Hi reader,
A couple more from the book of the year shortlist as we continue on with our countdown toward the 2021 winner of The Most Irrelevant Prize in World Literature.
Thinking Without a Bannister by Hannah Arendt (March)
TOA Review: not started (likely mid-to-late 2022)
Other notable TOA appearances: I was inspired by this book to comment on a 2021 news story about a "lost" hiker, and also to think about the possibilities implied by her insight into the nation-state system; I made an offhand remark in 2020 comparing this book to broccoli, given that books are brain food.
Notes: The average TOA observer would be forgiven for assuming this book would be a surefire bet to finish among my finalists. Alas, this book reveals the double-edged nature of assessing the "previously uncollected works" style - you end up giving extra credit for range, yet subtract points for the lack of a single ascending arc. I recommend reading this book the same way I read it - a chapter here, another chapter there, with plenty of time (even a calendar or two) separating the start and finish dates.
Parting thought: The challenge of power is that it cannot be checked with a majority - that is, a democracy - because the majority against the minority is itself a form of unchecked power. What checks power is power, an insight found in the root of America.
On Immunity by Eula Biss (May)
TOA Review: not started (likely early-to-mid 2022)
Notes: This book was published in 2014 but I didn't get to it until this past year, which is too bad - I wonder what I would have thought about it prior to, you know, this historic pandemic influencing any and all thoughts about the topic. The other side of the argument is that the COVID situation may have helped me enjoy the work, allowing me to relate to the somewhat meandering style Biss used to describe her exploration of immunity.
The question of immunity, whether in the pandemic context or otherwise, is always linked to each and every aspect of civilization. There might have been moments when we forgot this, perhaps in those pre-pandemic days, so I suppose in one sense a book like On Immunity is the little reminder that we once required to remember a fact we no longer forget. Those who read it in this moment of history will note that even as our minds default to the dizzying array of loose associations which enable routine behavior - thinking, conversing, even browsing the internet from our phones - the matter of viruses and vaccines are always lurking somewhere, ready to offer the necessary interruption such that our efforts in parenthood, careers, basic socializing, and more account for the role of the individual in the wider production of public health.
Parting thought: The way natural is used synonymously with good demonstrates a certain alienation we have with the natural world.
