Søren Kierkegaard- Fear and Trembling

Fear and Trembling

Penguin Classics

Søren Kierkegaard

1843

“If there were no eternal consciousness in a man, if at the bottom of everything there were only a wild ferment, a power that twisting in dark passions produced everything great or inconsequential; if an unfathomable, insatiable emptiness lay hid beneath everything, what would life be but despair?”

Oh dear, we're at that time again (and by 'we' I mean 'me'); time to write a review that I really don't feel like doing, about a book that I didn't take much out of. This is going to require every diversionary tactic I ever tried when writing an essay, in an attempt to make the reader think they're getting lots of intellectual stimulation out of something incredibly vapid, which, ironically, is the exact opposite of the relationship that I have with old Søren Kierkegaard. In short, the long-deceased Danish philosopher makes me feel guilty about not appreciating him.

Of course there are plenty of recognised literary classics that rub certain people the wrong way, and I doubt there's a single book lover out there, no matter how open-minded, who can't tell you about a particular book or a whole genre that they just don't like, or at the very least can't get in to. I don't really like Ernest Hemmingway, for example, though I have this sort of vague, itching notion that I probably should. My record with philosophy in the past is similarly spotty, having enjoyed some Plato and Nietzsche, but also having wrote the worst review of all time in my look at Descartes' Discourse on the Method.

Søren Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling (which I keep trying to type as 'Fear and Loathing' every damn time) is a work of philosophy, obviously, and it's very famous and hip. It's also very religious; essentially comprising of a drawn out, fully explored look at various ethical conflicts in metaphorical relation to the biblical old testament story of Abraham and Isaac; you know the one, where the lovely old Judeo-Christian god decided to mess with his old mate Abraham by demanding he sacrifice his son Isaac, in a sort of test of faith, only more psychopathic.

As you can tell by the fact you've already formed your opinion, there's plenty to think about regarding that old ethical conundrum (mainly about how big a bastard god is), and Kiekergaard goes all out with it, tackling issues of our supposed duty of god verses the power of the subjective will and all that. The trouble is I just found all of this ethics stuff more than a little bit dull. It's kind of like arguing over the shape of clouds. I finished it though, so now I can tell everyone I meet that I've read a copy of Fear and Trembling, then hope they never ask me anything about it. Now I'm going to finish this review, publish it, and feel both smug and guilty. 

David Eagleman- Sum- Tales from the Afterlives

Sum- Tales from the Afterlives

Cannongate Press

David Eagleman
2009

“And once again the Rewarder and the Punisher stalk off, struggling to understand why knowing the code behind the wine does not diminish its pleasure on your tongue, why knowing the inescapability of heartache does not reduce its sting, why glimpsing the mechanics of love does not alter its intoxicating appeal.”

The phrase 'don't judge a book by its cover'; I've never understood that one. If you decide specifically not to judge book by their covers then you place serious limitations on what you'll buy. It's fine if you see a book that you've heard has a great reputation and you're willing to buy because of the author or the title alone, but if you go book hunting and don't find one of these examples then you have no other alternative but to go home and cry into a bowl of cornflakes. Judging books by their covers is great fun, I do it all the time, and sometimes it helps uncover an absolute gem.

David Eagleman is a neuroscientist, originally from New Mexico, currently working in Houston, Texas. His name on the front of a book, any book, would not attract my attention by itself. Nor would the title; Sum- Tales from the Afterlife, which could be any kind of esoteric new age hippy spiel. Put this title in the center of the book surrounded by a sparkling galactic arc of stars, and then place a glowing quote by Stephen Fry underneath and you're guaranteed to catch my attention.

In addition to this, other quotes of complete positivity from broadsheet newspapers, Phillip Pullman (His Dark Materials) and Brian Eno for some reason sold it. I completely and totally judged this book by its cover, making an educated gamble based on the information I had. I've done this with other books in the past, and a few of them were a bit of a waste of time, but on this occasion I found an absolute gem, because Sum- Tales from the Afterlife is one of the most uniquely interesting, compelling and memorable books I think I've ever read.

