Book Review: The Next Decade

Reading this book took much longer than anticipated so I am a little past the 2 week mark. It was insightful, well-written and had lots of intriguing ideas. I am a big fan of George Friedman and STRATFOR (his think tank). I read his “The Next 100 Years” last fall and was interested in this new offering. Much of the ground that Friedman covers in “Decade” was also covered in “100 Years”. There were multiple times I felt I was reading the same book.

My three favorite things from this book were: the concept of the Machiavellian presidency, the discussion of the American Empire, and the inherently geographic analysis.

The Machiavellian presidency is simply defined as a president that can wield American power to preserve American ideals even if he is simultaneously violating these ideals. As examples he offers Lincoln, FDR, and Reagan. As he says in his book summary: “Each possessed a deep moral core. Each fully understood the uses of power, lying and violating the Constitution and human rights to achieve the respective moral necessities of the abolition of slavery, the destruction of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, and the destruction of the Soviet Union.” This concept provides an interesting framework for analyzing American presidents.

I love Friedman for calling it as he sees it. “The issue of whether the United States should be an empire is meaningless. It is an empire”. He makes a very compelling argument for the existence of the American Empire and how this realization must govern foreign policy. I know many Americans advocate isolationism. They need to read this book so they can understand how such a policy would never work.

The best part of all Friedman’s publications are in his approach. Friedman thinks geographically which makes my geographer heart…er brain…sing. The last half of the book is devoted to a regional analysis of the world and how America should manage each. An example quote: “India and China are divided by a wall—the Himalayas—that makes sustained conflict and high-volume overland trade virtually impossible”

In total I found this a great and informative read. Because it was so much like it’s predecessor I recommend reading “The Next 100 Years” and then first few chapters of the “The Next Decade”.

Quotables:

“Just because something like the elimination of terrorism is desirable doesn’t meant that it is practical. Or that the price to be paid is rational.”

“Now that they have lost their empires, Europeans always speak in terms of caution”

“Terrorism is not an enemy but a type of warfare that may or may not be adopted by an enemy”

“If for political reasons a president cannot clearly identify who is to be fought and why, then he must carefully reexamine whether he can win, and thus whether or not he should engage.”

“Ideals without power are simply words—they can come alive only when reinforced by the capacity to act.”

Next up “The Blue Sword” By Robin McKinley this has been billed as a fantasy YA novel. So it should be right up my alley!

Love and Austen

have always proudly declared that “Disney gave me unrealistic expectations about love”. Who can help but love the fairy tale formula. They are full of, as Belle says, “far off places, daring sword fights, magic spells, a prince in disguise!” They captivate the imagination, have fantastic heroes, and always end with a happy couple. Interwoven into our childhood, such stories are easy targets for every self-diagnosing Freud wannabe. But I am pretty sure that my ideas about love and relationships were not formed solely during my Disney years. In point of fact I think Ms. Jane Austen probably deserves a large amount of blame for any unrealistic notions I have concerning love.

“I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone forever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight and a half years ago.”-Captain Wentworth

It seems that all of Ms. Austen’s leading men are eloquent in love. As a teenager my heart flipped at their pronouncements of love. I just knew that the leading men in my life would be equally verbose in confessing their love. I still cling to this expectation. I know there are still eloquent men out there…somewhere.

Men of sense, whatever you may choose to say, do not want silly wives-Mr. Knightly

Darcy, Wentworth, Edward, Brandon and Edmond all agree with Mr. Knightly. They want and get thinking, independent women. My own non-scientific sampling seems to prove the opposite. I have found that men will happily be friends with such women but rarely date them. The girls that marry early are almost always the sillier variety. Perhaps there are no modern Knightly longing (or I haven’t met one).

“She (Elizabeth) hardly knew how to suppose that she could be an object of admiration to so great a man.”-Pride and Prejudice

Elizabeth, Emma, Anne, and Eleanor (yes I call them by their first names because they feel like old friends) were all surprised by the declarations of love that were offered. Elizabeth is sure Darcy hates her. Emma knows that Knightly is about to marry her friend. Anne thinks that Captain Wentworth is indifferent. Eleanor believes Edward is married to another. They are all wrong. They captured the love of wonderful men and had no clue. More than once I have thought that perhaps that I was in the same kind of relationship. That he really liked me, he just didn’t know it. Certainly realization would arrive in a romantic declaration. Ya. Not so much.

"I am perfectly convinced by it that Mr. Darcy has no defect. He owns it himself without disguise."-Elizabeth Bennett (said ironically)

Lastly Ms. Austen probably did the most damage by introducing me to Fitzwilliam Darcy. His morality and social awkwardness endeared me. He rejected girls who played to his vanity. He fell in love with the vivacious, independent, and witty Elizabeth Bennett. He proved his worth by continuing to love her even after being thoroughly rejected. Investing considerable energy and assets he saved her family from ruin. He took her criticisms and endeavored to grow from them. From the very beginning he became the ideal. An ideal, I fear, that will never be matched in reality.

So here I am full of my ill-conceived notions and expectations about love and relationships. Even though I know the damage these novels have done I still love them. In fact I am now seized by a strong desire to go and read them again!

The Book Project

Mr. Darcy when speaking about what it means to be an accomplished woman
said: "to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the
improvement of her mind by extensive reading". I believe he is right and so
I have decided to embark on a reading project.

I don't want to read just anything. I want the books I read to inspire and
teach me.

At first I was going to use one of those "100 Greatest" book lists. I
Google-ed and researched and finally picked the Top 100 list by Harvard Book
Store. Touted as "books that moved us, that changed the way we think about
the world, and that we will happily read over and over again". It sounds
like a great collection of wonderful books. Then I realized that
just blindly reading through a list (even a really good list) was the
epitome of mindlessness.
I have been making book lists for years. I have 80 books saved in my Amazon
wishlist. I have a fantastic list from my high school English teacher that I
have been working on for 8 years (yikes I am old!). I have 37 titles left
in the Hugo/Nebula award winners list. Add to all that the various book
recommendations I have received over the years and I have more than enough
books to keep me reading for a years.
So here are the rules:

1-Variety must be maintained! I can't read two simliar books in a row i.e.
two novels, two sci-fi.

2-I will not force myself to read the book if I hate it. But I must read at
least 25% of the book before I can stop reading.

3-The goal is to read a book every 2 weeks. Faster is better but slow and
steady can win the race.

4- Upon finishing (or not finishing) each book I will write a review on this
blog. This way I can synthesize the information learned and maybe help
others to find some good reads.

With that here we go:
First book: "The Next Decade: Where We've Been . . . and Where We're Going "
By George Friedman