About the book
Written just before the years of The Idiot, Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov and The Possessed, Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel centers on a nameless and deeply alienated hero. Through brooding self-analysis, he looks for what is true and good in a world where values are relative and absolutes are few. The novel introduces moral, religious, political and social themes that went on to dominate Dostoyevsky's later work, which makes it a natural introduction to his imagination and psychological insight. The edition reprints Constance Garnett's translation with a new introduction.
Jordan B. Peterson included it in his suggested readings for Maps of Meaning. David Heinemeier Hansson called it a lovely, weird book that is partly Dostoyevsky using a fictional narrator to set out his view of the human condition.
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This book has 2 recommendations
David Heinemeier Hansson (Co-Founder/Basecamp)
It’s such a lovely weird book. Partly, it’s Dostoyevsky giving us an account, through the fictional narrator, of his view on the human condition. Just one quote: “But man has such a predilection for systems and abstract deductions that he is ready to distort the truth intentionally, he is ready to deny the evidence of his senses only to justify his logic”. The idea of humans being suckered into living only according to “logic”, and not only the vanity of such a pursuit, but the impossibility of it, is a wonderful antidote to much of contemporary morality and wonkness.
In the same vein, I found the attack on the core underpinning concept of much of 20th century economics, that people are rational beings making rational choices to optimize their own advantage, so forward for its time. Notes from Underground is from 1864, yet manages to expertly debunk that narrow view. Freedom, not material advantage, is the “most advantageous advantage”, even when that’s the freedom to do yourself harm. (Any analysis of Brexit and Trump would do well to consult with Dostoyevsky).
Also, major bonus points for being a short book, yet packing so much punch.
On Jordan B. Peterson’s Maps of Meaning: Suggested Readings & Russian Translation - Jordan Peterson
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