Book review: Humankind

Rutger Bregman's latest book, Humankind: A hopeful history, is popular at the Auckland library right now.

I requested it months ago, have only just finished reading it in my allotted time, and I have to return it in a few minutes for the next person in the queue.

It's understandable.  Bregman's book is a great read, and I highly recommend it.

Last year I read Bregman's other well-known book, Utopia for Realists, and I reviewed it here.

Humankind continues in the same style as Utopia, as a super-easy-to-read yet thought-provoking and occasionally challenging evidence-based approach to modern political issues.

If we could sum up Bregman's thesis in two words, it would be "be kind."  He then spends 400 pages explaining why, with reasons from history and science.

But at heart, as I see it, Bregman's book is motivational and inspirational.  It's written in a style that creates an optimistic feel in the reader (or at least in me!), that doing the decent thing is okay.  Despite the occasional toxicity, despite the cynicism from naysayers, and despite the occasional loss, being kind is the most successful approach to life. 

Bregman dives into the human nature debate, coming out on the side of Rousseau et al that human nature is basically good, and that often civilisation corrupts our basic goodness.  He argues against the mainstream "cynical" view that humans are naturally selfish and individualistic, and that we need rules and order to minimise conflict.

But the issue is complicated, because human nature is complicated, and Bregman also discusses that.

Bregman argues that, contrary to the cynics, the real "realist" approach to life is to accept the solid evidence that humans are actually pretty decent and kind, for the most part.

Bregman goes through many of the psychological studies on this, such as the prison experiment, the shock machine, and the boys camp.  He also discusses William Golding's fictional story, Lord of the Flies (I discuss this here).  He points out the flaws in these studies and stories, and why they don't show that human nature is bad.  He gives a bit of evolutionary psychology and early-human anthropology.

Bregman then turns to some practical social and political implications for this positive view of human nature.

To sum it up very quickly, Bregman is a minimalist when it comes to management and political oversight.  He thinks that in many situations we would do better to have fewer controls and less managerial involvement.

He discusses the prison system, examining the evidence that shows that the "tough" approach simply doesn't work.  Stricter policing, harsher penalties, and stricter prisons result in higher economic and social costs for all concerned.

Similarly, he also discusses education, management, healthcare, etc, with plenty of case studies to show that a more hands-off management style works better and more efficiently.

Bregman, as a historian, has done his research on this, and he fills the back section of the book with plenty of references to studies and evidence.

We could quibble about some of the details, but I really don't want to.

This is because I think that the most important thing is creating the right mindset.  Bregman's book is about doing just that.  If we have a pessimistic outlook on life, and if we distrust those around us, then we create a society that reflects that.  But if we have an optimistic outlook on life, and assume the best of people, then we create a society that is better for us all.

(I have to say, one quibble I have is that Bregman assumes that Machiavelli was Machiavellian.  It's a shame that Bregman didn't read Erica Benner on this -- I reviewed Benner's book a few months ago.)

Right, time to dash off to the library and return the book!

Athletics relays, a dislocated finger (and more rock climbing)

Mulan picked up two silver medals yesterday at the CNW (Central, North, West Auckland) athletics relay competition.

Her 13 Girls Takapuna team got second in the 4x100m.

👟She did the shot put in the 13 Girls field event relay (with two other Takapuna teammates doing discus and long jump), also getting second.

The field event relays at CNW are always a challenge, as they only allow two attempts and no practice.  But things went perfectly for Mulan, with two great throws and a new PB (personal best) of 8.00m exactly.

Mulan's team also got 4th in the 4x400m relay.🏃

But she almost wasn't able to compete at all.

Exactly a week earlier, Mulan dislocated her finger during athletics training.  It was a scary few minutes for us all with her little finger sticking out in the wrong direction!

But the medical system worked as it should.  The White Cross emergency doc had her finger pointing in the right direction again within 30 minutes of it happening, and we've got regular appointments at the Hands On rehab clinic just five minutes bike ride from home.  (All free, except for the $25 x-rays.)  They've assured us there should be a full recovery in 4-6 weeks.

But it does mean that Mulan will have to slow down a bit.  There's no cello at all for now, as it's her left hand.  Gymnastics is also a no-no, which means that she can't compete at the North Harbour Gymnastics Gym Festival this coming Sunday.  We're taking a break from swimming for now.  And Mulan can't do any athletics jumping -- it's a bit too risky with the landings (hence the shot put yesterday rather than long jump).

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Meanwhile, Miya and I are continuing to improve with our rock climbing.

We have both now completed two green climbs at Northern Rocks, after Miya got the first green 10 days ago.

Climbing, music and jumping

As I often say, one of the huge advantages of homeschooling (at least for us) is that it's so much more efficient than school-schooling.  We get to spend more of our days doing what we want to do.

Rock Climbing:

On Friday, Miya completed a "green" climb for the first time at Northern Rocks.  (She's the first in our family, too!  I almost got it, but not quite -- maybe next week?!)

What's a "green"?  Here's the grading system:

The way I feel it (as a near-beginner to all this, having only started a month ago), purple is do-able for someone who has done some strength training (weights, gymnastics, etc), but hasn't specifically rock climbed before.

Green, to me at least, needs a bit of rock climbing experience.  Green holds are a bit smaller and need some finger strength that people wouldn't normally have without some climbing.  And green also seems to need a bit more experience with technique -- balance, strategy, etc.

