Review by Choice Review
Irvine (Wright State) offers a solid exposition on the origin and nature of desire. Included is a discussion of the role that the biological incentive system exhibits through the process of natural selection in orchestrating one's desire. Without sounding deterministic, Irvine argues that people can create a "life plan" that will "thwart" their "evolutionary master" and free them from the tyranny of being ruled solely by their passions. To this end, he discusses various ideologies; however, what is delightful about this book is that the usual suspects are not as conspicuous. Instead, the Shakers are discussed alongside Buddha, and Diogenes adjacent to Thoreau. While not endorsing any one life plan, Irvine presents the expected thesis that money and success do not create happiness, but can accompany it as an aftereffect. Contentment is the ultimate goal, defined as being happy with what one has. Although not as bracing and challenging as Aristotle's theory of eudaimonia, it nonetheless follows logically as the most an organic evolutionary entity can achieve: stasis. With clear writing, backed up by careful exegesis and a unique twist to a common thesis, this work is necessary for most undergraduate collections, and for students of philosophy and happiness. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty. S. J. Shaw Prairie View A&M University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
In a ruminative volume that falls, thankfully, between mass-market, silver-bullet self-help guide and unreadable thesis, Irvine, a professor of philosophy at Wright State University, carefully, with intelligence and good humor, walks readers through the nature of desire in human beings. He explains how desire--really a multitude of desires, uninvited and unannounced--manifests itself, how it can be identified and parsed, and how it can be mastered in a way that offers the best chance at self-fulfillment. He uses modern psychology to delineate desire but then shows how the world's great religions--here mainly Christianity and Buddhism, but also Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism--address this phenomenon. He advocates no particular approach, admitting instead that different tacks probably work for different people. And he never lets the reader think that mastering desire will be easy. This is that rare book that should appeal to a wide range of readers without necessarily trying to do so. --Alan Moores Copyright 2005 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
While most contemporary philosophers mull over theoretical matters and shy away from giving advice on how to live, Irvine plumbs the age-old question: how do we master our desires? When it comes to desire, he says, "we are like a vacation home owner who, regardless of who shows up at the door... welcomes the visitor and convinces himself that he must have invited the visitor." Our evolutionary past, Irvine claims, has wired us for endless dissatisfaction since, from an evolutionary standpoint, it doesn't matter if we're miserable as long as we survive and reproduce. Early humans who basked in contentment, he argues, were less likely to survive than ones with a nagging itch to better their lot. Given this treadmill, how can we lead happy, meaningful lives? Irvine shares the advice of those who claim that "undesirable desires arise because we care what other people think of us." Examining teachings of Zen Buddhists, the Amish, the Hutterites, Hellenistic philosophers (the Stoics, Epicureans and Skeptics) and others, he concludes, "the best way to gain... lasting satisfaction... is to change not the world and our position in it but ourselves... we should work at wanting what we already have." This is no easy task, and Irvine admits that readers seeking further instruction had best look elsewhere. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Irvine (philosophy, Wright State Univ.) believes that while some desires develop from our rational concerns, others simply appear unbidden-and those are by no means restricted to our natural appetites and bodily responses. Here he explores desire through discussions of psychology, "biological incentive," "the human condition," religion, and philosophy. His account of "religious advice," particularly the long discussion about such Protestant sects as Mennonites, Shakers, and others who specialize in controlling and reducing desire, is the most interesting. The philosophers whose teachings he examines include the Stoics and Epicureans; Zen Buddhists get a brief mention as well. This is a sprightly and entertaining book, but readers will wonder whether they have fallen into a philosophers' game. On the face of it, the itch for ice cream, the lust aroused by a Vegas showgirl, and the search for the beatific vision do not have much in common except that they can all be lumped together by the word desire. Are pangs of hunger and impulses to the good connected by anything more than a word? Still, those who would like to understand and control some of their desires will be glad to find this book on the library shelf.-Leslie Armour, Dominican Coll. of Philosophy & Theology, Ottawa (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
