A wistful, ‘pointillist’ review of the author’s competitive swimming, applying her conclusions to her aspects of her artistic and publishing career. There are shrewd insights, such as athletes train through injury because only training makes them forget they are hurt, and glimpses of why athletic performance inspires spectators. Yet the author never articulates why she thinks she wasn’t good enough, or why she peaked in 1988 (having returned to compete in 1992). Further, although swimming clearly remains important, judging from the number of European swimming and bathing facilities she’s continued to visit, presented in a series of prints, or her suit collection, it’s unclear why she disdains to train for simple fitness or to consider open water competition. Separately, many promising anecdotes end too abruptly, more stylish than insightful. Still, the book is revealing and bracing change from ghostwritten superstar monographs.
Month: May 2022
3. Fukuyama, Political Order and Political Decay (20 Feb 2017)
Examines the expansion of democratic government since the French Revolutions and evaluates reasons for its decay. Building on
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Origins of Political Order
, Fukuyama shows how the sequencing of a strong (capable) state machinery, rule of law, and accountability influence the course of progress toward democracy and also national history, contrasting the US, an earlier adopter of manhood suffrage without developed machinery, Italy (machinery suffused with ‘partrimonialism’), and Germany (lack of accountability). Although Britain extended the franchise relatively late, its strong rule of law and accountability gave it a more credible democratic government than clientelistic America, which conquered the problem only with the rise of Progressivism, heralded by Pinchot’s Forest Service(!). After reviewing the influence of geography and economics (e.g., natural resources), the author turns to democratic governance in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Fukuyama remains an advocate of Asia’s strong state model, even though few countries have reached full democracy. Then comes corruption in democracies, and recidivism. The final chapters consider the possibilities of America’s surmounting its rule-bound bureaucracy and ‘repatrimonialism’. Because he contends that ideas are products of events, Fukuyama continues to overlook ancient Greece, even though America’s founding fathers staked much of their thinking on classical political thought. Another thorough work, evidencing the same teleological shortcomings.
4. Kagan, Peloponnesian War (18 Mar 2017)
The Peloponnesian War ended an era of sociopolitical progress. Sparta’s defeat of Athens discredited democratic government as well as a flourishing art and culture: the war’s barbarism prompted the relapse of Greek civilization. Kagan extends beyond retelling Thucydides’s master work by incorporating the findings of modern scholars, or synthesizing the greater, more prominent controversies. Left to the reader’s judgement are the related questions of how Pericles strategy of outlasting Sparta through civic sacrifice could have been improved, and how two ideologically opposed powers on a collision course can coexist?
5. Ferguson, Leading (25 Mar 2017)
The famously successful Manchester United coach outlines his management precepts and practical guidelines for steering a professional sports organization. He writes ‘Make sure you see yourself in the team’ and frequently refers to his playing days, but doesn’t go much further toward an overarching theory. As regards sustaining success, the messages can be summarized as ‘Think critically, and think ahead’ while enforcing (often through delegation) the standards you’ve already established. The book’s organization appears the handiwork of Michael Moritz, whose ego unfortunately seems to loom over the work.
6. Feld, Startup Boards (28 Mar 2017)
A well-organized and functional but slightly contrived guide to work with a young company’s board of directors. Probably more useful on a case-by-case basis than as an overarching approach.
7. Fukuyama, Our Posthuman Future (8 Apr 2017)
Revisiting civic understanding of human nature is imperative to meeting the ethical challenges of advancing biotechnology: only by understanding the essence of humanity can society draw the lines for the beneficial use of science. There are four areas that present immediate challenges: knowledge of genetic causation, neuropharmacology, prolonged life, and genetic engineering — the latter being the most consequential. The must not be allowed to override human dignity, which is the touchstone of sociopolitical rights. Fukuyama’s argument is clear but policy prescriptions are thin. Additionally, the book (probably purposefully, given its scope) omits the question of artificial intelligence, both external and as a supplement to human biology (i.e., the body).
8. Horowitz, The Hard Thing about Hard Things (21 Apr 2017)
A series of essays regarding leadership of young, high-tech businesses. Drawing on personal experience including oversight as a venture investor, Horowitz winds his way toward the ‘know thyself’ dilemmas of being chief executive. There are sound tactical observations, but no system which rises to the level of Drucker.
9. Burckhardt, Force and Freedom (15 May 2017)
Across the sweep of world history, three phenomena predominate: the state, religion, and culture. Synthesizing the course of events through the late 19th century, Burckhardt posits archetypal behaviors of these institutions and studies their equilibria (i.e., how they influence one another). The significance of history lay not in the rise and fall of civilizations (qua events), but in the legacy of original values forged and safeguarded to future civilizations. The author then turns to identifying the elements of crises — generally an exhausted worldview or one overwhelmed by a more virile rival — and notes they create opportunity for truly original and energetic individuals (who would not otherwise success thusly in ordinary times). Finally, a treatment of how the confluence of events make for fortune or misfortune in history.
10. Gallie, Philosophy and the Historical Understanding (28 May 2017)
Philosophic thought and particularly ‘essentially contested’ concepts improve with understanding of their predecessors, with a sense of context. History helps us to see the value of characteristics or features that otherwise seem arbitrary: when presented in a narrative (i.e., a story that can be followed, in which the crucial developments are contingent and the act of following expresses real interest), trends or ideas are integral to the topic in question and not analytical. Conversely, failure to see the entire range of possibilities (i.e., failure of imagination) undermines understanding of what the principal(s) in fact chose to say or do. Rather than a general set of scientifically discovered rules, history is a public exercise in continuous criticism (revision) combined with advancing interpretation via the discovery of new evidence. Having outlined a dynamic philosophy of history, the author shows that the schools of philosophy themselves – comprising logic (valid inferences), epistemology (objective criteria of different kinds of knowledge), and ethics (individual responsibility to society) – tend to talk past one another, and so their systems and constructs are weakened. As a case in point, the author suggests that metaphysics (Hegel: absolute presuppositions) can only be understood after the unquestioned becomes questionable.
11. Collins, Oval World (13 Jun 2017)
A sweeping, geographically oriented narration of rugby from its 19th-century origins to the present. The overarching themes are the ideological and socioeconomic challenge of professionalized competition — including contrasts between union and league — and the game’s relationship with (mainly Commonwealth) communities. From 1892 to 1995, professionalism bedeviled Victorian, ‘upper-middle–class’ ethos, most notably in England, Australia, and France. Collins asserts league rules changes in 1906 and 1972 kept the 13-man code ahead of union as a running-handling game, and so a spectator sport, and its meritocratic nature made it more deeply embedded in local communities. Union, by comparison, was a reluctant follower which often pragmatically chose to preserve its authority over strict application of its beliefs. In the Southern hemisphere, turning a blind eye (especially in isolated South Africa) as well as proximity to league’s accelerating commercialization (notably in Australia) better prepared the SANZAR countries for rugby’s becoming an ‘open’ game. Union’s approach failed notably in the instance of apartheid South Africa’s rivalry with New Zealand for world preeminence, when it found itself too far out of step with community sentiment. So too did the communist nationals present a novel threat. There is little discussion of club versus province. When it comes to the US, the two-fold framework falls over. Geography has always been the principal challenge: how to nurture a football code to rival gridiron across a continental nation, and how to win international recognition? As elsewhere, the author sometimes breezes past the evidence and so draws facile conclusions. For example, the US was never unified and so could not have fragmented after the collapse of Olympic rugby in the 1920s.