Prisons We Choose to Live Inside [Paperback]

Doris Lessing (Author)

Book Description

Series: Cornelia & Michael Bessie Books | Publication Date: October 14, 1987

The celebrated author explores new ways to view ourselves and the society we live in, and gives us fresh answers to such enduring questions as how to think for ourselves and understand what we know.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Doris Lessing, winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature, is one of the most celebrated and distinguished writers of our time. She lives in north London.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (October 14, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060390778
• ISBN-13: 978-0060390778
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #308,942 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Things You should have been taught., August 8, 2005

By 

bunnyrabbit4 (New Orleans, LA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Prisons We Choose to Live Inside (Paperback)

In a time of polarization, Lessings small book shines a much needed light on how we use out-groups and outsiders in general as projection points for the feelings that society and religion tell us are unacceptable. We want to think of ourselves as noble when we identify some evil to correct and go about righteously eradicating it. Unfortunately, the core problem is that we are angry and feel a need to hurt someone or something. That is the real evil that we never look at. How noble were the people in her book who cut down a beautiful and historic tree because it was used to hang someone they liked? Was it the trees fault or did their need to express rage simply find a helpless victim?

The behaviors discussed in this book need to be recognised, not only because we will engage in them without thinking, but because they can be used against us by governments, religions and other social groups who fully understand their power. No group can survive for long if the natural aggressions of its members is not diverted toward some outside source. Every group is going to have something, or someone that they are against.

While she can go on too long in making some points, If you really think about the studies discussed in this book and began to apply them in your life, you will wakeup to some uncomfortable "slights of hand". Currently religion and politics in this country seem to be focused on homosexual marriage and abortion as "the problems". The message is, "spend your time fixing these people and you are part of the good group." You might want to stop for a moment and ask yourself why someone is trying to divert your aggressive feelings toward social groups and issues that there is a 95% likelihood you will never be part of and whose members are unlikely to ever impact your life. When that righteous feeling wells inside you ask yourself...what is this great group I belong to asking me NOT to look at?

38 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant & fascinating, but needs grain of salt., October 26, 2001

By 

Ltalisman "[e-mail]" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prisons We Choose to Live Inside (Paperback)

This book contains a series of 5 lectures given by Doris Lessing, sponsored by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1985.

Their basic thesis is that groups of human beings behave in certain predictable ways under cetain circumstances, and that those who value liberty and individual thought could make the world better by doing 2 things:

1. Learn about the many studies that have been done about group behaviour, brain-washing, & so on. Governments, advertisers, & others in a position to make use of this knowledge to manipulate us are certainly doing so. We should make use of it to avoid being manipulated.

2. Hold on to cool reflection & individual thought, despite all the pressures to conform, adhere to dogma of various kinds, party lines, & so on.

Many of the ideas presented here are also expressed in Lessing's novels. Better expressed, in my opinion, but it's certainly interesting & instructive to have them all together in one book.

The trouble is, this book is the equivalent of an academic thesis or scholarly study, yet without any of the documentation or foundation which would take it out of the realm of individual reflection or opinion. If one wants to look up any of the studies she mentions, one is on one's own, as there is no bibliography, no citations, no references, etc. Lessing's views are very interesting, but don't mistake these essays for social science.

Doris Lessing is a brilliant thinker & keen social & historical observer. She has been a first-hand witness to or participant in much of what has happened politically in the 20th century. She is superbly self-educated, but she is not a sociologist or a historian. She is not even a high school graduate.

This book is short, so it does not take a big investment of time to read it, and it certainly sheds light on many phenomena one may have noticed. For example, it helps explain how quickly in the wake of the September 11 attacks on NY & Washington, Americans polarized into 2 camps - the "bomb 'em into oblivion" camp and the "evil/misguided/mistaken US policies are to blame for bringing this hatred upon us" camp. A more mundane example might be how new mothers polarize into "conservative: train your baby to be independent, sleep alone, suck on a pacifier, wean early" & "liberal: a filled need goes away, sleep with your baby, nurse until the baby chooses to wean" positions. It also help explain the process by which suicide bombers and kamikaze hijackers come to be.

So if you are interested in these issues, or enjoy the more analytical passages of Doris Lessing's novels, this book is defintely worth a read. But take it with a grain of salt. And if you don't like that sort of thing, read MARTHA QUEST instead.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An elegant discourse about the dangerous power of belief, March 10, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Prisons We Choose to Live Inside (Paperback)

A great fiction writer such as Lessing has the tools to describe the causes and consequences of human behavior better than most psychologists or historians. In these beautifully written, brief essays, she describes the phenomenon of Eric Hoffer's "true believer" in the light of her own experiences with war, racism, political movements, and the seductive pleasure of self-righteousness. I have probably personally bought 100 copies of this book to give to friends; it is a great antidote for those times when you are sure you are right, and that you are justified in treating other human beings as the Enemy. Lessing addresses the fact that this kind of moral certitude, which is one of the fueling factors for most war, is equally prevalent among all political belief systems. She ends with hope that it is possible to raise children who are too good at thinking critically and at asking questions to ever get swept up in some vicious madness