Leviathan Book I: Of Man

Title: Leviathan
Author: Thomas Hobbes
Publisher: Public Domain Books
Genre: Philosophy

Our knowledge and experiences in this world originate from our senses.  External bodies colliding with our senses creates images, tastes, smells, pressures, sounds, etc.   The residual effect is our decaying sense or imagination.  Understanding and thought is the succession of one imagination in line with another line of imagination.  Speech is the transformation of mental discourse into verbal discourse.  Reason is inviting our experiences into our thought processes.

To reason is to be subject to our senses.  True individual reason cannot exist.  Senses and thought processes are different by each individual beholding.  True certainty based on individual reason cannot exist.  There must be an agreed upon definition of each word in order for reason to become somewhat homogeneous.  Science is putting lines of reason together and cannot be possible without well defined words.

The arrangement of the book is a philosophical stepping stone.  The first part leads into the second and the second bases its arguments and conclusions on the ideas of the first part and so on.  However, after science, appetites (good) and aversions (bad) are the motions that take place within us that create endeavor or action.  Some are born with us others are gained from experience.  Proceeding our actions is deliberation and our so called will.  Passion and fear are rooted in appetites and aversions.  To have no passion is to be dead; to have weak passion is to be dull; to have passions indifferent is to be irresolute; to have passions abound is to be mad. The same can be said for fear.  From our passions and fears arises the pursuit of  our desires and the avoidance of our fears.  Pursuit and avoidance are actions that will inevitably lead to conflict; placing men against each other.  In this system there is no liberty.  Contracts must be created in order to allow some sort of liberty without fear.

Hobbes believes to be able to have a philosophical method, the human nature must be understood.  His reasoning, deduced from sensual experiences, I am sure, is the reason the first part of his argument is dedicated to defining human nature and the human thought process. The second part, Of the Common-Wealth, will be a show of protecting man from himself.

The Fall of Japan

Title: The Fall of Japan
Author: William Craig
Publisher:  Galahad Books (1997)
Pages:  368
Genre: Historical non-fiction


"The enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is indeed incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives. Should we continue to fight, it would not only result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but would also lead to the total extinction of human civilization.  Such being the case, how are we to save the millions of our subjects, or to atone ourselves before the hallowed spirits of our Imperial Ancestors?  This is the reason why we have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the Joint Declaration of the Powers." - ignoring Imperial protocol Emperor Hirohito in his first ever public address to the nation of Japan on August 15, 1945, four days after the surrender of Japan and six days after the unleashing of the 2nd atomic bomb that devastated Nagasaki.

The fall of Japan was a dramatic time in an august nation.  Young and zealous men of military indoctrination continued the fight despite the words of their Emperor.  Coupes to overthrow the surrender rose and fell overnight.  Those in favor of surrender were stalked and murdered in their sleep.  To many, surrender was the denial of the sanctity of their Emperor and their nation.  Disembowelment, assisted suicides, self inflicted shootings, murders, terrorized this people.  The nightly bombing of Tokyo killed thousands.  The atomic bombs killed tens of thousands and thousands more in the following days and months.

The book was very interesting and includes perspectives from a wide spectrum both Allied and Imperial.  It is evident that a lot of time was spent in the research of this book.  From survivors of the Fat Man in Nagasaki to Gen Wainwright (an amazing story) POW in the Philippines, the perspective changes from personal to capacious giving a very unique insight into the events.  Highly recommended for anybody interested in 20th century history, Japanese culture, philosophy or military history

Guns, Germs, and Steel

Title: Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
Author: Jared Diamond
Publisher:  W.W. Norton and Company
Pages:  494
Genre: Social Science, Human Geography

The Fertile Crescent is the native home to the donkey, the cow, pig, goat, sheep and dog.    It is a native home to 32 types of large-seeded wheat species.  It is also the native home to peas, lentils and chickpea which are pulses high in protein.  Flax, also original to the area, is high in fiber.  This variety of homegrown, provided for a balanced diet of the early man.  The Fertile Crescent is the birthplace of modernity.  Australia is native to no domestic animals.  Australia was home to no crops.  All their nutrients came from the hunting of wild animals and the harvesting of wild vegetation.  For various reasons, the animals were not able to be domesticated and the vegetation was not able to be farmed.  Australian natives were hunting with spears as recently as the 20th century.

