought into the fear mongering of the day when he wrote the novel (mid 70s) which still persists today, although it is scientifically proven that our planet can sustain up to 1,000 billion people, and no food shortages will occur. Why no one is using the oceans to raise algae on Pohls Earth - is anyone guess.
I read this book and the subsequent one when I was quite young, and in Croatian translation, and was quite impressed by the depth and breadth of Pohl's imagination. This goes to say that I was very impressionable and inexperienced then, but the Pohls vision still captivates me today, although not to the same level as during my first reading many years ago.
So, the earth has developed enough technology (and motivation) to colonize the Moon and Venus (why not Mars is anyone's guess). On Venus, mysterious underground tunnels are found and lots of artifacts from an ancient alien race (Pohl says 500,000 years, although I am always doubtful of time spans beyond 1,000 years) which the humans give a name 'Heechee'. Many artifacts are found, most mysterious, but some close enough to our technology to provide for reverse engineering and huge leaps in human technology though uneven. But everything becomes more interesting when an entire Heechee star base is found on an asteroid called 'Gateway' with many operable ships, though only set to a predetermined course, with instrument panels which are mostly a mystery.
Thus brave 'prospectors' get into Heechee ships, and press the go button and hope that it takes them to another space base or planet base, and some do, but many never return, or return with dead prospectors inside. The Gateway corporation, which is setup by the four most powerful nations on earth, controls the incoming prospectors and their missions, and keeps the lion share from any industrial application of whatever artifact they find, but whatever is left is more than enough sometimes to make the prospectors millionaires for life, and this is what attracts them to risk their lives, including Broadhead.
Broadhead is very reluctant to go on trips, and even destroys one Heechee ship, but on his last trip he witnesses 'Event Horizon' which is the border area of a Black Hole, where his 9 team mates, including the love of his life remain trapped and only he escapes and becomes a millionaire, albeit with a guilty conscious, which he cures with the help of the psychoanalytical AI called 'Sigfried'. The book ends when Broadhead finally confronts his demons and forgives himself for leaving the other nine people, especially the girl of his life, in the event horizon.
The action is set not too far from our present time, a 100 years at most. The earth has not been destroyed in any kind of nuclear disaster, and the nations are pretty much like today, the major powers being USA, Russia, China and Brazil, but they are much more cooperative and friendly to each other than today, The biggest problem is overpopulation and the lack of food. The population of the Earth is 11 billion people, and they are so strapped for food that they stopped using oil for anything else but to grow fungi and other edible lichens. Obviously Pohl bought into the fear mongering of the day when he wrote the novel (mid 70s) which still persists today, although it is scientifically proven that our planet can sustain up to 1,000 billion people, and no food shortages will occur. Why no one is using the oceans to raise algae on Pohls Earth - is anyone guess.
I read this book and the subsequent one when I was quite young, and in Croatian translation, and was quite impressed by the depth and breadth of Pohl's imagination. This goes to say that I was very impressionable and inexperienced then, but the Pohls vision still captivates me today, although not to the same level as during my first reading many years ago.
So, the earth has developed enough technology (and motivation) to colonize the Moon and Venus (why not Mars is anyone's guess). On Venus, mysterious underground tunnels are found and lots of artifacts from an ancient alien race (Pohl says 500,000 years, although I am always doubtful of time spans beyond 1,000 years) which the humans give a name 'Heechee'. Many artifacts are found, most mysterious, but some close enough to our technology to provide for reverse engineering and huge leaps in human technology though uneven. But everything becomes more interesting when an entire Heechee star base is found on an asteroid called 'Gateway' with many operable ships, though only set to a predetermined course, with instrument panels which are mostly a mystery.
Thus brave 'prospectors' get into Heechee ships, and press the go button and hope that it takes them to another space base or planet base, and some do, but many never return, or return with dead prospectors inside. The Gateway corporation, which is setup by the four most powerful nations on earth, controls the incoming prospectors and their missions, and keeps the lion share from any industrial application of whatever artifact they find, but whatever is left is more than enough sometimes to make the prospectors millionaires for life, and this is what attracts them to risk their lives, including Broadhead.
Broadhead is very reluctant to go on trips, and even destroys one Heechee ship, but on his last trip he witnesses 'Event Horizon' which is the border area of a Black Hole, where his 9 team mates, including the love of his life remain trapped and only he escapes and becomes a millionaire, albeit with a guilty conscious, which he cures with the help of the psychoanalytical AI called 'Sigfried'. The book ends when Broadhead finally confronts his demons and forgives himself for leaving the other nine people, especially the girl of his life, in the event horizon.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
"The Rich Jerk"
No author! It is an ebook, one of the thousands 'get rich on the internet' ebooks, most of which are pure garbage, however this one came recommended by a friend, and it actually contains some valuable insights. This book won't bore you with the history of the internet, bunch of irrelevant statistics and general material you can find all over the web. This book is about the author's experience with making money off the internet, mostly through affiliate marketing schemes and promoting your own information product.
