Friday, September 03, 2010

Top Five Worldview Shaping Books

Its been an extremely long time since I last blogged, been really busy with various things and guess blogging hasn't really been on the list of my priorities in a while. Was thinking about the books I've read that have shaped my worldview till this day; among those, the following five ranks as the most influential (not in any particular order):

1. The Technological Society (Jacques Ellul). I was introduced to Ellul's writings by a university professor some five years ago and this book was my first acquaintance with the French sociologist-theologian. Since then, Ellul's meditations on technology have influenced me tremendously, forcing me to re-examine the relationship and impact technology has on human beings. Indeed, Ellul's prophetic power concerning the role of technology in modern life rings true to this day, and I suspect many of us are still naively optimistic, even misguided, in our understanding of technology. This book and Ellul's subsequent book, The Technological Bluff, are two of the most important books in providing a critical appraisal of technology, especially in understanding the relationship between technology and human nature.

2. The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism (Daniel Bell). This landmark study by Harvard professor Daniel Bell on a capitalist society needs little introduction. Hailed as an "intellectual tour de force that redefines how we think about the relationship among economics, culture and social change", the book provides a magisterial and probing analysis into the heart of the capitalist enterprise and forces the reader to wrestle with some deep dilemmas that result from it.

3. Modern Art and the Death of a Culture (Hans Rookmaaker). This is the first book I've read which introduced me into the world of cultural aesthetics, in turn shaping the cultural paradigm I have of the world. Written in an highly accessible and succinct manner, Rookmaaker analysis looks at modern art in a broad historical, social and philosophical context, laying bare the present despair and nihilism of our contemporary times. An absolute gem!

4. Night (Elie Wiesel). If there is one book that had caused me tremble in shock and horror, it would be this book. From the very first lines in which the author questions the very existence and goodness of God to the terrifying conclusion in which Wiesel could scarcely recognize himself, Night takes the reader through a phantasmagoric journey of suffering, pain and tragedy and acts as a poignant reminder of one of the darkest moments in human history, that of the Holocaust. This is a book that will hopefully live on in the memory of Western literature for as long as time itself.

5. Amusing OUrselves to Death (Neil Postman). During my undergraduate days as a communications major, part of our coursework required us to engage critically with media sources and to be familiar with the blind spots and limitations posed by the media. In this case, Postman's treatment of Television provides the reader with a laser-precision analysis of the fallacies and falsities of life as portrayed by television. In today's media-saturated world, Postman's warnings must be heeded if we are to wrest and redeem our young generation from the broken cisterns of make-believe reality.
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