Summer reading

Summer is upon us, and those of you who can still afford it are probably already thinking about which spot in the sun you want to have your fun. We all need a break, don't we?

But WE; that is, those of us in the Western World; get ours at the expense of the rest of humanity, but, hey, don't let me spoil your fun. While you're relaxing, just letting your soul dangle, as the Germans say, you shouldn't really just turn off your mind. Let's face it: most of you rarely find the time to turn it on in normal, everyday life, what with kids and school and activities and work and bills and mortgages and doctor's appointments and re-landscaping the garden and washing the car, or whatever it is that "consumes" our own consumerist lives.

So, in those odd moments between rolling over to have the "other side browned" or between sun-screen latherings or just shifting your position in the hammock, I'd like to suggest a couple of things for your summer reading list. No, it's not light fare, no action-packed, thriller, mind-numbing, unrealistic fantasy. Rather, just a little bit of actual reality to gently challenge that perceptual illusion you think is "real life".

Since we in the West have traded in our societies for economies, it is only fitting that economic topics top the list.

• Try David Graeber's Debt: The First 5,000 Years for starters. Prof. Graeber has an entertaining and enlightening style that eases the pain of removing the veneer of false facts and downright propaganda that modern economists like to use to hide their machinations. Consider him a fan to blow away the smoke and a shade to expose the mirrors.
• Also, Michael Hudson's very readable and even more straightforward unmasking of how the financialization of our economy really works, namely The Bubble and Beyond, an honest and understandable look at how we got into the mess we are in. (And, just in case you haven't noticed it, we are in one helluva mess.)
• And, finally, since all good things come in threes, you might want to try a true classic of the genre, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's What is Property?, an insightfully delightful conceptual exercise in understanding one of our most powerful and least understood "rights".

Don't get me wrong ... I'm not foolish enough to think that any of you are really going to read anything this serious, but I couldn't help but at least bring the subject up. You do want a break, I'm sure, and you feel you deserve a break, too. I'm only saying that you can "take a break" now, or you can be surprised, shocked, and overwhelmed when the real break comes.

We're at a critical juncture in history, folks. Something has to and is going to give, and in not the all-too-distant future. I pray that all of you reading this today will be around to experience it. You're not going to like it. You are going to be angry and enraged, you are all going to find yourself asking how this could possibly come about, how couldn't we have known this was going to happen. But you'll only have yourself to blame. You had the chance to find out, but you decided you needed a break.

Enjoy!