America Beyond Capitalism - Gar Alperovitz - Part 2

America Beyond Capitalism -
Gar Alperovitz

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 120

  April 30, 2017 

Book 35 - America Beyond Capitalism -
Reclaiming our Wealth, our Liberty and our Democracy

Gar Alperovitz (2005)
 Part 2 - pages 42-78
Reading Time - 1 hour

I had to chop up this book into smaller sections. It is pretty dense and took a while to plough through.

Soo... here's the thing... overall there is a decline in voting and in associational activity (think clubs, churches, etc). Which means a general decline in what's called social capital. Democracy, if it's going to renew itself needs to start from the ground up. People need to have a direct experience of democracy, and it starts with local government. Only if there is democracy (small d) can there be Democracy (big D). Again, it's hard to get involved in the local community if you're working 70 hours a week at two jobs. Local economies need to be mae more stable, not so reliant on big corporations who threaten to move to Malaysia if things don't go their way. Worker-owned companies are one possible solution... but any company that has a vested interest in building up a community, rather than just using its workforce to get what it wants.

In terms of Democracy... the problem is this... the super-rich have a better education and it is much easier for them to participate in politics than some poor person from the ghetto who hasn't even gone to college. The thing is... if citizens are not political equals, how can democracy exist? Or... to put it another way... democracy is meaningless if people don't have time to participate.

Many theorists (including Thomas Jefferson) held that larger corporations are incompatible in various ways with democratic practice. I think we could safely agree with that... What do you say about a country that is now run by a corporate billionaire? Where is that going to take democracy? Because large corporations influence legislation, regulatory behaviors, elections, public attitudes and local government. They've got a finger in every pie. Or maybe a hand... or both hands. One counter-balance to corporations has been organized labour (unions) but those are in serious decline.

Apparently though.... for-profit corporations are a creation of society - they exist due to a public charter. So why couldn't they be held to higher standards? Why not review them every year and see if they have ensured good social conduct. If not... revoke their charter and redistribute their wealth. That is mind-blowing... and it's pretty clear that in today's political climate, that isn't going to go very far. On the other hand... corporations could be restructured as partnerships or something.

Another point the author brings up is that America is too large - both in size and population. Some have said that democracy can only flourish in small nations. Most of the US states are too small but... they could be grouped into regions. The economy and politics could be decentralized to those regions. Apparently this is already happening in some states. The Feds are not the be-all and end-all and some states are making changes on their own because of foot-dragging in D.C.

Sooo... if corporate capitalism and socialism don't work... what would work?  The author suggests a Pluralist Commonwealth. Pluralist means it has democratic diversity and individual liberty. Commonwealth means that there would be a centrality of new public and quasi-public wealth-holding institutions. Some states, for example, Alaska, hold a public trust for oil revenues and then give out a dividend every year to each citizen. Better than all the money going to some corporate CEO! The author suggest that a Pluralist Commonwealth could equal or surpass the efficiency of real-world capitalism.

Oy... heavy going... this book.

America Beyond Capitalism - Gar Alperovitz - Part 1

America Beyond Capitalism -
Gar Alperovitz

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 119

  April 29, 2017 

Book 35 - America Beyond Capitalism -
Reclaiming our Wealth, our Liberty and our Democracy

Gar Alperovitz (2005)
 Part 1 - pages v-xv, 1-41
Reading Time - 1 hour

Okkkaaayyy... now we're into some heavy duty economics, with a fair dose of politics and sociology.

Here's the thing... America is in trouble. Serious trouble. Equality, Liberty and Democracy are in trouble... and without them, the whole system is in trouble. People have lost their belief in equality, liberty and democracy... more and more Americans are realizing that inequality is rampant, freedom is vanishing and politics is less and less democratic. But that is... in a way... the end product of capitalism. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer and while that happens, power goes to the elite and the rest of the plebes suffer. Sounds kind of depressing.

The author wonders what a new system might look like... if it's not capitalism. There are a lot of real-world experiments taking place (so there is hope). It wouldn't necessarily require a revolution, more a peaceful evolution. But... things will likely get worse before they get better. Given that this book was written a full 12 years ago... I wonder what the author makes of the whole Trump thing?

Now... for some details. Most people in the US (this is all about America) believe that government is run for the benefit of special interest groups (think the gun lobby, the tobacco lobby, the oil company lobby, etc, etc). John McCain, a Republican Senator admitted that it is an "elaborate influence-peddling scheme in which both parties conspire to stay in office by selling the country to the highest bidder". Ugh. Did you know that from 1981-2000, the compensation for the country's top 10 CEOs jumped 4300%??? While the salaries of most plebes increased maybe... 2%. Crazy.

Corporations have enormous power... they are taxed less than at any time in history and the problem isn't likely to be solved by progressive political strategies. The incomes of the bottom 60% of the population have not been keeping up with inflation. People need to work more hours or have their spouses join the workforce just to keep their noses above water. The thing is... capitalism generates inequality. It can be readjusted through taxes and social programs but... that's likely not going to work in the future. What really needs to be addressed is the the underlying relationships - who owns and controls the wealth. Lots of ideas on how that could be accomplished: worker-owned companies, government owning all capital and people getting dividends. Many of these solutions though, depend on unbridled economic growth... and as we know from some of my earlier books... the earth is a finite place with finite resources.

In terms of liberty... people need time in order to participate in democracy. The thing is... big government (and the US government is 37% of the US economy) is anathema to liberty. But... it just keeps getting bigger. Even the Republicans who hate fat government have been unable to reduce its size. The other problem is that big corporations have gotten huge as well... some have bigger economies that entire nations. Most Americans (90% or something) are employees... and that is apparently not what the Founders of America envisioned. They saw a nation of entrepreneurs... not people enslaved to corporations.

The other problem is that there has been a decline in intermediate organizations (churches, clubs, unions, etc.). And that is disastrous. That is where democracy (small "d") gets nourished. But in order to invest in those organizations, people need free time... and in order to have free time, they need economic security. Some places are even toying with the idea of a guaranteed floor-level income.

Basically... things need to be more equitably distributed... wealth and time in particular. People need to believe that their voice matters, that they have a say in how their lives are run. Right now... that's not happening. Sooo... on to the next section!

