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The Happiness
Myth, by Jennifer Michael
Hecht. Non-fiction. A philosopher/historian deconstructs happiness and notices
the glaring lack of eternal truths and preponderance of fad ideas. This woman
really does think outside the box. Fascinating, and maybe in some ways
life-changing. Nothing great in fiction lately –
every suspense-ish book I pick up for light reading is either a riff on the Da
Vinci Code (secret sects, ancient mysteries, weird creeps lurking in medieval
church basements) or involves a secret cabal of right-wing radicals inside the
US govt. who want to destroy the Muslim world. These are the “bad guys”,
but the author clearly sympathizes. Yuck. (I’m not kidding – two books
in a row like this, include the most recent from Nelson DeMille, who I thought
more of than this). However, I will reiterate something I put
up here about a year ago – best fiction I’ve read in the last 5
years: The Time-Traveler’s Wife.
More an epic romance than science-fiction, it nonetheless offers a different
perspective on the central theme of all time-travel books: predestination vs.
free will. The twist: the protagonist doesn’t build a time machine;
instead, time travel happens to him suddenly, randomly, against his will. Thanks for all the recommendations, folks.
I’m looking forward to checking out a few of them. |