an evil petting zoo?

[lauralh]

So while trying to come down this weekend, I read Ishmael. I'd heard about this book about a year ago or so, from a LJ friend at the time. Apparently the book Changed His Life forever or something.

So it's sort of told in a Socratic dialogue with an ape instructing a man (because of course only animals could perceive this Ultimate Truth) in how people are destroying the earth. I kind of like this style, actually, because it actually tells you what the author is trying to get across, instead of demonstrating it. If you're gonna write a didactic novel, I mean, you may as well just talk instead of pretending to get a plot across. I wish Ayn Rand had done that instead; would have cut her books in third.

Anyway the basic premise is that the agricultural revolution turned humankind from "Leavers" into "Takers." Whereas primitive peoples live with the land, modern man fights against the land, trying to master it. Producing more food than we can eat leads to population explosion; trying to feed people who undergo famine does likewise. The book gets into this whole "ethical law" which humans have broken and - as a result - halted our own evolution. Apparently the planet is now stuck with Homo Sapiens for good.

Thinking it over, there wasn't really anything new in the book (save one thing I'll get to later), but it was presented in such a way that I was almost immediately offended and continued to be offended. I suppose it was accusatory in a way: YOU are the reason the Earth is dying. I don't really believe the Earth is dying anyway, and I don't really believe either that humans have "bypassed" evolution. I mean, sure I think people live incredibly selfishly and wastefully, and I'm more in favor of simple pleasures, but I don't think that occasional forays into gluttony are "bad" or "wrong". My whole philosophy is basically hedonism in moderation; if you get something too often, you don't appreciate it, but if you don't get it often enough, you crave it too strongly.

Anyway. The one bit which I found interesting was the explanation for the first few chapters of Genesis (up to Cain and Abel). The stories were written by "Leavers" to account for the murderous behavior of the "Takers," apparently. So Cain represents the agricultural revolutionaries from the north, and Abel represents the peaceful Semetic herders. So yeah, that was interesting. I'm always interested in where the hell myths come from.

Comments

[greywanderer.livejournal.com]

but the key question: how long is the book? with my attention span being what it is, I won't even try to read it if it's over 300 pages.

ha

[herbaliser.livejournal.com]

It's under 200. maybe 150...

[ex-foible.livejournal.com]

i read that book last year and found it to be interesting. my most distinct memory is of reading ishmael with a steaming hot bowl of than bros pho in front of me. it was cold and dark and rainy outside.

maybe that's not a good sign when you can remember the external circumstances of reading a book, as opposed to the book itself.

your subject line "an evil petting zoo" frightens me.

mmmm, pho

[herbaliser.livejournal.com]

this cracked my ass up.

(It's supposed to be an Austin Powers quote, not really frightening per se...)