The Soul of an Octopus - Sy Montogomery - Part 4

The Soul of an Octopus - Sy Montogomery

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 118

  April 28, 2017 

Book 34 - The Soul of an Octopus -
A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness

Sy Montgomery (2015)
 Part 4 - pages 180-241
Reading Time - 2 hours

More octopus adventures - this time the author went diving down in Moorea, a former French colony down in the South Pacific. It sound beautiful and amazing.

Back at the Boston aquarium, they had to replace their octopus inventory with a fresh one caught from British Columbia. Apparently we have some of the Giant Pacific Octopus in our coastal waters. I feel kind of sad for the octopus that get caught and then sent off to some aquarium. Although... they are likened to ambassadors from an alien world. Teaching people about octopus and overcoming their disgust is important.

When you think that we've really only explored 5% of the oceans of our planet... it makes me wonder what else is down there. And why we would think intelligence is limited to land mammals like us. This book made me think and it opened a window into another world.

The Soul of an Octopus - Sy Montgomery - Part 3

The Soul of an Octopus - Sy Montgomery

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 117

  April 27, 2017 

Book 34 - The Soul of an Octopus -
A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness

Sy Montgomery (2015)
 Part 3 - pages 125-179
Reading Time - 1 hour

The author got to go diving near Cozumel off the Yucatan coast in Mexico. Apparently the diving there is amazing with one of the best barrier reefs in the world. But, before that, she had to get certified as a scuba diver. That took a bit... although it did make me vaguely interested in diving. Maybe. There's just so much more to see if you can scuba dive than if you just snorkel.

Several times in this book, the author has said interacting with octopuses was like meeting an intelligent alien. Others have said the same thing. With an octopus, we are not just the observers... we are also the observed. Which is kind of a funky feeling I would imagine.

While the octopus has a central brain, it would also appear that each arm has some independence as well. They are almost like separate creatures. And those suckers on their limbs... those suckers are strong! Through their suckers they can also taste everything... from seawater to chemicals that humans might have ingested (like medicine). We are such visual/auditory people... I wonder what it would be like to interact with the world from a sense of taste. Go around tasting things rather than just smelling or seeing things. That is part of it... the octopus and how it interacts with the world is just so different... we might not be smart enough to understand their intelligence... which is a weird thought. So much we don't know...

The Soul of an Octopus - Sy Montgomery - Part 2

The Soul of an Octopus - Sy Montgomery

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 116

  April 26, 2017 

Book 34 - The Soul of an Octopus -
A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness

Sy Montgomery (2015)
 Part 2 - pages 61-124
Reading Time - 1 hour

Sooo... a few other things... Octopus breed towards the end of their lives... and after they do that, they die. Which is kind of sad. Most of them are solitary but scientists have discovered a colony in the South Pacific that live more communally.

The author muses on why octopus are so smart. One reason might be that, lacking any form of hard protection, octopus have had to learn how to adapt to catch prey and escape predators. Not just one prey or one predator, but many. So they need to figure out quickly what camouflage might work best.

Another cool thing is that they can regrow limbs. Not quite like the starfish, because the replacement limbs on a starfish aren't as good as the originals. But with an octopus, replacement limbs are perfect copies of the original.

Octopus change colours and red means they are excited. White generally means they are calm and relaxed. The author talked about how the colours and patterns on their skin were always changing as humans interacted with them. They can make any sort of pattern - lines, stars, grids, whatever. Which got me to thinking... if we can't see polarized light... is it possible that the patterns on the skin are a form of communication? And it's not just colour patterns, their skin can get all nubbly with little bumps and projections. Just makes me wonder.

Tidbit - sea anemones show no signs of aging... so they could theoretically live almost forever.

The Soul of an Octopus - Sy Montgomery - Part 1

The Soul of an Octopus - Sy Montgomery

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 115

  April 25, 2017 

Book 34 - The Soul of an Octopus -
A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness

Sy Montgomery (2015)
 Part 1 - pages 1-60
Reading Time - 1 hour

I think I spotted this book at an airport bookshop. I made a note of it and then requested it from the library. I think I was #175 in a long list of holds! It finally came last week and, I have to say, it was a very quick read.

I had never heard of the author before but apparently she is naturalist who writes fairly accessible books and articles about interesting nature topics. This book, obviously, is about octopuses (not octopi... first thing I learned!).

The book starts off with her meeting at couple of octopus at the Boston aquarium. I learned a LOT about octopuses in these first few chapters. Like they are the world's consummate camouflagers. Chameleons have nothing on octopus! Which is interesting, because our eight-legged friends can't see colour... although they can see polarized light (which we can't see). Octopus have a pretty bad reputation out there... along with their relatives the squid and the Kraken (think massive squid). In the aquarium, the author discovered that they are actually quite gentle. The love to be petted and are highly tactile. Their suckers can taste things and that seems to be where a lot of their sensory input comes from. They are intelligent, smart and very, very curious. They can recognize people... and even like or dislike people. Naturally, they also have very different personalities. Some are bold. Some are curious. Some are assertive. They are unique individuals. And... they only live a maximum of 5 years. Which is kind of crazy...

I have to say... I'm not a big fan of octopus... either live or in sushi... but this book made me want to learn more. Which, I think, is what books are for!

The Railwayman's Wife - Ashley Hay - Part 1

The Railwayman's Wife - Ashley Hay

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 114

  April 24, 2017 

Book 33 - The Railwayman's Wife
Ashley Hay (2016)
 Part 1 - pages 1 -228
Reading Time - 5 hours

I came across this book in a magazine at the doctor's office. Same as with The North Water. Same doctor's office, same magazine. The reviewer said that The Railwayman's Wife was amazing. I thought... OK... let's give it a go.

It's set in a small town on the southwest coast of Australia. It follows the lives of a young family, Ani and Mac Lachlan and their 10 year old daughter Isabel. Early in the book, Mac is killed in a railway accident and we then follow Ani as she struggles with her grief. Set in the years after World War 2, we also meet a few returning soldiers, one of whom is a medical doctor.

The writing is lovely - very descriptive... almost magical. But, it got to me after a while. I wanted something to happen. It seemed like the characters were just drifting through life. And then... at the end... something did happen... but it wasn't a happily ever-after happening. It's true, life doesn't always work out... but... after drifting along with the author through the book, I wanted something at the end of it. Or maybe that's her point. We just drift through life and then shit happens. Don't know... wouldn't read it again.

