Coming straight from Orville, this book is definitely a change-up. Or a fastball. Regardless, Farhad Manjoo
takes aim at discovering the truth beyond the lies, or lies behind perceived truth.
I am interested in all the angles he can venture in after reading the first section. John Kerry's iffy false patriotic actions were foreign to me, and I feel like there is a lot that Farhad still has to share.
He begins with the story of a little girl from California who got AIDS from her mother.
“The death of a little girl in Los Angeles may not look immediately germane to the thesis of this book: that the limitless choice we now enjoy over the information we get about our world has loosened our grip on what is—and isn’t—true,” writes Manjoo. “What killed Eliza Jane, then, was not only a disease but more precisely the lack of notice and care for a disease—a denial even, that her condition existed. What killed her was disregard for scientific fact. It was the certainty with which her parents jettisoned the views of experts in favor of another idea, their own idea, far removed from observable reality. It was a willingness to trade in what was true for what was merely true enough.”
An awakening start, I am interested to see where he goes. I would really be excited if he went into 9/11 matters.
Firstly, I love your opener! Grabbed my attention, and was very entertaining. I agree with your reaction to the first section of this book.
ReplyDeleteCool, it is a great hook story. But what's interesting about it to you? What are the parallels that you see with 9/11?
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