Customer Reviews

Reset: How This Crisis Can Restore Our Values and Renew America

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Kurt Andersen's essay emphasizing that we can and should turn our current political and economic lemons into lemonade is an interesting monologue. Andersen makes the argument that, historically, in times of trouble American society has re-evaluated its needs vs its wants and walked away stronger as a result.

That's all fine and dandy, but I can't help feeling a little less optimistic than the author regarding our willingness and ability to do what's right for the country vs what we think is right for ourselves. Mr Andersen acknowledges the uniqueness of today's climate vs the last major shift (led by Ronald Reagan) - today's shift (Mr Andersen suggests it's currently underway) is more abrupt than the attitude evolution of 30 years ago; in Reagan's day partisan differences were put (to a larger degree) aside to pull out of economic slump and post-Vietnam malaise; today's political crazies (my word, not his) on Fox, MSNBC, etc., etc., tend to fuel polarization.

I look at what pollutes the airwaves 24x7, and I seriously wonder if there's *anyone* left in the public eye who cares what's right for the country. I'm all for making a buck in the entertainment industry (Fox, MSNBC, etc., etc.), but I think today's discourse is truly making us all poorer, and I don't foresee Mr Andersen's musings changing the tone of "dialog" (perhaps pairings of hurled insults is a better description) one iota.

I found this book to be just what I've been looking for lately. A short treaty, written by a historian, that gives a fresh and optimistic perspective on what often feels like a dark world situation. If you find that the endless indulge of negative news (failed economy, global warming, etc.) leaves you feeling a bit blue and helpless I recommend that you read this book. The information has made me feel re-empowered and renewed my optimism for the future. A positive, well grounded perspective is something of great value right now and this book delivers.

If you're into studying about recent (1980s and beyond) social studies and economic effects, this is a book for you. It's a very quick read as it really is an essay in book form. I was turned onto the book when the author appeared on one of the late-night Comedy Central shows (either The Daily Show or The Colbert Report). You have to be careful with books like these as they can get you in a hopeless mood. Instead, this book does offer hope, but I found that even if it didn't, it was still a great article on how we got to where we are. In reading it in October, 2009, I found it to be ridiculously timely, so this book must have gone to press in very quickly. If you like books such as Cradle to Cradle (sooo worth reading; look for it on Amazon) or books related to peak-oil, etc., you'd want to add this book to your reading list.

So why am I excited that it's our turn to run the world? And by `us' and `our' I refer to what most people refer to as Generation Y. Those of us born around or after 1980.

"The baby boomers were historically fortunate: they missed the Great Depression and World War II, and although they grew up with the hideous ambient hum of potential nuclear Armageddon, until they reached middle age, only great national trauma was the one - the 1960s and Vietnam - in which they were they were the self-regarding stars."

This makes it easy to understand their "selfish, heedless, if-it-feels-good-do-it approach." We didn't have it so easy. In the last 25 years I've watched the Oklahoma City bombing, the shuttle disasters, Columbine, September 11, Virginia Tech, multiple gulf wars... the list seems to go. The worst of it is that we've had to watch the never before seen 24/7 news coverage of it all.

But while these disasters may have made us a bit conservative and maybe a little slow to make decisions as we consider all the options, we have also been raised in a world where information is ubiquitous. I find myself annoyed when I can't find some bit of esoteric information immediately. I can decide I want to read almost any book currently in print and thanks to Amazon and my iPhone I can have it tomorrow or with my Kindle I can have it right now.

So what did I get out of RESET? That my generation is uniquely prepared to deal with our current crisis. Crises are nothing new to us and we're especially prepared to gather all the information we need and take our time to make the right decisions. Hopefully we'll make the right ones and this world we've grown up in will be a bit better for the children we'll leave behind us.

Is this what Andersen intended that I get out of his book? I'm sure some of it is, I'm also sure some of it is unintended. Either way this is a great book for all of us to read, each from our own perspective. Oh, and it's also only 98 pages long.

Written during the depths of the recession in 2009 and just after the inaugaration of President Obama, Kurt Andersen's short book, "Reset-- How this Crisis Can Restore Our Values and Renew America", sounded a note of optimism. Anderson, a novelist, radio host, and former editor, tried to show the sources of the difficulty in which the United States found itself and how it could rebound from them and emerge wiser and stronger. I recently had the opportunity to hear Andersen speak and then to read his book.

In a brief 70 pages, the book covers a good deal in a sweeping way. Andersen finds that the difficulities in which the United States found itself was due to what he terms a "casino economy" in which Americans adopted a model of gambling and easy money and satisfaction in their economic and personal lives. He attributes this attitude to the Reagan years with 1986 as a pivotal point, but he also looks back to the late 1960s with their emphasis on individuality and doing one's own thing. Then, Andersen takes a historical view. He finds that much of American history can be characterized in terms of the fable of the ant and the grasshoper. Periods of hard work and self-sacrifice by Americans have alternated with periods of hedonism and good times. The Recession signals emphatically the end of a latter such period, Andersen argues, and presents an opportunity for Americans to reflect and take stock on where they have been and where they want to go. In other words, the industrious ant will again come to the fore but with differences from analogous ant-like periods in the past. We have the opportunity to learn from our experiences and mistakes.