If Women Ruled the World - Sheila Ellison (ed.) - Part 6

If Women Ruled the World - Sheila Ellison (ed.)

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 113

  April 23, 2017 

Book 32 - If Women Ruled the World -
How to Create the World We Want to Live In
Sheila Ellison (ed.) (2004)
 Part 6 - pages 217-260
Reading Time - 45 minutes

The last section has expanded out to the International level. There is one quote that really struck me in here... "the sword of murder is not the balance of justice". Going out and bombing the Taliban, killing innocent women and children as "collateral damage"... murder... is NOT justice. Putting inmates to death for their heinous crimes is NOT justice. What would we come up with instead? One of the stories suggested an General Congress of International Women to settle international questions... to address the issue of peace. An intriguing idea.

There is, of course, the growing issue of gender inequality... purely in terms of numbers. Throughout the world, there are an average of 1050 females for every 1000 males. That is considered "normal", I think (although Wikipedia does not agree). Anyhow... bear with me... in China, there are 100 females for every 117 males. In India, there are 927 females for every 1000 males. There is a sex ratio imbalance in some of these countries. Mostly, it's because girls are seen as less desirable than boys. China imposed that 1 child rule a few years ago and couples then wanted a male child as their only child. Lots of aborted female fetuses. The thing is... in Wikipedia, as of 2014, the global sex ratio is 107 boys to every 100 girls. Given the huge population of India and China... makes me wonder if the global numbers have been skewed since this book I'm reading was written. The thing is... it means there are a lot more men out there, men who will have a hard time finding a wife. But... if you're looking for cannon fodder to fight wars... you've got a tonne of young men at the ready. Sooo... if Women Ruled the World... we'd make sure that baby girls were always a cause for celebration!

There are a bunch of other cool things in this chapter... but it ends with a sobering thought. Women are not morally superior to men... there have been cases in history of crazy power-hungry women (think the Borgias in Italy). Neither end of the pendulum is the answer (men rule or women rule)... we need to rule Together... valuing each others gifts and talents. It's the only answer....

If Women Ruled the World - Sheila Ellison (ed.) - Part 5

If Women Ruled the World - Sheila Ellison (ed.)

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 112

  April 22, 2017 

Book 32 - If Women Ruled the World -
How to Create the World We Want to Live In
Sheila Ellison (ed.) (2004)
 Part 5 - pages 174-216
Reading Time - 45 minutes

The stories have expanded out to the National Level. If Women Ruled the World - we would humanize the horror of war. Cause war is horror. Some would even go so far as to say that war is terror. Given that the majority of victims of war are women and children... I would hope that if women ruled the world, we could rule with compassion instead of terror.

I've also noticed, over and over again, the comparison between women and men. For example... that if we ruled the world, we would support women in leadership positions, women who would support collaboration instead of competition. Women are more collaborative and men are more competitive. I wonder if that is actually accurate. Probably not. There are always some men who are collaborative... as there are some women who are competitive.. But on the whole... I could see it.

The idea that we would portray real women in advertisements. I get that the advertising industry is a massive brainwashing campaign. Models and actresses who are dolled up, made up, tweaked and photo-shopped to look like some "ideal" woman. And women are then always trying to measure up to that standard. In terms of their weight... their wrinkles... their make-up... their skin tone... their hair... their teeth... their clothing. Women are taught that they NEED to look a certain way... that they need to be attractive... in order to get ahead in life. My question is... attractive to whom? Attracting what? Why aren't girls and women taught that how they look is beautiful in it's own right... without the make-up or the plastic surgery? Without the fancy clothes? Without the liposuction? All of those industries... cosmetics, plastic surgery, fashion... are built on selling us stuff. They're built on selling us an idea that we are not beautiful just as we are. It's a load of horse-puckey!

Here's an article about Why Women Feel Bad about their Appearance. "The truth is that women’s insecurity about their appearance is driven by competition with other women." Go figure...

If Women Ruled the World - Sheila Ellison (ed.) - Part 4

If Women Ruled the World - Sheila Ellison (ed.)

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 111

  April 21, 2017 

Book 32 - If Women Ruled the World -
How to Create the World We Want to Live In
Sheila Ellison (ed.) (2004)
 Part 4 - pages 131-173
Reading Time - 45 minutes

The stories expand into the world of Business. Some of the ideas in here are great. We'd create a community of support, of mentors. We'd pave the way for the women who follow us  and make it easier for them to move up in the world. We would treat female athletes the same as male athletes. And... we'd have more women conductors. I never really noticed this... or maybe I did... but there really aren't  lot of female conductors out there. We're talking orchestra conductors here... what's up with that? Are men the only ones who can interpret a musical piece and lead an orchestra? Reading this book, I see that we are really in a transition still... going from a world run by men, ruled by men... to one in which there is more of a balance. It is no wonder that the Earth is in such poor shape given our history. Somehow with men, it always seems like it has to be better, higher, more, bigger... I wonder sometimes at women's sport even... why can't we have a sport that is cooperative rather than competitive? Why does the goal always have to be who crossed the finish line first? Why can't it be who helped whom cross the finish line? Have we bought into that male idea that first is best? That bigger is best? That more is better? Maybe there is another way? But we'd have to let go of the competition to find out.

If Women Ruled the World - Sheila Ellison (ed.) - Part 3

If Women Ruled the World - Sheila Ellison (ed.)

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 110

  April 20, 2017 

Book 32 - If Women Ruled the World -
How to Create the World We Want to Live In
Sheila Ellison (ed.) (2004)
 Part 3 - pages 93-130
Reading Time - 45 minutes

This stories now expand into Community. One of the ideas, which actually comes up in different ways is that women have the power to influence peaceful relations. Someone women are seen as being more invested in creating peace and working together. Perhaps because so many victims of war are children which women have birthed.

There are the ideas that we would tolerate and accept all people... that we would extend care and compassion to all members of our community. That bullying in all its forms would be unacceptable. I like the idea that there would be community programs to support the family... funded programs. Another great idea is... we would clean ourselves and our house first... which sounds kind of weird until you dig a bit deeper. The idea that we would source our food locally, eat healthy, recycle, create a garden, plant trees, etc. It might seem overwhelming to create change out in the world... but we can start with our own little corner of the world. As they say... peace starts with me. Whether it's peace between humans or between us and the earth.

