In praise of failure Four lessons in humility

This book is filled with paradoxical stories about the writings and lives of such famous people as Simone Weil, Mohandas Gandhi, E. M. Cioran, George Orwell, Osamu Dazai, Yukio Mishima, and the Roman philosopher Seneca. Each had an uncanny, almost mad, obsession with death or extreme poverty as sources of genuine meaning in life. Many, seeking humility, wrote copiously about their own faults. An author and literary reviews editor, Brădăţan (Texas Tech Univ.) here presents a "failure-based therapy" that stresses the fragility of human life and the reality of inevitable demise. Such reframing of expectations, he posits, can provide the "existential awakening" necessary for authentic self-knowledge. The denizens of this book all struggled to embrace failure in ways that would shock those whose lives have become routine and stultified while lived in denial of death. Brădăţan argues that such people, lacking authentic self-knowledge, seek meaning in self-worship, consumerism, the need to be better than others, and the naïve acceptance of the monstrous lies of demagogues. Quoting G. K. Chesterton, the author notes that "when people stop believing in God, it's not that they believe in nothing, it's that they believe in anything" (p. 79). Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. General readers. --Sheila Ann Mason, emerita, Concordia University

Achievement culture is overrated, argues philosopher Bradatan (The God Beat) in this sobering takedown. He posits that "how we relate to failure defines us" and suggests that personal imperfections, the dissolution of political systems, and awareness of mortality ("the ultimate failure") engender humility, which can kickstart a process of transformation and betterment. Case studies in failure include how French philosopher Simone Weil's clumsiness meant she was unable to meet quotas at her factory jobs, which inadvertently showed "how to break the deadening patterns" of modern life that treat people like machines. Ancient Athenian democracy, Bradatan posits, built humility into their political system through the practice of voting out citizens thought to be on their way to demagoguery, an acknowledgement of the danger posed by voters' susceptibility to failures of reason. Other anecdotes discuss the disappointment of the 1917 Russian Revolution, Gandhi's inauspicious academic record, and Romanian philosopher E.M. Cioran's principled idleness, pointing toward the conclusion that the "more you fail, the better your chance to realize your worth." The ideas are boldly counterintuitive, and the illuminating historical examples complicate what it means to succeed. This is, ironically enough, a triumph. (Jan.)