BigBallinStalin wrote:Here ya go : Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
Ishmael is a 1992 philosophical novel by Daniel Quinn. It examines mythology, its effect on ethics, and how that relates to sustainability. The novel uses a style of Socratic dialogue to deconstruct the notion that humans are the end product, the pinnacle of biological evolution. It posits that human supremacy is a cultural myth, and asserts that modern civilization is "enacting" that myth.
Baron Von PWN wrote:The last book I read was Tolstoy's collected short works volume 2. Fun read it's a window into his mind. Allot of religious themed stories which emphasized the noble nature of peasants and their form of simple but honest faith.
Tolstoy is always better than I imagine him to be. Sometimes you get a view of a writer in your head, or a view of a novel, without actually reading. Tolstoy is one of those for me. Picking up Anna Karenina was an effort. Putting it down more so.
Recently read an old book on Anarchism by George Woodcock which suggested that Tolstoy was a proto-anarchist (in the strict sense of rejecting authority, not the modern anarchist cookbook sense). Interesting reading, but I don't know if I'd agree. Will have to look at the short works- I really only know the major novels.
After reading his collected short works I can see where someone could get that idea. I don't know enough about Tolstoy to comment strongly on one side or the other but allot of his stories were about how living simply and not asking for much was the best way. Allot of his stories had peasants somehow besting merchants/the devil by being simple and not asking for much (basicly enough to feed themselves and roof over their head). Another stream of though was the depravity of "civilized" life, how ministers and government offcials were corrupt. I was also surprised to read a story which was very critical of Tsar Alexander III. He was a very authoritarian Tsar who enacted allot of controling laws so this may hint abit at tolstoy's politics.