If Women Ruled the World - Sheila Ellison (ed.) - Part 2

If Women Ruled the World - Sheila Ellison (ed.)

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 109

  April 19, 2017 

Book 32 - If Women Ruled the World -
How to Create the World We Want to Live In
Sheila Ellison (ed.) (2004)
 Part 2 - pages 49-92
Reading Time - 45 minutes

This section looks at Family. There are some good little stories in here. One of them suggests that if women ruled the world, we would cherish the old as well as the young. This speaks to me right now because of my aging parents. There is something wrong in our society where we shuffle the elderly off to care homes. Or where we send Home Support to help them at home but their days pass in Dailyness... one day looking just like the other. I'm not sure what the answer is... but there has to be a better way.

The idea that stay-at-home fathers would be commonplace... the equal parenting would be the norm instead of the exception. One story was of a couple who both worked. While she earned slightly less, she was expected to... or felt she had to... take care of the lion's share of the housework as well. Until... the husband lost his job and she got a promotion. All of a sudden, he became a stay-at-home house-husband and experienced some of the same things Betty Friedan was talking about in the Feminine Mystique. Lack of adult conversation and lack of fulfillment from an unpaid job. I can relate to that... it is a challenge to be the lower-wage earner, the stay-at-home person who takes care of home and hearth, as well as an aging parent. Again... if women ruled the world... there would be better supports in place for those who take care of the infrastructure of the country.

If Women Ruled the World - Sheila Ellison (ed.) - Part 1

If Women Ruled the World - Sheila Ellison (ed.)

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 108

  April 18, 2017 

Book 32 - If Women Ruled the World -
How to Create the World We Want to Live In
Sheila Ellison (ed.) (2004)
 Part 1 - pages 1-48
Reading Time - 45 minutes

This is another grab-it-off-the-library-bookshelf book. It looked interesting and readable. And, having finished Betty Friedan's monumental work, I figured something lighter might be a good change.

The book is a collection of stories, ideas and inspirations for change. Each one is a page or two long and covers a wide variety of topics. The editor arranged them so that they start with the self, and move outwards from there to family, community, nation, etc. Basically, there are a lot of issues in the world that might be solved if women helped run the world. There was an interesting quote - "democracy without women in power is not democracy at all".

The first section starts with the Self. The little stories are easily readable and focus on ideas like: be yourself, don't try so hard to fit in. Focus on the inside, rather than the outside. Peace begins with me. Concentrate on our strengths and stop giving our power away. In reading the stories, the editor suggests that we might not agree with all of them but to look and see: why don't we agree, what do we think would work better, how would we confront the issue. With the Self... I think a lot of it starts in childhood. Somewhere along the way, our girl children get sucked into the idea that they have to look a certain way or dress a certain way. Whether it's Barbie or Disney Princesses or Dora the Explorer... Why can't we just let kids be kids... I do have to say, I am grateful to my mom for letting me be me... for not forcing me to fit in. I wasn't a girlie girl... I wasn't part of the in-crowd... and I wouldn't trade that in for anything.

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan - Part 12

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 107

  April 17, 2017 

Book 31 - The Feminine Mystique
Betty Friedan (1997)
 Part 12 - pages 338-395
Reading Time - 1.5 hours

"What do I want to do"?

Ain't no easy answer to that question. How does one find oneself? Friedan argues that woman has to find herself by a creative work of her own. A job isn't necessarily the answer as it can just be part of the trap. It would have to be a job that a woman could take seriously - at her capacity.

Women need an objective... a long-term goal and they need an attitude of commitment. It can't just be dabbling in painting, sculpting, or writing. Need to make a commitment and run with it. For Friedan, education is key - it is the matrix of human evolution.Equality and dignity of women is based on economic independence. Women need to be able to earn enough money - which means they need to be educated to get the plum jobs.

Women need to learn to compete, not as a woman, but as a human being.  Get out there and make a difference in the world.

At the same time... I am mindful that all of the minutiae of daily life... the dishes, the vacuuming, the laundry... the chopping of wood and tilling soil... all of that can be deeply fulfilling. I think it's the attitude we bring to it. For me, chopping wood is a meditative practice... of expanding my abilities in chopping wood... of being present to what I am doing.

I get what Friedan is saying... and I also recall the other book I read earlier... Wonder Women... that challenged the idea that women could have it all. I think there is a middle ground... because the home front does need to be tended and minded. And the money does need to be earned. Somewhere between housewive and driven career woman lies a happy medium. At least that's my take on it!

And now... on to another book!

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan - Part 11

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 106

  April 16, 2017 

Book 31 - The Feminine Mystique
Betty Friedan (1997)
 Part 11 - pages 310-337
Reading Time - 1 hour

Here we get to the meat of the matter. Humans have an inborn need to grow. It gets expressed as the courage to be an individual. We are called to the highest excellence of which we are capable. If we surrender or give up our drive to growth... it can lead to despair and resentment.

So we have whole generations of women who evaded the frightening feeling of self discovery but ended up in despair. Housewives ended up being victims of "dailyness"... the endless boring days of sameness. Similar to what prisoners experience I guess. In some ways, you could say that housewives were prisoners in gilded cages... but with the doors wide open. But they were convinced that the gilded cage was safer than the world "out there".

Thing is... if people lose their sense of power and are barred from realizing their true nature, you end up with some serious sickness. Friedan brings in Maslow's heirarchy of needs and concludes that women got stuck fulfilling their physiological needs but blocked the higher needs - the search for knowledge and truth.

So, really... it's not about whether one is masculine or feminine... which are just stereotypes... it's about whether one is self-actualized... whether one's individuality is strengthened or not. A self-actualized person, whether they are a man or a woman, can bring together active/passive, masculine/feminine. We are all called to full growth, to be complete... to maturity.

As far back as 1900, a South African woman saw that "if women did not win back their right to a full share of honored and useful work, woman's mind and muscle would weaken in a parasitic state; her offspring, male and female, would weaken progressively, and civilization would itself deteriorate". Was that South African woman right?

