Five Moral Pieces

Rating:
Summary: Eco fans should wait for the paperback version.
Review: My wife gave me this book as a gift. I love Eco's writings, so I immediately began reading these essays. Be forewarned - if you are an Eco fan, you have probably already seen parts of this book. One of the essays was even included in last year's Belief or Nonbelief?

Wait for the paperback or check this out at the library. Unless you're giving it as a gift, Five Moral Pieces isn't worth the price.

Rating:
Summary: The First is the Best
Review: These are five essays previously written by Eco for various publications. Most of them are of interest to those who study European politics and cultural life. If you are not interested in the Italian press or post WWII Facism in Europe and are not familiar with some of the well known players, parts of these essays will make no sense to you.

However, the first essay, "Reflections on War," is worth the price. This essay was written about the first "gulf" war in Kuwait. Reading in now in a post-Iraq war frame is even more interesting. Eco predicts the neo-conservative view that active imposition of democracy by the developed nations will begin to occur in the middle east and elsewhere and he gives some brillant insight into this thinking.

The other essays have thoughts worth reading even if the topics are not your cup of tea. Like all of Eco's work, this is highly readable and not at all obtuse.

Rating:
Summary: Five Essays Intrigue, But Never Emerge from the Mist
Review: This was the first book by Eco that I've ever read. I was intrigued by the blurb on the back cover: "Eco argues that tolerance is today's ultimate value...Eco reflects on a question underlying all the essays in the book: What does it mean to be moral or ethical when one doesn't believe in God?"

Each of the five essays in this book deals with a discrete theme: pacifism in the abstract, ethics without God, how the media's choice of news stories is a whole spin in itself, how Americans blur diverse ideologies into a single "Fascism," and how tolerance is needed as Europe becomes increasingly multiracial. Since I had bought the book to learn about Eco's moral theory, I was most interested in the first, second, and fifth essays. The other two seemed misplaced. I had never previously given thought to their themes, and so, while they were eye-opening, I wasn't ready to travel with Eco into the deep details of it (such as the fourteen characteristics of Fascism in the popular consciousness). On the other hand, I wished he had gone further into depth in the essays that dealt with peace, morality, and tolerance.

McEwen's translation is elegant, and every now and then a passage spoke to me enough that I wrote it down or, in one case, emailed the quotation to a friend who I thought would be interested. ....

Rating:
Summary: Extremely relevant thought pieces for today's world
Review: While the book is on the pricey side, it contains some extremely relevant thought pieces for our world today.

The essays are meant to provoke further thinking on the subjects rather than provide any pat answers.

The essays on immigration and intolerance and the characteristics of fascism are particularly worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely relevant thought pieces for today's world
Review: While the book is on the pricey side, it contains some extremely relevant thought pieces for our world today.

The essays are meant to provoke further thinking on the subjects rather than provide any pat answers.

The essays on immigration and intolerance and the characteristics of fascism are particularly worth reading.