Monday, April 26, 2010

Books: Currently off the shelf...

I was so impressed with Dalrymple's Life at the Bottom that I got a copy of Our Culture, What's Left of It: The Mandarins and the Masses.

This one's much less thematic than the other, being a collection of essays on the slow burning of Nova Roma, and is therefore easier to dip in and out of, rather getting sucked in all at one sitting. Recommend!

6 comments:

Drang said...

Reading Life At The Bottom now. All I can think is, That poor SOB. And, how do we get him to give a series of presentations--preferably, to Congress--about just how utterly screwed up a Welfare State is...?

It's appalling that he has been writing about this stuff for almost 20 years, and idjits here still think this crap is a Good Idea.

Ken said...

That's next on the pile. I've got to return The Art of Not Being Governed and re-reserve it; only got half through it. I'll read Life at the Bottom and Brave New War more or less simultaneously.

TW said...

Just finished Life At The Bottom a few days ago. It must be tough to hear the same dissociation from responsibility every day without being totally jaundiced. And without wanting to b*tch slap every single person.

How do you de-tune a population from blame displacement into a strong sense of personal responsibility? Or is that only possible after the dust settles because we're too far down the slippery slope now?

Joanna said...

It must be tough to hear the same dissociation from responsibility every day without being totally jaundiced. And without wanting to b*tch slap every single person.

I think he does want to make with the bitch slapping; it's only his British decorum and stiff upper lip that hold him in check.

Anonymous said...

Try Second Opinion (available in the UK from amazon.co.uk or from the publishers, Monday Books - they ship free to the USA).

A series of short anecdotes from his work as a doctor in the UK - utterly absorbing and brilliant.

Ken said...

How do you de-tune a population from blame displacement into a strong sense of personal responsibility?

"Sink or swim."