So, good on Miya for getting to that next level.  Miya is really enjoying the climbing, and the two of us do an hour or so three times a week.

Music:

Yesterday morning, Miya had her Class Recitals at Belmont Music Centre.

Several classes performed in front of an audience of about 70 or so family and friends.  All students did extremely well, especially considering that this year's learning has been hugely Covid-interrupted.

Miya is learning three instruments this year, and good on her for consistently practicing most days.  She's made huge improvements and is sounding really good.

Miya was up on stage twice yesterday for both trumpet and clarinet (keyboard was a couple of weeks ago).

Athletics:

Yesterday afternoon, Mulan and I competed in athletics again.

This week, both of us did triple jump.  Our results are here.

Neither of us got PBs (personal bests) this week, but Mulan did get a best non-wind-assisted jump of 9.32m.  (Her PB of 9.53m was wind-assisted.)

This season, Mulan is often doing athletics two or three days a week, with competitions and training.

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And then both girls do ballet a few days a week, gymnastics once a week and swimming once a week.  Mulan is continuing with cello and recorder lessons each week, and Miya also does athletics.  And that's just the structured activities.

If the girls went to school, they probably wouldn't have time to do half of this.

The Queen's Gambit

We've just finished watching the TV series, The Queen's Gambit.  It's a great story; highly recommended.

It's also inspired Mulan and Miya to try out chess again.

Back when I was Miya's age, my Standard 3 (Year 5) teacher, Mr Pratt, taught us class how to play chess.  He had a class set of chess sets, and we'd all often play during school hours.  Mr Pratt joined in the games, too; he was hugely encouraging to us, and I remember some great games with him.

I quickly got into it, and my grandfather gave me my first chess set (bottom right in the picture above).  I'd take my set to school, to play in class (hence the slightly battered board!).  My grandfather also later gave me my big tabletop set (top left in the pic).

I played heaps that year, thanks to my school teacher, but drifted away after the school year ended.  I've only ever played occasionally since then, though a few years later I did buy myself the computer chess set (middle in the pic).  I'm very much an "intuitive" player, and know almost zero about historical games and strategies.

Anyway, Mulan and Miya are having lots of fun playing together, and I've played them both a few times, too.  I've now got to be at my best to beat either of them.

As if my poor brain wasn't tired enough, the girls decided that I needed to do what the main character did in The Queen's Gambit -- play multiple games simultaneously.

So, we set up the three boards, and I played Mulan, Miya and Mama at the same time.  It wasn't easy!  I made a couple of big, silly mistakes while trying to keep three games in my head -- Miya noticed the one against her, but Mama missed her opportunity to take my queen.

All good fun, thanks to a great TV show.

It was also fascinating watching the final game in the final episode, knowing that it was based on an actual game played by Professor Robert Wolff's son.  (I've been following Professor Wolff's blog for several years now, and have learnt a lot from him.)

Sherlock

Mulan and I finished watching the TV series Sherlock several days ago.  If you don't know, that's the version of Sherlock Holmes from a few years ago, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman playing Holmes and Watson, and set in modern times.

We watched all the way to the end of series 4, and the final episodes especially were a great opportunity for Mulan to learn a little more about history.

But I don't mean that Mulan learnt more about Victorian England and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Rather, I mean that Mulan (and Miya) learnt about jumping the shark.

We found a YouTube clip of Fonzie jumping the shark in Happy Days, and had a chat about the meaning of the term.

The way I see it, the central core of Sherlock Holmes is the reasonableness.  Everything else can be changed, but at heart Holmes is about step-by-step reasoning that may not be clear at first but is obvious (or at least extremely plausible) once explained.

The first half of Sherlock followed this format.  Even though it was set in modern times, and twisted the Conan Doyle stories somewhat ("A Study in Pink" instead of "A Study in Scarlet"), it was still recognisably reasonable.

But from series 3 onwards (at least in my opinion), the writers tangled themselves in knots trying to ever outdo themselves with complexity.  In the end they overreached, and resorted to mysticism.  That is, they abandoned the central core of Holmes -- the reasonableness.  In the place of reasonableness, they invented super-humans who could see and do things that were beyond comprehension.  We no longer got the step-by-step reasoning; in its place was teasing and hand-waving gestures to inexplicable higher levels of thinking.  It was drama without substance.

For both Mulan and me, series 4 was not so fun to watch compared with the earlier episodes, and we only wanted to finish it for the sake of completeness.

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A much better recent Holmes story, in our opinion, is the 2020 Enola Holmes movie, which we also watched recently.  Highly recommended, especially for teen and tween girls.

Athletics in the rain

 Saturday is fast becoming athletics day.

A couple of days ago, Mulan and I were once again at Mt Smart Stadium for the afternoon.  But this time in the rain.

No worries, it was a good learning experience for Mulan to warm up and compete in the rain!  (All voluntary and mostly enjoyable, of course!!)

Mulan did the long jump (4.01m) and 80m hurdles (15.46sec).  The rain made it tough, so no PBs (personal bests) this week.  But still very good performances in the conditions.

I did the 60m (8.17sec) and 100m (12.97sec), with both being "old person" bests -- that is, best in the past five seasons.  That wasn't a huge accomplishment, as I hadn't run a 60m race in over 25 years, and my recent 100m races have all been on grass.

But well done me for surviving, and the runs felt good!  I'd also signed up for the long jump, but decided to pull out because I was still recovering from the 100m!  Clearly, I've still got to work on my endurance fitness.

Anyway, the results are all here.