The start of the book is a bit boring but as we move farther interest is built. Especially reading “Prologue” creates interest of the reader and you will keep reading till the last word. The book revolves around the illusions and thinking of human beings living under different beliefs, living in different cultures and countries. The writer has consulted and quoted different books and references from around the world to make this book worth reading.
Quoting other writers like Einstein, Noam Chomsky, Erving Goffman, Tim Folger, Roman Lucan, Alexis de Tocqueville etc makes this book Anode towards neutral thinking. By discussing Human nature and human behaviour towards its species writer says “The humankind is among the more self-injuring species, shows in accounts of lethal violence calculated in thousand of incidents.” Later on, Toliver says “despite all rituals, prayers and pleas practised daily around the world, species continue to go extinct, the environment grows less sustainable, faulty hear continue to fail and good fortune and misfortune maintain their customary ratios”. “Casual talk” sections of the book make the theory and rational behaviour easy to understand. As mentioned in the book “Gossip is the creation of civilization and the product of friendship. Repeated often enough binds the society together.”
Mentioning quotes from Aldo Leopold Toilver discussed the nature and neutral behaviour. In the words of Aldo Leopold, Toliver writes “I never realized before those melodies of nature are music only when played against the undertones of evolutionary history.”
In the last chapter of the said book, Toilver discussed the complexity of Human behaviour. It is concluded “ one normal human reaction in the face of amounts beyond what even supercomputers can handle would be something like a flippant Lewis Carroll says “Begin at the beginning and go until you come to the end: then stop.”
Writing more! Harold Toliver tried to explain human thinking and behaviours with the help of multiple sciences. He quoted references from mathematics, geometry, calculus, geography, physics, Metaphysics, psychology and mechanics etc. The quotes from famous books make this book one of the great books.
Concluding more, this book is far more interesting, worth reading for those who want multi-dimensional answers to the questions. For those who want to read beyond rigidness, concreteness and stubbornness, the book is a precious gift. I suggest every reader read this book more than one time.