Each area of the world has its own climate, native plants, animals, and unique geographic features.  The foundation of each culture springs from the circumstances offered that specific group based on geographic location.  If there are no animals easily domesticated nor harvest-able crops in a particular area, those living there will not grow and prosper as those living in the Fertile Crescent.  With animals and edible vegetation come farms and with farms come large groups of people living in small areas and with this comes government, competition and disease.  Each society is equal other than geographic location.

This book appears to have been written in reverse.  The author has his politically correct conclusion selected and must be particular in supporting the resolution with historical examples, facts and theories.  He neither has anything negative nor positive to say about any particular culture or society.  This gives the appearance of an unbiased author.  The book is powerful with interesting examples.  It offers some education with a broad and brief, although theorized history of the world.

The Jungle

Title: The Jungle
Author: Upton Sinclair
Publisher: Barnes and Noble Classics
Pages: 396
Genre: Political Fiction/Classic

The purpose of this book was to expose, in the words of Upton Sinclair, "the inferno of exploitation of the typical American factory worker at the turn of the 20th Century."  Undoubtedly, the book did have an effect on the meatpacking industry, but not in the manner Sinclair wanted.  Theodore Roosevelt was president at the time.  His view of Sinclair:  "I have an utter contempt for him. He is hysterical, unbalanced, and untruthful. Three-fourths of the things he said were absolute falsehoods. For some of the remainder there was only a basis of truth."  Despite this, Roosevelt sent two men into the meatpacking factories to find that the conditions were absolutely revolting, unsanitary and unbearable.  As a result,  the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 were passed.

The jungle begins with a family of eager and excited Lithuanian immigrants who arrive in Chicago in the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness in the early 1900's.  Despite the many unemployed in the area at the time, the able bodied find work at Packing-town, a large slaughterhouse and meatpacking factory.  The family spends their savings on a down payment for a home.  They soon come to find that they were swindled in the purchase of the home.  From this point on, the family struggles with wage slavery, horrid working conditions, starvation, freezing cold, injuries and even death.  Family members run away; jobs are lost; morality loses its prestige becoming a jungle of individuals fighting for survival.

Real life is a continuous struggle.  Some struggle more than others.  The story of struggle in this book is not to be easily forgotten, but if pondered may be revealed to be an exaggeration.  First, the book, as stated by the author was created to promote an ideal.  That reveals a bias.  Second, when someone speaks in extremes, they reveal themselves to exaggerate.  This book is nothing but extremes.  There are few if any moderate characters (rich or poor, strong or weak), no moderate plot, no moderate settings and no moderate thoughts.  A portion of this book is not storyline, but instead a sort of socialist manifesto.  The manifesto states, "but imagine the problem of providing the food supply of our nation once taken in hand systematically and rationally, by scientists!"  It also predicts that if controlled by scientists, "the exact requirements of the community known," and "the exactly needful number to each place."  Be weary of statements that offer promises on something this impossible to fulfill.  Small communities cannot master this idea without disturbances and it remains only impossible to be used on a grander scale.

Killing Pablo

Title: Killing Pablo
Author: Mark Bowden
Publisher: Peguin Books
Pages: 285
Genre: Non-fiction

Pablo Escobar, referred to as the World's Greatest Outlaw, arguably was the richest, most successful drug lord to have ever lived.  His career began in the early to mid 70's while Pablo was in his 20's.  By 1976, Escobar was the unofficial king running drugs from the jungles in the hills around his hometown of Medellin.  Rising to power through merciless killings, Pablo tried to portray himself as the south American Robin Hood.  With the support of the local police and populace, he rose to an unimaginable rank of power.  In 1989, Forbes magazine declared Pablo to be the 7th richest man in the world.