Friedan would argue that the feminine mystique has succeeded in burying millions of American women alive.

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan - Part 10

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 105

  April 15, 2017 

Book 31 - The Feminine Mystique
Betty Friedan (1997)
 Part 10 - pages 282-309
Reading Time - 1 hour

Here we get to the crunch point. Friedan basically says that children are paying the price for this Feminine Mystique. They are ending up soft, passive and bored. They have no direction in life, no drive, no urgency. Their mothers seek infantile gratification through their children and their children end up having a temper tantrum at the age of 13 if she refuses to butter their bread. One boy said she should butter his bread until he got married, at which point his wife would then butter his bread. Good grief.

The thing is... the whole thing becomes stifling after a while and women ended up having mental breakdowns. Cause living a life in a gilded cage is actually a slow death of mind and spirit.

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan - Part 9

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 104

  April 14, 2017 

Book 31 - The Feminine Mystique
Betty Friedan (1997)
 Part 9 - pages 258-281
Reading Time - 1 hour

Sooo... you know what bored housewives do, right? They become rabid sex monsters of course! They are searching for that magical "romantic love" and after a while, they're not finding it from their husbands... or extra-marital affairs. Women want sex... demand sex... and men are disinterested. They are demanding fulfillment from their husband and it's not happening. So you end up with predatory sex-crazed housewives and passive, martyred husbands.

Women basically go a little crazy cooped up at home all day while the husband is at work doing exciting stuff and the kids are at school learning differential equations. She's bored silly and no amount of Harlequin romances are going to fill that boredom. She's looking for fulfillment in all the wrong places and not finding it... cause it doesn't come from house-cleaning, or sex... it comes from fulfilling her potential as a human being. Hopefully we get to that soon...

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan - Part 8

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 102

  April 13, 2017 

Book 31 - The Feminine Mystique
Betty Friedan (1997)
 Part 8 - pages 233-257
Reading Time - 1 hour

Here's the thing with housewives... they take more time to do housework than working women who have other jobs. What a working woman can do in an hour takes a housewife 6 hours. Why is that? Well... there's a law somewhere that says nature abhors a vacuum and that work will expand to fill the time available. Gotta be busy... gotta make housework look "important" to fulfill your own sense of worth. Not wonder housewives feel so empty!

Friedan says that the more your intelligence exceeds your job requirements, the greater your boredom. What an appalling waste of woman power... on cleaning and dusting and chauffeuring and goodness knows what else.

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan - Part 7

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 101

  April 12, 2017 

Book 31 - The Feminine Mystique
Betty Friedan (1997)
 Part 7 - pages 206-232
Reading Time - 1 hour

So, we all know that the chief business of America is business. The almighty Dollar is king in the U.S. And, as it turns out, women (at least in the 1960s) are the chief consumers of American business. Friedan interviewed some advertising/marketing consultant who had this to say about women and shopping:

"Properly manipulated, American housewives can be given the sense of identity, purpose, creativity, the self-realization, even the sexual joy they lack, by buying things".

Let's get the housewives to enjoy housework and have fun with it!! Let them be creative with their ready-made cake mix! Let them use as many different products to clean their house (rather than just vinegar and baking soda) so that they feel less like an unskilled labourer (which is what they are) and more like an engineer or expert!!! Oooohhhh...  Let's create the illusion of some sense of "achievement"! Let's get them all to buy Sterling Silver (which is horrible to keep untarnished) because they need to keep up with appearances. "What... you only have stainless steel cutlery... you must be so poor." Let's make the housewife feel a sense of achievement for cleaning her silver! Cause Sterling Silver and China symbolize her success as a Modern Woman.

Well... this answers my question as to why everyone had to have China and Sterling Silver in their cupboards... stuff that they only used once a year (maybe twice) but had to keep clean. Crazy... it was like a make-work project.

Cause... it's all connected with the kind of person a woman is. Gotta sell the housewives things to satisfy their needs. Good grief... it sounds a bit like modern society actually. Where people keep buying things... bigger houses, bigger cars, more toys, more electronics, more more more... to satisfy that need... that identity, that purpose (see Advertising guy's quote above). The things is.... things will NEVER fill that hole. But we keep buying them. My Dad is getting Home Support twice a day and I know Home Support workers do not make a lot of money. But I tell ya... they drive the snappiest, new vehicles you ever did see. The question isn't "how can they afford those cars"... the question is "how deep in debt are they"?

Friedan closed off this chapter by asking... is this buying frenzy a sign of a sick/immature society and people. I'd raise my hand and say... "yup, it is".

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan - Part 6

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 101

  April 11, 2017 

Book 31 - The Feminine Mystique
Betty Friedan (1997)
 Part 6 - pages 182-205
Reading Time - 1 hour

Right... so here's the thing... no one would willing take on this feminine mystique thing if it was sold on a store shelf unless it fulfilled some need. Clearly women weren't being forced to return to the home... they were doing it willingly... but why? After the war, there was a pent-up hunger for marriage, home and children... both on the part of returning soldiers and women. But while other countries had the Baby Boom... they didn't end up with the same feminine mystique.

In the US though, it was like the nation fell into a sleep and stopped growing up. Maybe it was easier to think about love and sex than to face the threat of Communism and the Bomb. There was also though, an inwardness that put American women under a Freudian microscope. Because the American soldiers had, by and large, been identified as being rather immature. Their moms were blamed.... because they hadn't raised their boys right. Because, of course, immature moms raise immature children. There you go... it was career moms who were to blame for immature boy soldiers. Except... the moms who raised the soldiers were not career moms... they were stay at home moms. They were women who had devoted too much to their children. But there's that same thing again... "don't confuse me with facts when my mind is made up".

Studies have shown that educated women have a greater chance of sexual fulfillment. Working mothers are generally more mature and raise more mature kids. Maternal over-protection, where the mom lives through her kids and for her kids, is not a good thing... not good at all. Housewives ended up smothering their sons and daughters which led to a lack of independence and individuality.

Which makes sense... if kids are never given the freedom to go out and stumble in life... what kind of adults are they going to grow into. Makes me wonder about the kids today who are shuttled around from ballet to soccer to play dates and never get to go out into the world and catch a frog or run through the forest unhindered... What kind of kids are we raising today?

