Must Read: The Blank Slate

DharmaKitten

I have just finished reading The Blank Slate : The Denial of Human Nature and Modern Intellectual Life by Steven Pinker. It took forever to read - it's quite a tome - but it is perhaps the most influential book I've ever read. In the book, Pinker slaughters several sacred cows (metaphorically speaking) of modern Western culture such as the concepts of the Blank Slate, the Noble Savage, and the Ghost in the Machine. After argueing very convincingly against those concepts in several chapters he then goes on to show what that means for society, politics, etc. While it certainly has a few slow parts, overall Pinker's writing is both convincing and entertaining, as well as very readable. Well worth the time spent reading it.

Now, I know this isn't a "Buddhist" text, but I do believe a lot of it is relevant. And, trust me, I don't often find books worthy of such a recommendation. If you want to know more about the book, Amazon has plenty of stuff on the page for the book.

If anyone has read the book and would like to argue differently than the author, please post here. I'm very curious how one would go about refuting him.

Simonthepilgrim

After Pinker has shaken your categories, DK, you may like to read another massive and worrying book:
It is called The Culture of Make Believe by Derrick Jensen (Chelsea Green Publishing Co, Vermont. 2002). Although I think that the following description deserves a place in the Museum of Literary Critical Gobbledegook, or Pseuds' Corner), it does say quite economically the thrust of the book:

Quote:A passionate and provocative meditation on the nexus of racism, genocide, environmental destruction and corporate malfeasance, where civilization meets its discontent.

I don't know if anyone knows this book. I am only 100 pages into 600+notes, bibliography and index. It is truly my sort of book! Above all this technical excellence and beautiful presentation, the ideas that he develops are direct challenges to our very way of life.

Each day's reading leaves me more and more uncomfortable and examining my preconceptions and beliefs.

DharmaKitten

Thanks! Great suggestion. By the sound of your post and the Amazon reviews, it definitely sounds like my kind of book. It's definitely on my wish list now.