The book is essentially a collection of forty different micro-stories (I've made that phrase up) all emanating from the same simple theme; the afterlife. These forty stories consist of no-more than four pages each, resulting in a book that only just makes it past the one-hundred page mark; culminating in what isn't really a novel, but instead a collection of philosophical introspective wisdom. In each story, Eagleman describes to the reader through an extended summary the details of an individual (though generally Christianity-based) afterlife, where events have contrived to create a scenario far different to typical depictions of Heaven. For example, in the opening, title-track story Sum, Eagleman details an afterlife where the individual relives every moment of their life through experiencing every job, every sensation grouped together ('you spend two months driving the street in front of your house, seven months having sex. you sleep for thirty years without opening your eyes).

The story Absence tells of an afterlife where God has vanished, leaving his spiritual charges alone in heaven to spend endless years warring over Him, as they do on Earth. My favourite story is Quantum, telling of an afterlife where for each individual every possible action or thought they can have exists and occurs at the same time. This story is merely a lead-up for a joke about relationships. As becomes clear very quickly on with each different example, this book is about the world we live in today, simply turned upside down and shaken about a bit so Eagleman can make his point.

At times funny, inspiring, and very poignant this book was very enjoyable. I'm hesitant to describe it as a curio because it's more than that; it's a book that could be returned to as a whole, or in segments to provide a moment of interest. I shot through this book very quickly, reading it in two short sittings because I found it so compelling, so I have a suspicion that I didn't even get as much out of it as I could've. Before I do get around to looking at it again, I'm going to have to look at everything Eagleman's done since.

René Descartes- Discourse on the Method and the Meditations

Discourse on Method and the Meditations

René Descartes
1637 & 1641

"The reading of all good books is indeed like a conversation with the noblest men of past centuries who were the authors of them, nay a carefully studied conversation, in which they reveal to us none but the best of their thoughts."

Although I really enjoy dabbling in the odd bit of philosophy, picking up famous titles by legendary authors and waving them about in other people's faces so I can make myself look smarter than I am, I'm by no means any kind of expert on the subject. In the past I've picked up some famous titles that I happened to find on the shelves; essays by  Nietzsche, Spinoza and Plato and philosophical fiction from Satre, Camus and Kundera, but if anybody ever tried to quiz me on the possible deeper meanings etcetera of these texts I think I'd crawl up into a ball of tears and embarrass them into going away. I'm explaining this now so when this review fails to tell you anything relevant about René  Descartes and Discourse on Method and the Meditation you can't really complain.

This Penguin Classics edition contains Descartes two most famous pieces, along with a typical haughty introduction and a personal letter from Descartes. The first essay, published in 1637 and fully-titled Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences, is one of the most important and influential works in the history of philosophy and scientific thought, and essentially involves Descartes attempting to address the world of scientific thought in relation to skepticism; by first stripping his thoughts of any preconceived established knowledge so he can tackle the title topic through a supposedly entirely clear and unbiased perspective. Much of this involves the existence of god, and Descartes elegantly argues the proof of the existence of god, though thankfully without the inclusion of typical dogma. Did he convince me? Not really, but I'm a very skeptical person.

The second essay, full and unwieldy title of Meditations on the First Philosophy in which the existence of God and the Real Distinction Between the Soul and the Body of Man are Demonstrated, published in 1641, is a metaphysical exploration summed up by its title- a thematic sequel to Discourse on the Method, Descartes explores through a series of six meditations the logical existence of god as demonstrated by the nature of the human condition. It's a lot more complicated than I can really sum up here in my clumsy prose, and, to tell you the truth, my attention on the subject completely wavered after reading so much concentrated personal logic. Anybody expecting some sort of insight into the subject please refer to the opening paragraph of this review.

Someone who went into this book looking for brilliant insight and mind-opening concepts might find them if they read it about five times alongside an open page of Sparknotes, but otherwise it's certainly not a quick read. While I find it fascinating to explore the extravagant prose and impeccably organized mental thoughts, I wasn't interested enough in the overtly religious and archaic social scientific topics, and therefore didn't really get much out of it and have very little to say here. However, since I'm on a mission to review every prose book I read, I had to do this one as well for some reason.