The four books in my Wanderings series contain many essays on politicized topics. I decided to collect them in one place, arranged by related subjects, covering most of the big issues of today: racism, climate change, abortion, inequality, heredity, nationalism, patriotism. I call it "Politics," based on an unusual definition attributed to the late Christopher Boehm, formerly the Director of the Jane Goodall Research Center. I would clarify it by adding "attainable" before "directions" and "rational" before "arguments", making it less Utopian but also more aspirational. It seems silly to do more than dream about societies that can never exist; and we can at least hope for rational argument. I believe that these essays meet both criteria.
"[T]he essence of politics:
the ability to reflect consciously
on different directions one's society could take,
and to make explicit arguments why
it should take one path rather than another."
In May 2023, I became concerned again that I would run out of time and, frankly, was feeling worn out. So, I wrapped up my writing projects and published them. Then, during that summer, I resumed reading, then writing. The master of the book Politics became longer, as I revised and expanded it. It seems one cannot discuss politics without considering history and ideologgy. And, I felt the original title was now too narrow. Thus, I added to the title as well.
With a subsequent (modest) burst of renewed energy, I continued reading, then writing, producing my fifth set of essays in my Wanderings series, which I titled Disappointments. About half of the essays involved scientific issues. So, I revised, supplemented and repackaged them into a new volume as a second addendum to Important Things We Don't Know, entitled Life, etc. Much of the remainder seemed to be useful additions to Politics, History and Ideology.
While adding that material, I decided on a substantial restructuring. The essays consisting essentially of book reviews (really, critiques) have been moved to the back. I think that this change makes it much easier to follow the themes of the book and, for anyone interested, to find my comments on particular books.
Here is the new, new, expanded edition, with a slightly modified title.