One of the strongest points the author makes is that the easiest thing to sell on the internet is information. You don't have to stock the product, manage inventory, returns, packaging, etc. Ebooks can be emailed, downloaded, and propagated at near zero cost. Another great point the author makes is how to construct an affiliate marketing web site by simultaneously using Google adsense and adwords at the same time, thus while investing some money, getting much bigger return on the investment.
Further the book explains how to create proxy search sites to drive traffic to your marketing site and how to avoid punishment from the search engines (read: Google) for doing that. There are plenty of good tips and insights into the psychology of the internet shopper, and best ways to maximize your sales and profits. It is obvious that the author is not very technical (if at all) and he recommends all kinds of software for creating your web site without any knowledge (even his own company offers such services), and no doubt he has profit sharing setup with all the sites and software makers he recommends, as he instructs people to do in his book.
Although it is hard to buy the claim that the author made millions with the methods he described in the book, it is conceivable that with large amount of time allotted and some luck and initial investment (nothing comes free!), a decent income can be obtained using the methods described in the book.
One of the strongest points the author makes is that the easiest thing to sell on the internet is information. You don't have to stock the product, manage inventory, returns, packaging, etc. Ebooks can be emailed, downloaded, and propagated at near zero cost. Another great point the author makes is how to construct an affiliate marketing web site by simultaneously using Google adsense and adwords at the same time, thus while investing some money, getting much bigger return on the investment.
Further the book explains how to create proxy search sites to drive traffic to your marketing site and how to avoid punishment from the search engines (read: Google) for doing that. There are plenty of good tips and insights into the psychology of the internet shopper, and best ways to maximize your sales and profits. It is obvious that the author is not very technical (if at all) and he recommends all kinds of software for creating your web site without any knowledge (even his own company offers such services), and no doubt he has profit sharing setup with all the sites and software makers he recommends, as he instructs people to do in his book.
Although it is hard to buy the claim that the author made millions with the methods he described in the book, it is conceivable that with large amount of time allotted and some luck and initial investment (nothing comes free!), a decent income can be obtained using the methods described in the book.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
"The Road Less Traveled" by M. Scott Peck
I had very high expectations for this book, and I kept postponing reading it for the time when I would have the 'enough free time to properly devote to it.' Similar cases in the past have ended with my being quite disappointed in the actual book, not that much because the book was so bad, but because my expectations were so built up, as if expecting a miracle. Well, in life, usually there are no miracles.
The book is quite good actually. There are four parts "Discipline", "Love", "Growth and Religion" and "Grace", and they decline in quality in that order. The "Discipline" part is probably the best and correctly points out that "Life is Difficult" and we have to be disciplined to cope with it, having control of our urges and vices and grooming ourselves to be the best human beings we can possibly be. The part about "Love" is less original, but peppered with many stories from Peck's patients which keep the attention of the reader and illustrate the points well. In "Growth and Religion" part things start becoming confusing. Though starting with a Buddhist thought, and encouraging the reader to explore paradigms outside of "the religion of your parents" this part sounds a lot like evangelical preaching about how Christianity is the best religion after all. The last part "Grace" is the most confusing, and consists much of exalting the psychotherapist as some kind of demigod, who is sacrificing his time and life only to help the humanity. Pretty megalomaniac.
The book was first published in 1978, but was virtually unknown until the mid 80s, so although it tries to reconcile the movements of the 70s with modern psychology and science, it mostly exemplifies the zeitgeist of the 80s, with its new approaches to the old things and all-encompassing optimism and hope for the present and the future. Much of what is said is neither new or groundbreaking today, but it must have been quite a shock to 1978. Some things are still shocking today, like Peck recommending (and even admitting) sexual relationships between the psychoanalyst and the (female) patients. This is allegedly the reason his wife of 40 years divorced him. Also it is a reason I always choose female psychotherapists :)
All in all, interesting motivational book, not much new to learn, but good style and attention-grabbing anecdotes, with lots to offer to Christians who want to wade a little outside the canonized christian paths. For everyone else - just skip it, nothing lost.
The book is quite good actually. There are four parts "Discipline", "Love", "Growth and Religion" and "Grace", and they decline in quality in that order. The "Discipline" part is probably the best and correctly points out that "Life is Difficult" and we have to be disciplined to cope with it, having control of our urges and vices and grooming ourselves to be the best human beings we can possibly be. The part about "Love" is less original, but peppered with many stories from Peck's patients which keep the attention of the reader and illustrate the points well. In "Growth and Religion" part things start becoming confusing. Though starting with a Buddhist thought, and encouraging the reader to explore paradigms outside of "the religion of your parents" this part sounds a lot like evangelical preaching about how Christianity is the best religion after all. The last part "Grace" is the most confusing, and consists much of exalting the psychotherapist as some kind of demigod, who is sacrificing his time and life only to help the humanity. Pretty megalomaniac.
