I can’t read “Rising Up and Rising Down”. It’s just too long, too insufferably long, and too egocentric and insanely self-involved for me to read. Apologies to John Whitmore and everyone else who seems to love this book but I just can’t deal.

Honestly, what can one make of a sentence like this: “When honor becomes, as it did for Djilas and for Joan of Arc, a bezel for the jewel of altruism - that is, when it impels us to recognize the rights of another self even at the expense of our own - we must respect and admire it, the rule of self-preservation being overfrequently extended to the point of abuse for anyone to withhold glory form the rule of self-abnegation - provided, as I hope I have made clear, that the sacrifice is made voluntarily, not coerced or manipulated, as it increasingly was with Napoleon’s soldiers.”

What is he trying to say? Someone, ANYONE, please explain this to me.

Anyways … now it’s on to “American Prometheus”. The introduction suggests a certain left-of-center bent (not inappropriate given the basic historical outlines). Hopefully the story itself remains focused.