Things in Books

I'm not dead, you'll be pleased to know.

But I have become bored and, in some cases, irritated with every word I write. So I haven't been writing or tweeting much. I'm sure it's just a phase.

To escape the tyranny of my own words, I've climbed back on the book horse. Other people have interesting things to say.

An Idiot Flaps Odyssey - Part 8

Intro

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

This is a thing where I read all the books on a particular shelf in order. It's just that simple. It's just that fun.

I haven't been doing it for a while, as I've been reading comics and worrying about the world.

But here I am again.

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Machiavelli - The Prince

Sorry for the blurry photo. But maybe it can be considered some kind of comment on the indistinct nature of Machiavelli's ideas. They are quite distinct, though.

This would have gone well with my last entry on Utopia. But that was a long time ago.

People don't like Machiavelli. His name is a synonym for duplicity and immorality. But he doesn't seem that bad to me. He basically just outlines the qualities an efficient leader needs to succeed. Some of these are quite ruthless, but don't seem too out-of-the-ordinary.

I think the problem is that he makes explicit the compromises leaders have to make. People probably already knew all this, even back then, but just coming out and saying it seemed a bit gauche.

It's a bit like the information being released as part of the Wikileaks mayhem at the moment. There's nothing there that comes across as shocking - it's just unsettling to have your suspicions confirmed in such a clear-cut fashion. There's something highly unsettling about realising that you're right.

People want to aspire to correctness, but don't want to have to deal with the consequences. Like the Lib Dems claiming to want power, but flipping out when they got some.

The Prince is apparently something of a Mafia handbook. There are lots of useful tidbits about keeping your troops in line. It's good to be respected, good to be feared, but probably not too good to be hated. You don't want to be too brave or too cowardly, to truthful or too dishonest, to hairy or too svelte.

Machiavelli seemed to know what he was talking about, be he's dead now. So who cares?

It's interesting reading this kind of treatise - knowing it was written for practical use and imagining what elements are still valid. Not necessarily the most entertaining read, though. Especially if you're not in the Mafia.

And I'm not.

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Raymond Williams - Problems in Materialism and Culture



A collection of essays from the theorist and critic. I didn't read them all, because I've become rusty in the ways of academic literature. And slow. And stupid.

Also, I said at the outset that I didn't need to read non-fiction, so this is a bonus.

One essay I found particularly interesting is on the conception of nature. I'm interested in this topic, because I get annoyed by homeopathers, witches, and people who sell nuts, talking about nature and natural ingredients, when the very concept of "nature" means too many things and nothing at all.

Are we part of nature, or separate from it? What is this thing that we call nature? Some mysterious God-like force? What does it include?

He also talks about how different people claim nature for their own causes, exploiting it and claiming to preserve it. Cultivated fields are seen as natural, but are just as man-made as cities and industry.

It's interesting. I think referring to something as 'natural' is so vague that it's pretty pointless.

Now I should hilariously undercut that last remark by referring to something as natural. Because that's how things work.

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That's it. I'd better not linger around the keyboard in case I write something inflammatory. If you're interested in anything I've watched, listened to, eaten, drinken, flinken or stinken, it's going to have to wait for another day.