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan - Part 5

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 100

  April 10, 2017 

Book 31 - The Feminine Mystique
Betty Friedan (1997)
 Part 5 - pages 150-181
Reading Time - 1 hour

Part of the responsibility for the rush back to the home has to be laid squarely at the feet of educators. They took the theories of Freud and Mead and ran with them. High schools and colleges started educating women to be wives and mothers. College, instead of being a place to get educated, became the place to find a husband. Women didn't want to graduate with a diploma but rather with a diamond ring on their finger.

Men went to college for the intellect while women went to college to fulfill their sexual role. They ended up looking for their identity in their husband rather than themselves. You just know that this is not going to end well though! The thing was... it wasn't smart for a girl to be smart. God help you, your husband might feel threatened by your superior intellect. So women ended up arresting their intellectual growth. They didn't want to stand out as the Brainy Smurfs, so they conformed. Better to shy away from the growing pains of identity... better to just stop growing. Sooo... this image of infantile women became kind of a vicious cycle... if women are seen as being infantile... and then they drop out of college... they essentially become even more infantile... what a self-perpetuating sell-job... does make me wonder what sort of kids were raised by such women.

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan - Part 4

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan - Part 4

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 99

  April 9, 2017 

Book 31 - The Feminine Mystique
Betty Friedan (1997)
 Part 4 - pages 126-149
Reading Time - 1 hour

I had to scale back my reading of this book. I was trying to get 50 pages done in a session but given the density of the text... it was taking a couple of hours! Sooo... we're down to a chapter a day.

In this section, Friedan takes us through a romp of something called Functionalism.... which was apparently just a word game that allowed the prejudices of social scientists to show up. Basically, the sex roles defined a person. Women's function was to bear children, ergo, that was their role in life. Women were dependent and transferred their dependence from their parents to their husbands when they got married. Women were simply more infantile. (seriously....) Sociologists now admit that functionalism was rather embarrassing but... that was after it had already impacted a whole bunch of women.

Essentially, "woman is what society says she is". Margaret Mead is invoked here... she did some great work but she also had some weird ideas (she was an anthropologist who studied "primitive" tribes) which blurred the glorification of women in the female role. To me... it sounds rather like they came with an idea and then looked for evidence to support their idea. Which is NOT the scientific method. But then... this was the social sciences. The thing was... anyone who didn't fit their theories of how men and women "should" be was deemed as aberrant. Soooo... yes... functionalism was an embarrassment but then afterwards people still quoted it based on their own prejudices...

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan - Part 3

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 98

  April 8, 2017 

Book 31 - The Feminine Mystique
Betty Friedan (1997)
 Part 3 - pages 80-125
Reading Time - 2 hours

Friedan takes us back to the 1800s and the early stirrings of the feminist movement. It's an interesting read, to be sure, but makes me a bit angry. In the mid 1800s, feminists set out to abolish the notion that women were dependent feminine objects. Women essentially fulfilled through sexual passivity, acceptance of male domination and nurturing motherhood. Women were defined as objects, not as subjects in their own right. They were talked about in relation to their husbands or their children. But women wanted more.. they wanted the same freedom as men - to stand alone and to understand oneself. Women wanted to develop their soul, their mind, their intellect - to reach their full potential. No surprise then, that women were involved in the movement to abolish slavery. But that in participating in that movement, they also realized that they wanted to be liberated too. Here's an interesting tidbit... you know the Battle Hymn of the Republic.... yeah... that one... Well, the words to that song were written by American writer Julia Ward Howe using the music from the song "John Brown's Body". But she did it anonymously... crazy.

Friedan also takes us into the twisted back alleys of Sigmund Freud... All I've got to say about Freud is that he was one twisted puppy. Friedan admits that Freud was a prisoner of his own cultural time... no matter how brilliant he was in other areas. Most of his theories rest on his own psychoanalysis of himself and his own strange brand of sexuality. He saw every neurosis as having a sexual origin (maybe because his did?). His Victorian theories were then taken out of their context and weirdly twisted and imposed on modern people. Freud saw women as fundamentally inferior, child-like dolls and that it was woman's nature to be ruled by men... her sickness to envy him. An uncritical acceptance of Freudian doctrine in America settled everywhere like toxic dust. A very few doctors realized that if the patient doesn't fit the book, throw away the book and listen to the patient. But, by and large, American women were given the Freudian shrink job... much to their detriment.

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan - Part 2

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 97

  April 7, 2017 

Book 31 - The Feminine Mystique
Betty Friedan (1997)
 Part 2 - pages 33-79
Reading Time - 1.5 hours

Sooo... the feminist movement got off to a good start in the early 1900s, all the way through the 1930s. Women went out and got careers and things were going good. But then... in the 1940s, something happened, women started retreating back to the housewife role. In the media and elsewhere, housewives were portrayed as fluffy, passive, feminine and gaily content. Editors didn't write "challenging" content for housewives because it would be beyond them. The true role of women was portrayed as being housewife and mother. Was it a backlash against the horribleness of war? That men and women wanted the comfort and security of family? Of a nice home with a flock of happy kids? The thing was... the role of women became so narrow... that it ended up being a mindless housewife. Women were encouraged to take on the role of the "noble" housewife. And if that wasn't found to be satisfying... then it was the issue of the woman. Despite the fact that in being a housewife, and focusing on her role as wife and mother, women were turning their backs on their minds.

Somewhere along the line, women and girls decided that home and hearth was where fulfillment lay and they were hell-bent on finding a husband and having as many kids as early as possible.

But... it wasn't everything that it cracked up to be. Friedan notes that in the 1950s there was a crisis in the identity of women. "Who am I?" was a question that haunted housewives across America. There was a certain safety and security in defaulting to housewife, mother and wife. Girls and women didn't have to face the terror that comes with the freedom to decide one's own life. The thing was... the issue didn't go away. It just came up again when women turned 40, when the kids were out of the house, and there was no possibility of birthing more.

Friedan notes that "our culture does not permit women to accept and gratify their basic need to grow and fulfill their potentialities as human beings, a need which is not solely defined by their sexual role". Boys and men face an identity crisis as they grow up... why not women? Because if that urge to grow is not fulfilled... but is repressed, it leads to some serious issues.

