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June 02, 2005

Ten most helpful books of the 19th & 20th centuries

Knowledge is Power reproduces a Human Events list of 19th and 20th century books that meet paleocon disapproval. Take this scathing review of John Maynard Keynes' "General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money", for example.

The book is a recipe for ever-expanding government. When the business cycle threatens a contraction of industry, and thus of jobs, he argued, the government should run up deficits, borrowing and spending money to spur economic activity. FDR adopted the idea as U.S. policy, and the U.S. government now has a $2.6-trillion annual budget and an $8-trillion dollar debt.

Though one could also say, "FDR adopted the idea as U.S. policy, and the U.S. government now administers the largest economy and highest standards of living in human history" or, following the non sequitur to its logical conclusion, "FDR adopted the idea as U.S. policy, and I like lappi cheese". It seems to me a more germane observation is the irony of how those governments adopting policies from the Nazi or Communist representatives on the reading list would share Human Events' disapproval for the work of Sigmund Freud, Betty Friedan or Alfred Kinsey. But that is the tricky thing about arguments advocating greater individual responsibility, choice or liberty: we are always going to be stuck with the problem of other people disagreeing with us or, heaven forbid, having fun while we sit at home typing grumpy articles and not getting laid.

Knowledge is Power's Moonbatologist Claire forwards a much better request for a list of the Top 10 Most Helpful... Positive... Constructive Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries. My list is tilted toward books that have been useful in my own thinking rather than those which have had the greatest influence. There is nevertheless a certain overlap with some objects of paleocon disapproval even as I demonstrate a certain dead/white/male and English-language bias they might share. Books I keep to hand by the computer enjoying a perhaps undue pride of place the Economist Style Guide and Numbers Guide both almost made the list.

1. Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species

Darwin's masterpiece on "the mystery of mysteries" liberated design from the need for designers and in so doing not only challenged some preconceptions about the world but advanced an entirely new logic for understanding complex systems of relationships.

2. Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams

A friend tells me this work's title might better be translated as "the dream of interpretation". Freud knew perfectly well the limits of his project and so much criticism of his work strikes me as being ignorant of his writings and method. If you can write a sentence without making recourse to an English grammar then you are expressing knowledge of which you are not consciously aware. There is much, much more to our selves than is immediately apparent and the whole is worthy of investigation.

3. Helena Blavatsky, Secret Doctrine

While I am no Theosophist myself, Blavatsky is probably more important than any other single individual - with the possible exception of Aleister Crowley - for the exuberance and spiritual experimentation of the New Age. No Blavatsky, no X-Files!

4. James George Frazer, The Golden Bough

Much of J.G. Frazer's analysis seems dated now but his magisterial work was an inspiration to generations of writers and artists as well as a starting place for the comparative study of the way people have made sense of the world.

5. Margaret Mead, Coming of Age in Samoa

You may notice a pattern of "it ain't necessarily so" thinking in my list. Mead's work has been challenged on its particulars but the underlying observation we are not destined to act out the sexual anxieties of any particular time and place was spot on and, judging by contemporary fretting about the things other people get up to, remains as cogent today as it was when it was first published.

6. John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

"... the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection."

7. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Tolkien's saga for the English-speaking peoples is the single greatest adventure I have ever read and the best guide in fiction for the development of a sense of duty and moral purpose in young people. And along the way this novel inadvertantly created modern fantasy.

8. Mary Shelley, Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus

And here we have a reasonable candidate for the ur-text of science fiction (H.G. Wells The Time Machine almost made the list). One of the distinguishing characteristics about our civilization is our fascination with the future. I wrote a paper some time ago about the cross-fertilization of ideas amongst scientists and engineers and their common source of inspiration in the science-fiction stories they read as children. There is nothing trivial about our capacity to imagine better worlds and work toward them.

9. Alfred Korzybski, Science and Sanity

This may be the most important book on the list even as it is certainly the least widely read. Korzybski reinvented linguistics and the study of human cognition and has been overlooked to the detriment of the general understanding of either. If you have read anything by Robert Anton Wilson you have had a primer on general semantics. The source merits a look.

10. George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant

1984 would have made my top ten but for my reluctance to include anyone twice and for this, the shortest work on the list. Orwell explains something important about imperialism and in so doing explains much of the history of the last two-hundred years. It is also the most brilliant essay I have ever read. You can read it now if you like.

Update: Bow, James Bow leads me to commentary on the subject of harmful books at A Small Victory.

I'm not at all surprised that the Kinsey Report made the list. Everyone knows that sex, when not used for procreation and performed between a man and woman in the missionary position, is DANGEROUS! Sex leads to pleasure! Pleasure leads to the dark side!

Posted by Ghost of a flea at June 2, 2005 10:11 AM

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? Fifteen Conservatives Pick the Ten 'Most Harmful' Books of the Past Two Centuries from Bow. James Bow.
And you know what? Not one of these books is nearly as harmful as individuals such as these who fear the free flow of information. Among the runners up is Darwin’s Origin of the Species. Interesting. Hat tip to A... [Read More]

Tracked on June 2, 2005 12:18 PM

Comments

Bugger. Now I'll have to do a Top Ten list of books. You make me feel stupid, Mr. Packwood. 8 of my 10 will probably be comic books--and Harvey Comics at that.

Posted by: Twist [TypeKey Profile Page] at June 2, 2005 05:33 PM

You must have been tagged on this whole blog book thing by now, Nick - where's you list, mate? Join the party!

Anyway, here's my little turd:

http://www.rickmcginnis.com/diary/index.htm

Posted by: rick mcginnis [TypeKey Profile Page] at June 3, 2005 03:29 AM

I have trying to resist this tagging wave as it sweeps through... I may yet get swept away!

Posted by: Ghost of a flea [TypeKey Profile Page] at June 3, 2005 06:44 AM