Personal goal is to better reflect on quality books I consume. This is an ever-evolving post that will hopefully grow steadily over time.

PHILOSOPHY

Galileo's Error: Foundations for a New Science of Consciousness

By: Philip Goff

You are always slightly changed when you read a book, typically through leisurely sedimentation. Ground-shifting, paradigm-forming books are rare.  I started Galileo’s Error as a consciousness materialist and ended the book compelled by panpsychism. Panpsychism is the view that consciousness is fundamental to nature, not a product of nature (dualism), nor reducible merely to low-level sciences (materialism), but somehow tied to reality's intrinsic and subjective nature. I find panpsychism compelling as it moves us further from an anthropomorphic worldview by recognizing that there is consciousness, radically simple compared to ours, all the way down. Science’s inability to say anything about the inherent nature of reality is unsatisfying (e.g., What is mass/energy/space?), and a pure materialist worldview seems like a concession to lived experience. Mary learns something new when she first sees the sky; Laplace’s Demon would not know what it was like to experience love. Panpsychism offers an elegant, if nowhere from assured, solution worth exploring.

Phillip Goff methodically walks you through all the prevailing theories in the philosophy of mind before ending on panpsychism. This is one of the best contemporary philosophy books to recommend to a friend who has never read philosophy. Spends just enough time on each subject to have a conversational understanding and easy to digest in a weekend. I found this book from the wonderful Stephen West on his podcast - Philosophize This!

HISTORY

Christendom Destroyed - Europe 1517-1648

By: Mark Greengrass

Part of the Penguin History of Europe Series

The period in European history, stretching from the Protestant Reformation to the end of the Thirty Years' War, seems remarkably relevant today. This epoch saw a rise in the power of nation-states, marked by their centralization of authority and their enhanced control over the minutiae of their subjects' lives. Just as religious fragmentation, driven by the upper echelons of society, polarized communities then, different kinds of belief systems are instigating similar divisions today. The 'release valve' for such societal differences was, at that time, the discovery and colonization of America and other territories. In our contemporary context, release for new thoughts and ideas is the internet.

Professor Greengrass's writing is as captivating as that of Will and Ariel Durant, whose historical accounts read like engaging narratives and I am sure I will talk more about in other reviews. Moreover, this book benefits from the concentrated insight of an expert deeply versed in this particular time and place.

The quote I found most memorable from the book actually comes not from Professor Greengrass, but from Henri, Duke of Rohan, who, while discussing the concept of clemency, stated:

“It is the vice of a resolution and a weakness of courage that holds us back, rather than true compassion for the suffering of others. It is thus that we often try to cover our vices with the meanest virtue, pity.”