Book Review
Early on in journalist Clark Humphrey’s refreshing new book, The MISCosity Manifesto: A Guide to Flowing Smoothly Through an Ultra-Complex World, he quotes F. Scott Fitzgerald:
“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.”
The second half of that quotation is pretty clearly the underlying premise of Humphrey’s book. It’s a non-linear, richly illustrated and footnoted presentation of the author’s extensive knowledge of philosophy, history, politics, and pop culture. Each two-page spread (a “mini-essay”) takes on a topic. My favorites include “More Dada, Less Data,” “The Futile Wish for Order,” “Turn Off the Dark,” and “Dance Me to the End of Love”). And Humphrey doesn’t just take on a topic, he opens the topic and lets ideas pour into the reader’s mind. “Make Your Own Utopia” starts with Sir Thomas More, covers Callenbach’s Ecotopia, and ends with the ongoing journeys of the Star Trek shows.
You’ll come away with something fresh to think about, talk about, or act on (and, if you’re a writer, think of each spread as a juicy prompt to inspire your own work). You might be even able to understand opinions from “the other side” of a topic a bit better.
I’m reading a lot of articles and books about political dystopias and resistance these days (as well as getting ready to publish my own book of resistance short stories). The MISCosity Manifesto is the book doing the most for my spirit.
