For the first time in a month, tomorrow I go into the office, turn on my email, and start my “normal” life. I’m hoping to post something that sums up my sabbatical thoughts soon, but I also wanted to wrap up my reading list with this update.
While in Italy, I finished Mark Antony’s Heroes: How the Third Gallica Legion Saved an Apostle and Created an Emperor by Stephen Dando-Collins. Not a book for anybody but the history fan, but what a fun book to read while traveling in Italy! Dando-Collins follows the history of a specific Roman legion, from their battles on behalf of Mark Antony to their escort of the Apostle Paul to Rome, to their sacking of Jerusalem in 70 AD. A great read for a Roman history nut like me.
For a complete change of pace from Roman history, I read The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau. It’s a book about setting your own rules, living life in freedom, and throwing off the societal expectations. I really wanted to like this book because I like to think of myself as a non-conformist. But I struggled with the book for several reasons. Guillebeau has carved out a unique niche that I admire, but the book is written much like a blog: full of strong and bold statements but not fully analyzed or verified. That’s fine for a blog, but it is misleading and even careless for a book (sorry, but I’m old school and see a book as far more significant). Guillebeau’s ideas about “freedom” and living a life of non-comformity strike me as empowerment of every flake on the planet to do as they want without concern for employers, employees, spouses, family, neighbors or relationships. His “community” is mostly virtual from what I can tell, and it’s easy to make significant changes when you live that way … but harder for those of us who actually have deep and meaningful relationships that we’ve build over decades. His take on higher education being 80% a waste of time might be true for him and the schools he attended, but I find few that feel that way after reflecting on their academic background. Frankly, this book would be better written after Guillebeau gets a few years under his belt. He seems to think that his vast experience in life is unique. It’s not, and I meet people like him all the time … so I’d suggest he live a little before taking it upon himself to advise others about how to be a non-conformist. Thirty-somethings advising twenty-somethings isn’t impressive to me. At least have kids, for gawdsakes.
Another interesting book — though at times irritating — is Empire of Illusion by Chris Hedges. The first chapter is brilliant as it exposes how our country has become so enamored with the illusion of celebrity that we confuse reality from imagination. Actually, I think the first chapter is something everybody should read. It addresses a question my friend Susan asked, “Why do celebrities get recognition in the media for their wrong doings, and our soldiers are are fighting for our lives don’t?” It’s a great question and Hedges does an excellent job of digging deep into our culture of celebrity. As I said, everybody should read this chapter! Then the book gets darker. The second chapter delves into the sick world of pornography, and it is both graphic and deeply depressing. Hedges explains how pornography creates an illusion, allowing for (mostly) men to intentionally dismiss reality. It’s a sad chapter that left me shaken. The third chapter attacks the world of higher education (though for completely different reasons than Guillebeau’s attack in his book). Hedges says that the elite schools have created an illusion of wisdom when in fact they are just machines focused on pumping out future millionaires so they can make large donations to the university. I’m not qualified to comment on Hedge’s thoughts about the elite schools, but I did appreciate his appeal to start including the humanities in core curriculum so people understand values and morality. He makes the case that a liberal arts education (Westmont, anyone?) that focuses on character development is the best education to have. Then the last two chapters of the book lose me. One focuses on the happiness movement (which Hedges calls garbage) and the other focuses on the decline of democracy in our political systems. I find him to be far too conspiracy oriented, using way too many cliches (you can only point at Halliburton so many times without sounding like a recorder on rewind), and far too pessimistic. I agree with many of his points and share his concerns, but he’s further off the ledge than I am. So in conclusion, I enjoyed the first part of the book, but found the second part disappointing.
In Scripture I read Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon and Philippians. All were written by Paul during his imprisonment in Rome, so it seemed an appropriate reading list while in Italy. I was struck by how many common themes are in these books … it’s easy to see what Paul was focused on during that time of his ministry. If you’ve never read the books together, take the time to do it and look for those commonalities. It’s fun.
I have nearly completed Nehemiah and will do that tonight, and I plan on reading Ecclesiastes again on my last day of sabbatical. A friend suggested the book and I’ve found it very helpful during this time of reflection.