Andersen offers a brief "seven step program for America" which centers upon recognizing that Americans have been living unduly large for the prior quarter century, identifiying the deficiencies of character that has led to this condition, and working to change them. He calls for a revival of the spirit of pragmatism in solving problems as opposed to a spirit of ideological commitment. He finds that in his campaign and in the early days of his presidency that President Obama exemplified a pragmatic spirit. Besides a spirit of moderation and self-reflection, and the realization that Americans should pursue goals in addition to maximizing wealth and instant gratification,Andersen sees opportunites for growth and creativity in the current economy. He celebrates the "amateur spirit" in which new economic realities allow people to move forward and succeed without preoccupations. In one of the finest passages of the book, Andersen writes:

"I like paradoxes which is why, even though I'm not particularly religious, Zen Buddhism has always appealed to me. Take the paradoxical state that Buddhists seek to achieve, what they call sho-shin or 'beginners mind.' The twentieth-century Japanese Zen master Shunryu Suzuki, who spent the last dozen years of his life in America, wrote that 'in the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few.' Which sounds to me very much like the core of Daniel Boorstin's amateur spirit. "The main obstacle to progress is not ignorance,' Boorstin wrote, 'but the illusion of knowledge.' (p.69)

Writing in early 2009, Andersen did not anticipate much of the divisiveness that the United States has experienced since then and he may have been overly-optimistic about the end of the current Recession. I don't think these developments undercut the basic value of Andersen's advice.

The book is short and sketchy and unconvincing in some of its particulars but worth reading nevertheless. Andersen has read widely, but his book does not identify many of the works which may have influenced his thinking. In its historical approach, I was reminded of Daniel Walker Howe's study of Pre-Civil War America, "What Hath God Wrought." What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 (Oxford History of the United States) In its emphasis on pragmatism, I was reminded of Louis Menand's study, "The Metaphysical Club."The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America


Robin Friedman

This will not be a review in any traditional sense. This is actually being written as I have just read RESET and, were I in charge, so to speak, would be mandatory reading for perhaps anyone from the age of 13. The fact that the book is only some 74 pages, is a super easy read, etc, makes me only wonder why there are often dozens and sometimes hudreds of reviews of far less important and less entertaining pieces of fiction and non-fiction.

I just want you, if you got this far in my note, here, to go up to the top and click "order" today -- if you have kids, friends, associates, relatives or even above average intelligence pets, buy some extra copies.

This book along with The Forgotten Man (totally a different kind of read) and The Great Crash of 1929 are absolutely must reads.

What are you waiting for?

Kurt Andersen has written a manual for any and all Americans to read that should open their eyes to the poor state of the American government and economy. He outlines the ingredients we as American need to hold to in restarting our country after this disastrous two years that have brought our nation to its' knees. We must maintain dominance at home and abroad. This is an easy read.

No matter how little time you have available for reading, you're likely to find the time to read the 70 or so pages of Kurt Anderson's new book, Reset: How This Crisis Can Restore Our Values and Renew America. Anderson proposes that we have a window of opportunity in the current financial crisis to carefully reset our values, both personally and communally, to make different choices going forward. He delivers his optimistic message stridently with clear opinions that can border on the preachy. He gets his message across quickly, and that left me with plenty of time to reflect on his message, and to think about my own values and the degree to which I may have drifted from the values I hold.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)

The author expresses his belief in America's ability to recover and come back stronger but different. Americans are pragmatic and resilient. We have recovered from disasters and then moved on up many times before. The "Keys to Renewal" this time are immigration, technology and "The Amateur Spirit" (that is, passionate amateurs like Benjamin Franklin will step forward to pull us out of this current mess). The author is wise. In his essay he does not put a time line on his rosy look into the future.

Americans today, in this eloquent but meaningless dirge that is a prime symbol of the problems afflicting this society, are "childish, irresponsible, willfully oblivious, fat and happy."

"Oh, Grow up!" is the typically Canadian response to immaturity. Americans respond with an equally significant, "Whatever floats your boat." Canadians advocate greater maturity, Americans blithely accept the irresponsibility that created the present problems.

Anderson is competent at assessing the many ills of American society, asserting "What do the naughtiest children do? They scream and cry and exaggerate, like Glenn Beck." The reality is that Beck inspires more listeners every day than this litany of woe will reach in its short lifespan.

Is that a problem? America has always been plagued by charlatans who thrive on a brief spell of notoriety and then quietly vanish; it has also been driven by pragmatic entrepreneurs who create new opportunities. Henry Ford, a century ago, figured out how to apply quality to mass production of a new product, and thus changed the world.

During the past decade, Jeff Bezos created a new means to sell products based on ink and ground-up trees. It's a nice start. He then figured out how to use an electronic tablet about the size of this book to vastly and instantly expand access to information. This desire for instant information, according to Anderson, is to ". . . fully satisfy the permanent child within each of us -- the impulsive child with zero tolerance for waiting." So, it's childish to use a Kindle? I think not.

As a child of the 1930s, I prefer ink on paper. On June 12, my television went silent. I've no cell phone or PDA. I'm learning silver smithing instead of tweeting or texting. But I'm awed by those who easily run circles around me in acquiring information; they will create the future, an always receding goal. The future always devises better ways to deliver the products, services and information that a society deems necessary. It has done so for thousands of years.

Excess is always curbed or crushed. Cheap gin was an early Industrial Revolution evil, equivalent to cheap credit of recent years. This book is a Hogarth-like portrayal of the cheap credit tragedy. Anderson assumes society will correct itself, but he offers no ideas.

In brief, it's all bun and no beef. The "bun" is first rate and deserves five stars; the "beef" is missing, which is why I gave it one star. If a choice was necessary, I'd prefer an all-beef burger.

The problem is obvious, which is why Barack Obama was elected and John McCain didn't have a chance. The solution is elusive, which is why we need books that offer solutions instead of chronic complaints.