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan - Part 1

The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 96

  April 6, 2017 

Book 31 - The Feminine Mystique
Betty Friedan (1997)
 Part 1 - pages ix-xxxiv and pages 3-32
Reading Time - 1 hour

Alright, finally!! The book came in at the library and it is 400 pages of dense text. I'll do my best to get through it in a timely fashion. There is quite a bit of Foreword, Introduction, Prologue and Preface to work through. The book was originally published in 1963 so this version came out in 1997. It includes some more recent thoughts of Betty Friedan which mirror her other book that I read a couple of weeks ago. But this one is THE book that started it all.

Back in the 1950s, the American housewife was a dream image for a lot of women. Get married, have kids, buy a house in suburbia and live happily ever after. Some of these women were university educated, some were not. But the vision to which a lot of girls aspired was Mrs. Cleaver (Leave it to Beaver). At the same time... there was an unspoken problem. Housewives felt empty, incomplete, tired, angry, depressed. Some doctors called it Housewife Syndrome. In 1960, the problem burst and a lot of different things were blamed... women were over-educated. They needed to have more kids. But... the problem won't be solved by more money, bigger houses or a second car. In fact, those things might make it worse.

This book was written two years before I was born so I'm kind of curious to see what Betty Friedan writes. Will it still apply to me? I see echos of it though. People today are chasing happiness, hoping that bigger houses or a second car will make them happy... but that doesn't do it. Being a stay-at-home, work part-time from home, person... I handle a lot of the Domestic Resource Management issues... At the same time though, I am a writer and a blogger and I feel like I'm making a contribution to the world and growing myself. I am a housewife... but I'm more than that...

While housewives in the 1950s were wondering "Is this all?", I can't say that is my question... so we'll see where this book goes...

Enough is Enough - Rob Dietz and Dan O'Neill - Part 4

Enough is Enough -
Rob Dietz and Dan O'Neill

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 95

  April 5, 2017 

Book 30 - Enough is Enough - Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources
Rob Dietz and Dan O'Neill (2013)
 Part 4 - pages 156-206
Reading Time - 1 hour

If a steady-state economy is in the works, it means we'll have to alter our consumerist society that places emphasis on purchase, ownership and display of stuff. We've been sold ideas and visions of how good life could be, if only we had the latest toaster oven. We also live in a society where planned obsolescence (things need to be replaced sooner rather than later) rules. Maybe we could build things to last... Maybe we could share tools and stuff in community workshops. I, myself, think that the second hand culture (thrift stores, kijiji) is a step in the right direction.

Of course, none of this is possible without getting the media and politicians on board. Most aren't even aware that the steady-state economy idea exists... so education is probably in order. People generally don't like things that clash with their pre-existing worldview. It'd have to be framed in a way that people don't feel threatened. Thing is... most people (80% in the US) want environmental and social justice... we just need to demand it.

The big thing is... we'd have to do this at a global scale... cause at this point, we are all interconnected... living on one planet. What one country does with the climate affects every other nation. We'd all have to cooperate. I wonder though... maybe it requires a cultural shift... cause, in general, men aren't the best at cooperation. They're better at competition... and while that has gotten us to a certain point. Maybe it's time for women to step up... to create a global cooperative...

The authors have a blueprint for a steady-state economy but it can only be implemented in response to a cultural shift. And that's going to likely come from us... from people. We have to demand it.

I really enjoyed this book and would like to read it again, or read more books like it. It gives one hope for the future. The authors admit it would be challenging and difficult but... the rewards would be worth it. And I think we can all start in our own homes and yards... in our own small ways we can support organizations and systems that move in the direction of local economies... of limiting our consumption. Everything we do makes a difference... no matter how small and seemingly insignificant.

Enough is Enough - Rob Dietz and Dan O'Neill - Part 3

Enough is Enough -
Rob Dietz and Dan O'Neill

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 94

  April 4, 2017 

Book 30 - Enough is Enough - Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources
Rob Dietz and Dan O'Neill (2013)
 Part 3 - pages 112-155
Reading Time - 1 hour

Did you know Bhutan (tiny country squished up NE of India, above Bangladesh) doesn't measure Gross Domestic Product (GDP)? Rather, they measure Gross National Happiness. What a concept. They measure things like education, environmental health, community health etc. Cause there's more to life than just the economy. GDP just measures money changing hands... so someone's cancer treatment increases the GDP. Pollution clean-up increases the GDP. See the problem? Just cause the GDP is increasing doesn't mean all is well in the world.

For a stead-state economy, we'd need new indicators - maybe Genuine Progress Indicator or the Happy Planet Index (Canada is #89, Costa Rica is #1 and the US is #114).  The goal is a sustainable and equitable human being. Part of that is a meaningful line of work. Today, there are a lot of people out of work, and a lot of people who are overworked. Employers generally aren't flexible when it comes to part-time work, job sharing or leaves. At the same time, jobs that really need to get done (like environmental remediation) aren't deemed profitable, so they don't get done. A steady-state economy might have guaranteed jobs, maybe reducing hours, lower retirement age, increased vacation time, job sharing. Less time at work would mean more time for creative, fulfilling things.

Of course, we'd need to look at corporations as well... especially share-holder corporations whose sole-goal is to maximize profits for share-holders. Of the world's top 100 economies, 48 are corporations. But share-holder corporations get to extract all the value from the earth, while assuming none of the costs for the ecological and social damages. It's a broken system. There are other options... cooperatives, vehicle sharing, public interest companies, privately owned companies. Given how corporations buy votes in many countries, it won't be easy to wrest power away from them. Buckminster Fuller said "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." What a neat idea for revolution.

Enough is Enough - Rob Dietz and Dan O'Neill - Part 2

Enough is Enough -
Rob Dietz and Dan O'Neill

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 93

  April 3, 2017 

Book 30 - Enough is Enough - Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources
Rob Dietz and Dan O'Neill (2013)
 Part 2 - pages 59-111
Reading Time - 1 hour

Did you know that 1 in 10 households in the US (in 2007) rents a storage unit where they store stuff that they no longer need or want? Crazy, isn't it? We are consuming things (we are labeled consumers after all) at an ever increasing rate. The thing is, we are using things faster than the ecosystem can handle it... whether it's raw materials needed for products, or waste that is generated. What could we do instead? Well, we could create a tradeable system... for example... carbon emissions. Everyone gets a permit for so much carbon emissions and then those can be sold or traded.