The book was first published in 1978, but was virtually unknown until the mid 80s, so although it tries to reconcile the movements of the 70s with modern psychology and science, it mostly exemplifies the zeitgeist of the 80s, with its new approaches to the old things and all-encompassing optimism and hope for the present and the future. Much of what is said is neither new or groundbreaking today, but it must have been quite a shock to 1978. Some things are still shocking today, like Peck recommending (and even admitting) sexual relationships between the psychoanalyst and the (female) patients. This is allegedly the reason his wife of 40 years divorced him. Also it is a reason I always choose female psychotherapists :)
All in all, interesting motivational book, not much new to learn, but good style and attention-grabbing anecdotes, with lots to offer to Christians who want to wade a little outside the canonized christian paths. For everyone else - just skip it, nothing lost.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
"The six pillars of Self-Esteem" by Nathaniel Branden
I've read this book based on a recommendation in "Happier" by Tal Ben-Shahar, who calls it the most important book on self-esteem and especially praises it for Branden's method of 'sentence completion' as being one of the most helpful techniques for generating insights. Both of those are true. The book is very well written, full of practical advice and interspersed with Branden's personal experience from his own life.
Branden is quite famous for another thing: he was a long-time lover of the writer/philosopher Ayn Rand (born Alisa Zinovyeva in Petrograd, Russia), while they both were married to other people, and was, for a long period of time, second in command in the Objectivist movement that Rand started. Branden has written plenty on Objectivism, though he eventually left the movement, disillusioned with Rand and the personality cult around her. Rand subsequently excommunicated him from any Objectivist organization.
Branden then concentrated on psychotherapy and formulated his theory of Self-Esteem, which was the first time that term was used. He makes a great point that anyone's self-esteem can be raised, and we are not doomed with what we have been assigned at birth, or by the play of the circumstances. Another great point Branden raises is that self-esteem is not being omnipotent, or omniscient, or always being ready or have the right answer for anything, but a different level of feeling, on a much deeper level, that whatever comes along, we'll be able to handle it, regardless of the fact that at that moment we might have no idea how to do it. He also argues that one cannot have too much self-esteem, as arrogance is erroneously perceived as such, while arrogance, in fact, is a trade mark of too little self-esteem, not too much.
Branden further dedicates the main part of the book expounding what the six pillars or principles, of self-esteem:
1. Live Consciously
Being aware of each action that you do and it's consequences. Avoiding 'robotic' or 'sleepwalking behavior'. Not disowning or denying parts of you that you don't like.
2. Accept Yourself
Branden makes a point of saying unless we accept ourselves exactly the way we are, with all the flaws and imperfections, and even plain malice, there is no way to improve ourselves. Full and unconditional self-acceptance is the first step to improving ourselves.
3. Take Responsibility for Your Experiences
Do no deny part of you just because you don't like it. Do not deny your actions, or try to make someone else 'wrong' or 'guilty' just because it doesn't turn out the way you wanted it.
4. Assert Who You Are
Assertiveness is not aggressiveness. Assertiveness is being firmly grounded in who you are and not letting anyone remove you from that position. Not with aggressiveness or attack, but with refusal to budge, politely but firmly.
5. Live Purposefully
Do not settle because you are afraid to fail. Have a goal that inspires you, something bigger than yourself, something you can work your entire life on and still wonder if you will reach it.
6. Maintain Your Integrity
Be honest with yourself and others. It is very tempting to say a lie here and another there, since it seems like they don't hurt anyone. They do hurt you, your self-esteem knows about all of them. Being a person of integrity is much more fulfilling at the end.
The last two parts of the book are more like two essays, on self-esteem in parenting children, and self-esteem nurturing in managing companies. The first part is almost a standard now among modern families and teachers. The second part is not adopted as widely as it should be. There are still managers out there who pride themselves on their 'aggressive' techniques, which are just a front for them being completely incompetent and insecure, and are damaging the self-esteem and the well-being of the employees and the company in general with their mismanagement.
At the end of each chapter there are plenty of 'sentence completion' exercises which can fill up a better part of a year. This book is a basic manual on how the self-esteem mechanism within us works. It should be a required reading for every Homo Sapiens Sapiens.
Branden is quite famous for another thing: he was a long-time lover of the writer/philosopher Ayn Rand (born Alisa Zinovyeva in Petrograd, Russia), while they both were married to other people, and was, for a long period of time, second in command in the Objectivist movement that Rand started. Branden has written plenty on Objectivism, though he eventually left the movement, disillusioned with Rand and the personality cult around her. Rand subsequently excommunicated him from any Objectivist organization.