By the late 80's Pablo had become a sort of drug war symbol.  The US offered to Colombia manpower and state of the art assistance in tracking and eliminating the man.  The majority of the book follows the CIA and the Colombian federal government in their 16 month manhunt for the drug lord.  The search took many twists and turns as they tracked the man through mountainous jungle terrain and neighborhoods of sometimes violent Escobar sympathizers.  In Medellin, to many, Pablo was the law.  They were a region within a country, but with little loyalty to that country.

Basic law enforcement was very weak in the mountainous jungle region of Medellin  It was a forgotten region of Colombia populated by mostly poor natives.  The law that takes precedence is the law that it is enforced. It is possibly reminiscent of the US southwest in the 1880's and 90's.  Pablo was able to enforce his version of  law in Medellin and become its unofficial dictator and self entitled protector.  Cocaine grew in abundance in the region.  The cocaine being exported to meet the increasing demand in the US brought billions to the region.  The combination of Pablo's position as kingpin and the high demand of coca propelled Pablo to the title of World's Greatest Outlaw and drug war symbol.

Book Review: Relentless Pursuit

Title:  Relentless Pursuit: The DSS and the Manhunt for the Al-Queda Terrorists
Author: Samuel M. Katz
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
Pages: 297
Genre: Intelligence Non-Fiction
Related Books: Jawbreaker by Gary Berntsen

On February 26, 1993, an Econoline Van filled with 1,500 pounds of homemade fertilizer based explosive urea nitrate was parked in the basement of the World Trade Center Tower One.  Strategically positioned next to a support beam, the blasts intention was to topple Tower One into Tower Two, killing tens of thousands.  Underestimating the structural strength of the building, the explosion carved a crater 150 feet in diameter and 50 feet deep killing six, but terrorizing millions.

Relentless Pursuit chronicles the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) manhunt for al-Queda terrorists.  From the attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 to the notorious and fateful day in September 2001, the book follows various Special Agents offering worldwide security and investigations in areas touched by the menace and murder of al-Queda.  From New York City to the Philippines to Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Lebanon, Sudan, Afghanistan, Islamabad, Beirut, Tanzania and back to New York City, bombings, assassinations and the subsequent investigations are detailed in this book.

There are a lot of individuals presented , good and bad, some reappear throughout the book, others are mentioned once or twice.  Each bombing could provide enough information to warrant its own book.  The setting changes quickly.  The book becomes heavy with the large amounts of information.  Also, the book could use another round of editing.  However, this book wasn't released for its literary prowess, but instead to provide information.  It is an excellent source of knowledge into the minds and actions of an organization that does not easily forget; holding revenge and hatred in very high esteem.  Al-Queda still uses the Crusades as a rallying cry.  In the United States, our memory span is very short.  Who remembers the details of the WTC bomb from 1993?  These are not things that we should forget.

Book Review: Atlas Shrugged

Title: Atlas Shrugged (1957)
Author: Ayn Rand
Publisher: Plume (1999)
Pages: 1168
Genre: Philosophical fiction

Atlas Shrugged is the philosophy of Objectivism argued in the form of a fiction novel. Objectivism is the doctrine that reality exists separate from consciousness. Reality is that which we can sense. We can sense our creation of an object, but we cannot sense the idea of creation. It is not real until it is created and when created, it is ours. The philosophy is a strong proponent of capitalism, private property and minimal outward influence from regulations and rules. Man can only truly live life through the means of action and the fruition of his interests and skills.

Storyline: Men of action are disappearing from the country. Men of inaction are gaining control of the government and creating regulations which limit freedom of business. When the population recognizes that those with ability are taxed and those with need are pampered, the cities, infrastructure and lives of a once great nation crumbles at its core; spiraling into destruction without the freedom of competition. The men of ability create a retreat in which they may exist as they know man must live.

Creating a fictional world to portray a philosophy that is supposed to apply to our complex and real world is not very convincing. The antagonists are extremely shallow and stupid, performing their role of supporting Objectivism as if it were scripted. The book is overly long and repetitive. The countless dialogues between good guy and bad guy is almost always a repeat of the first dialogue between good guy and bad guy. The exchange of speech is good argument verses nonsensical repeating of meaningless phrases. Ignoring human nature and God except where it supports the agenda, this is a frail attempt to support a philosophy that has respectable and strong ideas.