Mere Mortals Book Reviews

This episode of the Mere Mortals book review covers 'On Liberty' by John Stuart Mill, published in 1859. The book is an essay of his ideas regarding freedom, liberty, the shortcomings of democracy, role of the government and human rights. It is split into 5 parts: introduction, of the liberty of thought and discussion, of individuality as one of the elements of well being, of the limits to the authority of society over the individual and applications.The book is extended in its reach and covers a lot of ground. This is a seminal text on the question of freedom and raises questions that are still asked in today's time. The book is short but the text is difficult to read due to the style and grammar structure of the 19th century. Worth a check out if you are into the ideas of liberty/freedom and are willing to work to understand them. As always, hope you enjoy!If you enjoyed this review and would like to support the team, feel free to use our referral link here! https://amzn.to/3DDbrWoConnect with Mere Mortals:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meremortalspodcast/Support the show

This episode of the Mere Mortals book review covers 'Scale: The Universal Laws of Life And Death In Organisms, Cities And Companies' by Geoffrey West. This book promised to deliver so much, but unfortunately fell a little bit short. In it a theoretical physicist turned biologist tries to discover what characteristics of animal, cities and companies are similar independent of size. He manages to show this in some very convincing graphs that occur throughout the book, one of the books actual strong points.The first three chapters are very solid and draw the attention with some interesting, not well known facts (such as that the average life span of heartbeats for just about every mammal is 1.5 billion). It begins to fade in the middle section of the book as he starts beginning some personal digressions, which while entirely in his right (it's his own damn book), are just not super interesting or written in a style that will make you agree/intrigued.He ends with his look at cities and companies, which unfortunately gets bogged down and to me felt like he could have shortened these chapters or make them 'pop' more. A decent book but nothing that will ever be known as a classic. 6.5/10.If you enjoyed this review and would like to support the team, feel free to use our referral link here! https://amzn.to/3DFeU6PConnect with Mere Mortals:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meremortalspodcast/Support the show

This episode of the Mere Mortal book review looks at 'The Rape of Nanking' written by Iris Chang and 'Man's Search For Meaning' by Viktor Frankl. Both books are focused on massacres that occurred during WWII, but take different perspectives. Chang's book is more of a history of the event, a way to highlight to the world the tragedy in Nanking. Frankl's book deals with the reason why we live and is a personalised account of his journey through the concentration camps as well as a treatise on Logotherapy, his own brand of psychotherapy. Both deal with unpleasant historical events, but are essential reading.Connect with Mere Mortals:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meremortalspodcast/Support the show

Two books for the price of one!This episode of the Mere Mortals Book Reviews looks at 'The Hero With A Thousand Faces' by Joseph Campbell and 'Black Rednecks And White Liberals' by Thomas Sowell. Campbell explores the landscape of myth and story, following the archetypal journey of the hero throughout it's many phases. This book is somewhat known as a classic and its influence can still be seen today. Sowell's book is a collection of 6 essays: the similarity between redneck and black culture, exploring similarities of other minority groups like Jews, the history of slavery, German culture and history leading up to the Nazi era, black education post slavery, and history being viewed subjectively or objectively.I hope you have a fantastic day wherever you are in the world. Kyrin out!Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalspodcast.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meremortalspodcast/Support the show

In this book review Kyrin goes over the books 'The Day Of The Triffids' by John Wyndham & 'A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man' by James Joyce. The first is a story of an apocalyptic world populated with dangerous plants and the second is of a young Irish boy growing into a young man. Neither books were spectacular in his opinion but did raise some questions of ethics being context dependent and the psychology of spiralling downwards. Hope these brought some insights into your own reading.Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meremortalspodcast/Support the show

Welcome to the Mere Mortals Book Review channel!'Island' by Aldous Huxley is a utopian world set on the island of Pala. Will Farnaby is an embittered journalist who arrives to convince the ruler to sell the oil rights to his boss. As he stays longer he learns about the social setup and interconnected community of the inhabitants. The main themes focus on the interweaving of religion/meditation/psychedelics and how they play a part in the structure of the island.I summarised the book as follows. "An intriguing creation of a better world .... that probably could never exist. As a utopian ideal it's nice but nothing of this fictional world convinced me that this sort of community would be sustainable. I found the tone to be really preachy in parts and highlights the bad parts of the western philosophy without highlighting the good parts either. Overall it was a fun read though and emphasises the complexity of life and the need for balance."I hope you have a fantastic day wherever you are in the world. Kyrin out!If you enjoyed this review and would like to support the team, feel free to use our referral link here! https://amzn.to/3mUZsNWTimeline:(0:00) - Welcome to the channel(1:25) - Synopsis(5:46) - The three parts of the story(11:07) - The religious & woo woo(16:42) - Golden nuggets in a stream full of diamonds(21:49) - Psychedelics and meditation(23:45) - SummaryConnect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalspodcast.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meremortalspodcast/Support the show

'Ordinary Men' by Christopher R. Browning details the experiences of Reserve Police Battalion 101 during the occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany. It examines the role played by the battalion in the murder/exportation of the Jewish people in this era. Browning shares his thoughts on some of the psychological and ethical issues raised by the circumstances.I summarised the book as follows. "This was a sombre and difficult read. It's extremely detailed so be prepared to learn in excruciating detail about the gore & heartbreak of the mass shootings in cold blood. Psychologically there were so many aspects to explore and the author really goes deep. A stark reminder of what ordinary men (aka all of us) are capable of."As always, I hope you have a fantastic day wherever you are in the world. Kyrin out!If you enjoyed this review and would like to support the team, feel free to use our referral link here! https://amzn.to/3mUsTQjTimeline:(0:00) - Synopsis(3:59) - The circumstances of the mass killings(7:27) - Being a social misfit(12:46) - Ethical actions but with wrong moral reasonings(18:21) - Personal Observations(22:22) - SummaryConnect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalspodcast.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meremortalspodcast/Support the show