The Books I read in 2014

2015 is here, a new phase in the counting of our daily activities, powered by the Gregorian calendar.

I started documenting books read on yearly basis last year –a move influenced by a particular Feyi Fawehinmi whose blog posts are always delight to mind and soul. The richness of his essays, the depth of his grasp of socioeconomic issues and his penetrating writing styles have endeared my regular visits to his blog site. I documented books read in 2013 under an essay titled “My 2013 InRetrospect, My 2014 In View”, where I also made some sort of ‘New year resolution’ –better called 2014’s target. I was able to achieve some, and to my happiness, the most fascinating achieved-target was “hopefully to have a baby, preferably a girl, and to be named AadiyatuLah”. This was achieved on November 26, 2014. AlihamduliLLah!! 

I would have forgotten this yearly book review if not for the blog posts of Bill Gates and Satya Nadella, respectively on Gate notes and Geek Wire, reviewing their 2014 books’ favourites. 

In 2014 year, I was able to completely devoured 4 books, with 3 undergoing bit-by-bit consumption, those are ‘carry-overs’ to 2015. These completely-devoured books are: Chinua Achebe’s ‘There Was a Country’ and ‘Things Fall Apart’, Friedman Milton’s ‘Capitalism and Freedom’ and Michael Lebowitz’s ‘The Path to Human Development: Capitalism or Socialism?’

There Was a Country

This was a historical account of the 1967-1970 Biafra Civil war, as seen by Chinua Achebe. As expected in all historical accounts, Achebe’s account is highly subjective by putting all blames of the sad event and accusation of genocide on the tables of the military officers of the Northern Nigeria enclave, the international community, and some Nigerians who believe in a united Nigeria, for personal or patriotic reasons, what so ever. Some of the ludicrous narratives are: alleging that the Nigeria army went to the war with hard-heartedness, as if the Biafra army was soft-hearted, and absolving the Nzeogwu-led coup of any ethnic sentiment! None the less, it is a worthy read and notable literature on Nigeria political history.

Things Fall Apart

Contrary to expectation, I just read this fascinating piece in 2014. The reasons of the delay are better understood and known to circumstance. Things Fall Apart (TFA) made to me to fall deeper in love with literary works, especially fiction. Achebe’s art of storytelling is captivating so the extent that a mere literature enthusiast like me was glued to the book till it was completely devoured.

The book centred on Okonkwo, a major character that exhibits the traits of valour, steadfastness and Afrocentrism, as expected of an African man. Sadly, he had to take his own life, as the only brave route to prevent him from the maltreatment in the hands of white supremacists who invaded Africa land under the guise of evangelizing religion and education.  TFA brings its reader close to African culture and tradition, especially the Igbo cultural specificities.

Capitalism and Freedom (CaF)

Just as Hayek’s ‘Road to Serfdom’, CaF argues unapologetically that socialism is a path of human slavery and only capitalism guarantees freedom, especially the free market economy where the Adam Smith’s invincible hands of demand and supply take control of the market, absolutely and independently.

Notably, Milton did not exclude the presence of government and her role in a free market economy. But, opposing what socialists and/or the Keynessians would want to propose, CaF reduces the role of government to ‘watch dog’, to prevent the manipulation of the market from unscrupulous players. Government interventionism is economic crime in Milton’s thesis, and the only exemption is when such will have a ‘neighbourhood effect’. In his cited example, sponsoring scholarship on courses that have direct national importance like national integration, religious tolerance in a plural state, and all what-not.

I disagree with almost 80% of Milton’s proposition, and this is largely traceable to my socialist background. I however agree with some of his positions, especially the objection to government willing to pick bills for every convenience of her citizens, like public Motor Park, public toilet, and others that do not form content of social welfarism like education and health. I also agree with his liberalization of medical researches and findings, with a condition that such must be with profound education-based guess which can be handled by the unorthodox medical practitioners. 

In sum, as a centrist –nor to the right, or left, I see Milton’s work as a must read for anyone who is willing to open his or her mind to dispassionate critique of Marxism and Keynessianism.

The Path to Human Development: Capitalism or Socialism?

Michael Lebowitz is a Marxian economist, and as expected, he made weighty arguments against capitalism as path to human development. Apart from the abstract theoretical mop-up of Marxism-Leninism, he cited global economic index (rate of poverty, unemployment, labour movement) to support the capitalism-induced economy decaying experiences in the world, even as capitalism is make-believe to be growing wider and waxing stronger. He argued that the failure of capitalist economy to avert the 2008 global economic recession, the Euro catastrophe and Greece’s inability to head-out of the economic ill-trappings are obvious signs of the inherent contradictions in capitalism.

Finally, he related that the socialistic economic provision, which dignified labour force and believed that the control must be handled by the producer of labour, is the path to human development. The dialectics of thesis, synthesis and antithesis was duly employed to make this landing. He also clarified that “nationalization of the commanding heights of the economy”; a popular mantra in the Marxists’ circle, is just a leap towards socialism, and not socialism itself.