Review: The Assault on Reason

The Assault on Reason – Al Gore

published 2007 – 273 pages

From the book jacket -

At the time George W. Bush ordered American forces to invade Iraq, 70 percent of Americans believed Saddam Hussein was linked to 9/11.  Voters in Ohio, when asked by pollsters to list what stuck in their minds about the 2004 presidential campaign, most frequently named two Bush television ads that played to fears of terrorism.

We live in an age when the 30-second television spot is the most powerful force shaping the electorate’s thinking, and America is in the hands of an administration less interested than any previous administration in sharing the truth with the citizenry.  Related to this and of even greater concern is this administration’s disinterest of the process by which the truth is ascertained, the tenets of fact-based reasoning – first among them an embrace of open inquiry, in which unexpected and even inconvenient facts can lead to unexpected conclusions.

How did we get here?  And how much damage has been done to the functioning of our democracy and its role as a steward of our security?  Never has there been a worse time for us to lose the capacity to face the reality of our long-term challenges, from national security to the economy, from issues of health and social welfare to the environment.  As The Assault on Reason shows us, we have precious little time to waste. 

Al Gore’s larger goal in this book is to explain how the public sphere itself has evolved into a place hospitable to reason’s enemies; to make us more aware of the forces at work on our own minds; and to lead us to an understanding of what we can do, individually and collectively, to restore the rule of reason and safeguard our future.  Drawing on a life’s work in politics as well as on the work of experts across a broad range of disciplines, Al Gore has written a farsighted and powerful manifesto for clear thinking.

My thoughts -

In just a few months in the United States, we will have a VERY important decision to make as citizens of this county – who are we going to choose to lead the nation for the next four, possibly eight, years?  Anyone planning to take part in that decision should read this book, no matter who you plan on voting for (and especially if you are not sure yet!).  Not because Al Gore has anything specific to say about the upcoming election or the candidates involved (he doesn’t), but because he has plenty to say about what went wrong last time, and how we allowed our fears, our ignorance, and our blind faith to lead us to a president who simply disappointed this country in so many ways, time and time again. 

Now I’m very aware that not everyone that reads this blog is liberal minded like I am, definitely not everyone has the same utmost respect for Gore like I do (I really do think he’s a brilliant man), and some of you may even still believe that Bush has been a good president.  However, I think this book will really open up some eyes – it certainly opened my eyes up to a lot of things, and I have already done a lot of reading on this subject and agree with most of the arguments!  One of the major points that Gore makes in the book is that regardless of whether you agree or disagree with a person or an idea, it is so crucially important to democracy to really understand that person/idea so that a reasonable discussion/debate can be had.  If we simply take things at face value and blindly follow our leaders, we can end up in some very awful situations (most people, myself included, would say that the war in Iraq and the crisis of global warming are two of these such situations).  So even if you think that Bush is second only to the god of your choice, I still really, really believe that this book (and other books like it) are valuable to read if only to explore other ideas and help you further understand your own beliefs.

Ok.  Off my soapbox now.  As is crystal clear, I really enjoyed The Assault on Reason and would highly recommend it.

Review – An Inconvenient Truth

An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore

From the back cover -

Our climate crisis may at times appear to be happening slowly, but in fact it is happening very quickly – and has become a true planetary emergency.  The Chinese expression for crisis consists of two characters.  The first is a symbol for danger, the second is a symbol for opportunity.  In order to face down the danger that is stalking us and move through it, we first have to recognize that we are facing a crisis.  So why is it that our leaders seem not to hear such clarion warnings?  Are they resisting the truth because they know that the moment they acknowledge it, they will face a moral imperative to act?  Is it simply more convenient to ignore the warnings?  Perhaps, but inconvenient truths do not go away just because they are not seen.  Indeed, when they are not responded to, their significance does not diminish; it grows.

My thoughts -

I’m really glad that I finally got around to reading this book because I really, really loved it.  The fact that anyone still contests the issue of global warming is absurd; virtually every single scientist on the planet agrees that this is a major crisis and the most pressing issue our generation will ever face.  This book highlights the proof of the existence of global warming and environmental degradation with vivid and shocking images of the damage being done to our planet each and every day, by our own hands.  This book is not about blame in any way; it is all about enlightenment and then action.  While Gore gets into politics a little in here, it’s mostly to question why this is even a political issue to begin with.  The fact that there is zero disagreement among scientists about this should make it pretty clear to our leaders that this is something we need to act upon; that and the fact that the United States is virtually the only nation in the world not currently committed in some way to dealing with the issue.  What Gore simply asks is, why are those in charge continuing to deny this, and what is their motivation for doing so?  What do they have to gain that allows them to be so careless about the only world we have?  Besides that small political beef, the book is mostly illustrations, graphs, photos, and stories that prove exactly what global warming is and what effect it has had and will have on our Earth.  Before reading this, I was already slightly environmentally-conscious (as in, we recycle almost everything, use as little energy as possible, use cold water, stay away from plastic grocery bags, have cars with good gas mileage, etc.) but An Inconvenient Truthmade me want to be much more so.  I especially liked how the last few pages were all tips on what types of things the average person can do to make a difference.  Gore gave many examples, such as something as simple as switching to energy-efficient lightbulbs all the way up to more time and money consuming things like working for or donating to specific causes dedicated to rebuilding our planet.  All in all, I REALLY loved this book and definitely think it is a must read for everyone – we all share the same planet, and we only have one, so we better start learning how to make sure we keep it.

Rating – 10/10