But what about the whole steady-state population... that's a hot button topic if there ever was one. There's a neat rule of thumb out there that I've come across in financial blogs. If you want to know how fast something will double (money or people) do this:

70 divided by % of growth = # years to double - So 70 / 10% means my money will double in 10 years. But if we are at 7 billion people now... and the population is growing at 1% - then it will double in 100 years. Crazy. The simple facts are that the eco footprint of the global population is too large. We need a smaller footprint which means fewer feet. This is, naturally, a controversial topic. And China has tried the whole "limit people to one child" and run afoul of other issues. But one simple thing that could be done is education - cause educated girls have fewer children. We'd also need to balance immigration vs. fertility. Countries with low fertility could have increased immigration balanced by emigration. It would be tricky...

As for income inequality... well... read The Spirit Level book that I read a few blog posts ago. It's at the root of all sorts of societal issues, not just for poor people, but across the board. Egalitarian societies are simply better off and healthier. It would require taking from the obscenely rich (taxes, social programs) and redistributing the wealth so that everyone has enough...

And then there's our financial system. I read that Ben Hewitt book a few weeks back called Saved, so I had a heads up on some of this stuff. Basically financial systems and money are unhinged from real assets. We have this idea that money=wealth but it doesn't. Real wealth is land, housing, fertile soil, clean water, medical care, food - actual resources. Money is just a claim on real resources but... what if there is more money in the world than real resources? Compound interest means that money grows exponentially... but real wealth doesn't. The other interesting thing... which Hewitt noted as well is this... governments don't make money, banks make money. Banks need to have only 10% of real resources on hand. So they loan us $100,000 for a house but they only need $10,000 as a real resource. It's a shell game... they make money out of thin air. We go to work and pay them back the mortgage and that money is new money to the bank. It's a book-keeping trick and it's crazy. It is debt-based money creation and it drives economic growth. If banks stop lending... the whole system collapses - look at 2008 and the freak-outs that happened. The whole thing teetered on the edge of a cliff.

The steady state economy would require a different sort of monetary system. Maybe a debt-free national currency, along with a local currency and then an international currency. Maybe make banks 100% reserve, meaning if they want to lend $100,000, they need to have the $100,000 to lend! Thing is... banks aren't going to do this voluntarily and most citizens don't understand the system. Sooo... it'll probably be a crisis that will poke us over the edge.

Enough is Enough - Rob Dietz and Dan O'Neill - Part 1

Enough is Enough
- Rob Dietz and Dan O'Neill

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 92

  April 2, 2017 

Book 30 - Enough is Enough - Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources
Rob Dietz and Dan O'Neill (2013)
 Part 1 - pages 1-58
Reading Time - 1 hour

This is a book I could sink my teeth into! It's in line with a lot of the other books I've been reading on the environment and a sustainable economy. The authors put forward the idea that maybe we could create a world in which "enough" is sufficient for a good life rather than always "more".

Cause the thing is... never-ending economic growth is not feasible (despite what Mr. Koch of The 80/20 Principle suggests). We live on a finite planet and economic growth that benefits 1% of the population (the rich elites) but that passes the costs (environmental, social) down to the 99% of the rest of us... well... that just ain't what the world needs right now. The authors suggest that a steady-state economy might be the answer. And before you get all twitchy... it doesn't mean we live in the cold dark of a communist regime under a Politburo!

The economy (money) is a subset of the social economy (humans) which is in turn a subset of the biological economy (the world). We are growing the money economy to the detriment of the human and biological economy. We know this already... the climate, the extinctions, the poverty, the pollution, the debt. It's all there if we want to see it. But our culture (at least in the First World) tends to value owning and consuming, and that is no longer sustainable... but what if we could create a future where sustainable and equitable human well-being is the goal? That would be kind of cool. It might take a while to get there, but it would be neat.

Today, our eco-footprint is 1.5 Earths... that means we are growing our footprint bigger than the world we live in. There are ecological limits to economic growth. And the thing is... a growing GDP (Gross Domestic Product) doesn't make us happier or healthier. In an age where income inequality is growing and global production has not benefited the poor... we are going into debt, not just individually, but culturally and socially as well.

The thing with economic growth is that rich people tend to consume more than poor people. Which means their eco-footprint is higher. But all the poorer nations are wanting to follow in our footsteps and have economic growth as well. It's just that economic growth is exponential which means we are digger ourselves into a deep hole very, very quickly. Technology can help us up to a certain point but... it's tricky and never a sure thing.

No surprise but most economics courses don't even mention the idea of a steady-state economy. I'd never heard of the idea... mind you, I never took an economics course either. The steady-state economy would maintain a stable level of resource consumption and a stable population. The goal would be to get away from an increasing GDP and go to an increasing quality of life.

It would require a lot... a whole cultural shift... not just for nations, but globally as well. We'd need to rethink investment, ownership, productivity, environmental values, etc. But lots of studies are being done... and it looks workable. What it would look like... hard to say.

The North Water - Ian McGuire - Part 1

The North Water - Ian McGuire

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 91

  April 1, 2017 

Book 29 - The North Water
by Ian McGuire (2016)
 Part 1 - pages 1-272
Reading Time - 5 hours

I came across a review of this novel in a magazine in a doctor's office. It sounded interesting... violent, but interesting. So I got it from the library. I've read a fair bit of military fiction so am no stranger to violence but... this book took it to a whole new level.

The story of a whaling voyage that goes awry in the twilight days of Britain's whaling industry. This book has such scenes as:
pedophile rape, bashing heads of baby seals, drug abuse, killing whales, killing polar bears, tormenting orphaned polar bear cubs, murder, sodomy, prostitution, murder. The level of brutality is horrendous. Women play an infinitesimal role in here, basically as whores and sex objects. The author also seems to love using the "f-word" in the conversations of his characters. To me... it seemed out of place and out of time. I didn't really see how it added anything to the narrative (since the British have so many other swear words that would be more historically accurate) and for me, in fact, it was abruptly jarring. But what do I know... perhaps the "f-word" was a common swear word back in the day.

It's a well-written book but... it's gorily, brutally violent. Be warned.