| "The righteous mind" by Jonathan Haidt. I loved it so much that I gave it to three different peoples. It's about psychological studies of morality, and what tends to influence one sense of morality. It had a huge impact on me because I feel that it helped me grow as a person, and being able to understand other culture/other principle, even if I don't necessarily agree with that. Lots of stuff that seems plain evil from a western point of view (ergo, centered about the morals of individuality) would look more sensible once understood from a moral coming from a sense of community, and the necessarily conservative need to foster a stable societal structure. It doesn't mean that I agree with things like opposing the rights of woman to drive/open bank account, but it help understanding the motivation better. Another interesting point he brings is the differentiation between a moral judgement (X is good or bad), and the moral reasoning (X is bad because of Y and Z). Notably, the moral judgement come before the moral reasoning, the latter being used not as a way to reach a conclusion, but as a way to defend a moral judgement with our peers. Jonathan Haidt is mostly known for his works on the political polarization of the USA. Another book I found incredibly enriching (but unfortunately only in French) is "Au coeur des services spéciaux", which is an interview by Jean Guisnel (a french investigative journalist) of Alain Chouet, a former director of the DGSE (the french CIA basically). Alain Chouet studied Arabic and the arab/muslim world even before joining the DGSE, and what I picked up at the bookstore as a way to understand the french intelligence services turned out to be an extremely interesting (and respectful) exposé of the muslim and arab world, with the prism of political Islam, the history of terrorism as seen by french intelligence service, his opinion on many nuclear programs, and of course a great deal about 9/11. The writing of the book is very fresh thanks to the conversational/interview style used, and while the book show its age more and more (it's from 2013), I still believe it's a worthwhile lecture if one is curious about such subject, especially given the current context. |