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Hey, I've read a lot of stuff, a lot of different kinds of stuff, been exposed to many different ideas, some radical, some blasphemous, some disturbing, some all-of-the-above, and then more... I'm not easily offended or put off, and I don't tend to have knee-jerk reactions to ideas. BUT... This book has the unique distinction of being the ONE TIME in which I actually had to stop reading, shake my head, and put a book aside in disgust! What was the big deal? Well, partly my reacting before reading a few more lines! (Also very unlike me.) It was a something about just accepting the existence of an Adolph Hitler (example used), or at least so I misread. A few days later, I picked up the book again and reread that part, as well as the next few lines... The elaboration was that we have to accept the general existence of evil in this world; NOT the same thing as acceptance of a specific "evil" person. (I had misunderstood it as not allowing for the judgment of--much less opposition to--a threat such as Hitler.) My bad. So, that's not
really the reason why this book is in the short list (esp. since it was
a false alarm). The book does qualify for the 'short list' of most-influential
reading as it did contribute greatly to my contextual framework for understanding society.
(I mean, to the extent that such a thing is even possible!) |
