Married to the Job

In Married to the Job, psychologist Ilene Philipson describes people whose excessively strong attachment to their workplace is akin to marriage in intensity. Those people, many of them her patients and a majority of whom are women, aren’t obsessed with their work accomplishments or the material benefits of their careers. Instead, their relationships with their coworkers and recognition by their supervisors can become more important emotionally than their families are. Philipson points out that many American have issues about emotional attachment to their jobs, even if it doesn’t go as far as “marriage”.

Several societal factors are pushing people in that direction. As described in Robert Putnam’s book Bowling Alone, Americans are less socially involved in their leisure time. At home, more time is spent in solitary, less engaging activities like watching TV and surfing the net (when they aren’t taking work home with them). Work hours are increasing. And many companies, especially those in Silicon Valley, have cultures that push their employees to be more emotionally involved.

The book itself is a light read, full of personal anecdotes. I could relate to sense of my job being more meaningful than other aspects of my life, except for my real marriage. Though there aren’t any profound insights, Philipson mentions how psychology has traditionally downplayed the importance of one work environment, compared to family and childhood experiences, and the book is an attempt to counter that. Though the book drags at the end, when she describes the value of therapy and provides some self-help style suggestions, overall it’s worth reading.

Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe

Erik Wielenberg's Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe is mainly a rebuttal of arguments by Christian theologians. He attempts to demonstrate the philosophical foundations of ethics in a naturalistic (godless) worldview. He frames the question as someone who has shifted from Christianity to naturalism, making his arguments less relevant to someone from a different religious background or who has never accepted religion.

Wielenberg starts by considering how one can find meaning in life in the absence of supernatural forces. He then searches for a basis for morality, countering theist claims that ethics is in some dependent on God. Then he explores why one should act morally if no divine judge makes you account for your actions. Another chapter examines traditional Christian virtues such as humility and charity.

Though Wielenberg makes some good points, I didn't get that much out of the book. In part, elaborate philosophical discussions about ethics are less convincing than my visceral feeling that, for example, murder is wrong. He didn't cover my ethical ponderings: ambiguous ethical trade-offs and the variation in ethical beliefs among different people and cultures. The book would probably be a lot more pertinent to present or former Christians contemplating ethical concerns.

Encyclopedia Idiotica

Stephen Weir’s Encyclopedia Idiotica: History's Worst Decisions and the People Who Made Them is all right. It’s a light, breezy account of 50 historical events that struck the author as particularly idiotic. The sections about historical periods I was more familiar with contained a few inaccuracies and oversimplifications. Also, some of the perceived idiocies were plausible mistakes (the Mariner I spacecraft failing because of a missing hyphen in its software). Others, such as the explosion at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, are better characterized as greed or indifference than idiocy. Still, it’s entertaining to learn more about the subjects I knew little about, such as Custer’s Last Stand or Florence Nightingale.

The Kite Runner

Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner largely takes place in Afghanistan, providing a glimpse of what life is like there. The novel’s protagonist is Amir, the son of Baba, a well-off and overbearing father. Amir and his father flee to America after the Russian invasion, but Amir returns to an Afghanistan ruled by the Taliban a few years later. The perspective of an Afghan-American makes the narrative accessible to an American reader.

A central part of the story involves Amir’s relationship with Hassan, a boy Amir’s age who’s the son of the family servant and a member of the Hazara, a disliked ethnic group. Hassan is in some ways a friend of Amir’s and in some ways a social inferior, leading to some uncomfortable situations. Amir’s interactions with Hassan and with Baba, the father whose standard he can’t satisfy, form the human side of the book.

Overall, it’s a worthwhile, well-written novel that presents a vivid portrayal of Afghanistan. As a warning, a couple of the scenes are kind of disturbing.