{"id":136,"date":"2009-01-07T17:00:03","date_gmt":"2009-01-07T23:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=136"},"modified":"2009-01-07T17:01:58","modified_gmt":"2009-01-07T23:01:58","slug":"politics-high-on-this-writers-book-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2009\/01\/07\/politics-high-on-this-writers-book-list\/","title":{"rendered":"Politics high on this writer’s book list"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year I read a lot of books, or least a lot of books for me.\u00a0 A couple\u00a0 stand out in my mind, and so I thought I would share them with you.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"looming-tower1\"\u201cThe Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9\/11\u2033 (2006), by Lawrence Wright<\/strong><\/p>\n

This book is tireless in its details; but do not let that discourage you from giving it a read.\u00a0 The book\u00a0 is rather short at 373 pages; however, it is heavily noted and very user friendly. It contains a 10 page glossary of principal characters with brief descriptions of their importance; which is a invaluable resource in helping the reader keep track of the multitude of players with similar names.<\/p>\n

\"opinion-081\"Like most other histories of Muslim fundamentalism (such as the BBC video series \u201cPower of Nightmares\u201d), Wright starts with the story of Sayyid Qutb.\u00a0 Qutb was an Egyptian writer and Muslim that traveled through America in the late 1940\u2019s.\u00a0 His experiences and perceptions, started the generational snowball that\u00a0 led to 9\/11.<\/p>\n

A fascinating book for those looking for a way to \u201cdeal more wisely and effectively with continuing terrorist threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was hard read for me, but well worth the effort.\u00a0 It did win a Pulitzer Prize, something I did not know when I was reading it.\u00a0 It is available in hardback on the second floor of the Montgomery County Library ( 973.931 WRI), and they also have it on CD on the first floor (973.93 WRI).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Political Mind: Why You Can\u2019t Understand 21st Century <\/strong>American Politics with an 18th Century Brain\u201d, *(2008), George Lakoff<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"lakoff-book\"Lakoff, a cognitive scientist,\u00a0 looks at 30 years of scientific research on the human brain, and asks some political questions.\u00a0 What he finds is the political divide is \u201cnot just in geography, religion or even power\u201d, it in our heads (no pun intended).<\/p>\n

Our country was born from the age of Enlightenment when reason was king, and emotion\u00a0 was irrelevant.\u00a0 Emotions were seen as just cluttering the issue at hand.\u00a0\u00a0 The idea an educated, well informed, rational society will make rational, logical, fact based decisions and\u00a0 be able to adequately self govern.\u00a0 Rational being making rational decisions is an underlying foundation of our society, from the judicial system to the nightly news.\u00a0 Lakoff shows us that we do not act rationally, and asks why.<\/p>\n

Science tells us that 98% of our thought is unconscious.\u00a0 We are only aware of 2% of our thoughts.\u00a0 Lakoff demonstrates that this heavily impacts our society through word choice, metaphors, and the framing of issues..\u00a0 A good example is when the Republicans discussed the Democrats plan of a timeline to exit Iraq.\u00a0 Republicans used the term \u201ccut and run.\u201d\u00a0 A person can\u2019t hear \u201ccut and run\u201d without the feeling of cowardness or surrendering .\u00a0 Another good example is using the term \u201csurge\u201d in the Iraq war, as opposed to using the word \u201cescalation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lakoff offers some constructive criticism for the \u201cliberal\u201d thought process.\u00a0 Liberals argue by listing of facts like an encyclopedia and expecting people to digest them like a machine and arrive at logical, rational conclusions.\u00a0 Sound familiar?\u00a0 It did to me.\u00a0 \u201cConservative\u201d thought prefer to use emotions over lists of facts.\u00a0 Now you\u2019ll have to read the book, because the liberal thought process is not just used by liberals, and vice versa, with the conservative thought process.\u00a0 Lakoff argues against the metaphor of politics being described as right and left.<\/p>\n

Lakoff tempers the science of the brain with\u00a0 bits with pop culture, which keeps the reader interested and makes them aware of the ingrained nature of what Lakoff is discussing.\u00a0 He brings in the Anna Nicole saga, Reagan\u2019s fictional \u201cWelfare Queen\u201d, the latest in neural science, and a analysis of framing and metaphors, to provide insight as to why reason alone is ineffective, that we need emotion, and new enlightenment.<\/p>\n

Hands down this was the best book I read all year.\u00a0\u00a0 It taught me to listen to what people are saying during a politcal conversation, instead of thinking of what I will say next to refute what I think they are saying<\/em>.\u00a0 We all have more in common than we are lead to believe; that commonality should be the starting point for change, not the places where we differ.\u00a0 This book will help you be a better communicator, listener, and thinker.<\/p>\n

This is available on the second story of the Clarksville-Montgomery Library (320.01 LAK).<\/p>\n

Resources:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

http:\/\/cmc-websvr.clarksville.org\/default.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Looming_Tower<\/a><\/p>\n