There's no shortage of gloom-and-doom viewpoints about humanity: our history of violence and war, environmental profligacy, economic and social injustice, etc. Frank S Robinson has written this 'optimist manifesto' as an antidote to such poisonous pessimism. Here you will find some radical and refreshing assertions: that most people are fundamentally good, that global society is getting better all the time, and that, in the big picture, humankind is not at the end of a brief, tragic existence but, rather, has just embarked on a long, bright future. What started as an extended letter to his daughter, one father's effort to leave an intellectual legacy, grew to comprehensively cover and tie together the big philosophical, political, social and economic issues. Writing in a highly readable style, Robinson steadfastly emphasises reason as our best tool for discovering truth and making objective decisions. It is through this consistently rational approach to life that he argues for a positive humanistic vision, based on people being left free to pursue their dreams. The book celebrates the human character and achievement, and America's ideals of liberty and opportunity; it is packed not with bland bromides but thought-provoking ideas. The unifying theme is freedom as the key to understanding our own lives and happiness, and in making a better world for all.
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About the Author
Frank S. Robinson (Albany, NY) is a retired administrative law judge, an expert numismatist, and author of three previous books including Confessions of a Numismatic Fanatic.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One Rational Man's View of Our World,
By
This review is from: Life, Liberty, And Happiness: An Optimist Manifesto (Hardcover)
Frank S. Robinson views life as a cosmic accident with no ordained purpose other than to perpetuate itself. This may sound like a rough start for a self-described optimist but wait. It is our infinite luck that Evolution has given us consciousness tricked-out with intelligence - the better to survive. That evolutionary adaptation is our gift. Relish the gift. That is the meaning of life. Simply. The freedom to live our lives beyond the molecular drive to reproduce is an inalienable right. Because this right is universal it requires our tolerance for the rights (freedom) of others. Society and government only gain their legitimacy when they serve the rights of the individual. Free market capitalism is one expression of human creativity and intelligence. This is the bedrock on which Robinson bases his discussion of an ambitious run of issues that include Islamic extremism, the environmental movement, abortion, the death penalty, affirmative action, the war on drugs, etc.
Will you find yourself in agreement with all of Frank's [*] opinions? Not likely. For one, he has little patience for the Left. They are all about redistributing wealth (viz. taxation) and not enough about finding ways to produce it! He is clearly rankled by President Clinton's soothing refrain, "Government must do more". He has a deep distrust of the regulatory vise of Big Government - "a one way ratchet" - having worked as a Public Service Commission lawyer. Good-minded people work in government, but it's often "like a giant creature with no brains". Frank is far more comfortable with the Libertarian's minimalist view of government's role. At the margin: Frank's glowing admiration for those who struggle to our shores on rafts, etc. in search of freedom and opportunity evokes in me other thoughts of border security and human trafficking. A comment on society's efforts on behalf of the disabled - "all of us have our limitations" - may seem glib. However, the key here and throughout is that Frank is always the advocate of the individual, all individuals, maximizing their potential. He views all issues seeking balance (versus perfection), fairness of opportunity (versus equal results), and weighing consequences (sometimes unintended) against the real costs of social action. Consistently the enemy of "facile" thinking Frank's views accomplish at least two things for the reader - a better understanding of our own reflex responses to controversial issues and a clearer lens for viewing new ones. [*] Disclosure: I refer to the author by his first name out of familiarity. I am pleased to say that I have known Frank S. Robinson for a decade...was unaware that this book was in the works...and was not asked to review it. To me he is "Frank" both in person and in manner.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Rare Blend,
By David Wallace Croft (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Life, Liberty, And Happiness: An Optimist Manifesto (Hardcover)
I first learned of the book "Life, Liberty, and Happiness: An Optimist Manifesto" by Frank S. Robinson from an e-mail from the author himself. I am not certain how I came to be on his list of e-mail addresses but he correctly identified me as being within his target market. Being fond of the Humanist Manifesto and a long-term optimism, the subtitle immediately caught my eye. I was further intrigued by the fact that he originally started out to write a letter to his daughter about life, something I have considered doing for my own children.
I have described my own beliefs as a blend of Religious Humanism, Neo-Objectivism, and Libertarian Transhumanism. Being at the tiny overlapping intersection of what are small minority beliefs to begin with, I suspected I was alone. You can imagine how pleased I was, then, to read in his introduction that his book "reflects elements of libertarianism, humanism, objectivism, and so forth". I even found a footnote in his chapter "The Meaning of Life" that leans toward Transhumanism. The more I read, the more astonished I became that this book could so closely mirror my own beliefs while simultaneously covering so many different topics. It was not until I reached one of the last chapters where I finally found one issue, capital punishment, where I was not in substantial agreement with the author. It made me wonder how was it that we thought so much alike. One possibility is that it is because we are reading many of the same books. A criticism I do have of this work is that it perhaps leans too heavily on repeating historical examples I have already read in other places. I can forgive this, however, if I consider that the author might have had a different target audience in mind where these core examples are still novel. My other criticism is what I perceive to be his overuse of footnotes for parenthetical side comments. This seems to me to distract from the flow of reading his main text. I wonder if this comes from his twenty years of service as a judge in which footnotes in legal opinions frequently do convey significant information yet are considered subsidiary. I started heartily recommending this book long before I finished reading it. Now that I have completed the text in its entirety and I am assured that there is nothing in it to which I have any strong objections, I am pleased to say that I am adding this title to two of my recommended books lists. I plan to purchase a number of copies for my friends. I look forward to reading additional publications from this author in the future. As the table of contents is not provided above, I list it here: Introduction The Meaning of Life Reason, Science, and Human Values Living a Good Life Happiness is a Choice Satisfaction Consciousness, Thought, and Personal Responsibility Always Question Relativism and Nonjudgmentalism The Mystery of Creation Freedom from Fear Love, Marriage, and Sex Political Vocabulary The Social Contract Individualism and Society Government is the Problem The Forced March to Paradise The Era of Big Government But What About the Truly Needy? Wrongful Rights America the Beautiful The Morality of Free-Market Capitalism Globalization and World Poverty Why Corporations are Not Totally Evil Scum Territoriality and Tribalism Why the Gloom and Doom Crowd is Wrong Man, Technology, and Nature History and Its Lessons Freedom of Expression Race Pro-Life and Pro-Choice Animal Rights Crime and Punishment Homosexuality The War with Islamic Extremism Coda Index
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Philosopy of Life - A Thinking Person's Book,
This review is from: Life, Liberty, And Happiness: An Optimist Manifesto (Hardcover)
This is a wonderful book. It is a broad based philosophy of life book. I found it to be very close to my own philosophy and perhaps that is one reason I liked it so well. It is very rare to run across an author who so closely matches my own views.It starts with personal areas like meaning, reason, science, and happiness and then moves on to social issues both personal (like love and friendship) and then a lot of political philosophy. Extremely well done and highly recommended.
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