Branden then concentrated on psychotherapy and formulated his theory of Self-Esteem, which was the first time that term was used. He makes a great point that anyone's self-esteem can be raised, and we are not doomed with what we have been assigned at birth, or by the play of the circumstances. Another great point Branden raises is that self-esteem is not being omnipotent, or omniscient, or always being ready or have the right answer for anything, but a different level of feeling, on a much deeper level, that whatever comes along, we'll be able to handle it, regardless of the fact that at that moment we might have no idea how to do it. He also argues that one cannot have too much self-esteem, as arrogance is erroneously perceived as such, while arrogance, in fact, is a trade mark of too little self-esteem, not too much.
Branden further dedicates the main part of the book expounding what the six pillars or principles, of self-esteem:
1. Live Consciously
Being aware of each action that you do and it's consequences. Avoiding 'robotic' or 'sleepwalking behavior'. Not disowning or denying parts of you that you don't like.
2. Accept Yourself
Branden makes a point of saying unless we accept ourselves exactly the way we are, with all the flaws and imperfections, and even plain malice, there is no way to improve ourselves. Full and unconditional self-acceptance is the first step to improving ourselves.
3. Take Responsibility for Your Experiences
Do no deny part of you just because you don't like it. Do not deny your actions, or try to make someone else 'wrong' or 'guilty' just because it doesn't turn out the way you wanted it.
4. Assert Who You Are
Assertiveness is not aggressiveness. Assertiveness is being firmly grounded in who you are and not letting anyone remove you from that position. Not with aggressiveness or attack, but with refusal to budge, politely but firmly.
5. Live Purposefully
Do not settle because you are afraid to fail. Have a goal that inspires you, something bigger than yourself, something you can work your entire life on and still wonder if you will reach it.
6. Maintain Your Integrity
Be honest with yourself and others. It is very tempting to say a lie here and another there, since it seems like they don't hurt anyone. They do hurt you, your self-esteem knows about all of them. Being a person of integrity is much more fulfilling at the end.
The last two parts of the book are more like two essays, on self-esteem in parenting children, and self-esteem nurturing in managing companies. The first part is almost a standard now among modern families and teachers. The second part is not adopted as widely as it should be. There are still managers out there who pride themselves on their 'aggressive' techniques, which are just a front for them being completely incompetent and insecure, and are damaging the self-esteem and the well-being of the employees and the company in general with their mismanagement.
At the end of each chapter there are plenty of 'sentence completion' exercises which can fill up a better part of a year. This book is a basic manual on how the self-esteem mechanism within us works. It should be a required reading for every Homo Sapiens Sapiens.
Monday, January 5, 2009
"Killer in the Rain and other stories" by Raymond Chandler
This book is a collection of four stories: Killer in the Rain, Fingerman, Goldfish and The Curtain. All of these stories were initially published in pulp fiction magazines, and later cannibalized to produce Chandler's first novels. 'Killer in the rain' is half 'The Big Sleep', 'Fingerman' being the other half. If you ever wondered why some elements seem to appear in 'The Big Sleep' once and then are never mentioned again, the short stories give the answer, as they are logical and all elements are well connected.
The plots in the stories are much tighter than in the novels where Chandler indulges in some of his favorite elements (like the hard-boiled dialogs, which I personally love). The detective in the first two stories is unnamed, and in the last two is Carmady, his original detective before inventing the unsurpassed Philip Marlowe.
This collection was published posthumously as Chandler did not allow these stories to be republished during his lifetime. Apparently the original book version has 8 stories in it, out of which the first, second and fourth Chandler's novels were written, but the audiobook version I read had only 4 stories on it.
The style is great and enjoyed reading these stories, however the best introduction to Chandler is reading 'The Big Sleep' and 'Murder, my sweet', and I would recommend those two novels to readers unacquainted with Chandler's work in order to really experience the shock, force and purity of his hard-boiled style.
The plots in the stories are much tighter than in the novels where Chandler indulges in some of his favorite elements (like the hard-boiled dialogs, which I personally love). The detective in the first two stories is unnamed, and in the last two is Carmady, his original detective before inventing the unsurpassed Philip Marlowe.
This collection was published posthumously as Chandler did not allow these stories to be republished during his lifetime. Apparently the original book version has 8 stories in it, out of which the first, second and fourth Chandler's novels were written, but the audiobook version I read had only 4 stories on it.
The style is great and enjoyed reading these stories, however the best introduction to Chandler is reading 'The Big Sleep' and 'Murder, my sweet', and I would recommend those two novels to readers unacquainted with Chandler's work in order to really experience the shock, force and purity of his hard-boiled style.
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