15 Books - Part 3 of 5

Hamlet - William Shakespeare

The Holy Bible

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion - Robert Cialdini

Hamlet - William Shakespeare

There's a "joke" that goes something like this.

A group of (tenured) English professors was sitting around, drinking (of course), and hit upon a game. Each of them would call out a significant book of English literature they'd never read, and try to outdo each other. One calls out "Huckleberry Finn!", which gets some chuckles and smattered applause. (See Death of a Salesman entry. One calls out "Mansfield Park!" which gets some oohs and even more applause. They continue, until finally someone shouts "Hamlet!". There is stunned silence. The very next day, the professor finds he is fired.


So much has been written about Hamlet. Here's some more to put on the crap pile.

I like Shakespeare, much as one, in polite company, likes politics but won't argue about it, is well-to-do but doesn't discuss money, and is humble, but with little to be humble about. In other words, I like selected works, but haven't devoted a large amount of time to analyzing it. Maybe that's the genius of Shakespeare - both sophisticated analysts and we groundlings can appreciate him. I think someone made an argument saying that The Simpsons was the intellectual and cultural heir to Shakespeare's plays, in that they combine some sophistication with bawdy humor such that there's something for everyone to love (or hate). His Sonnets are wonderful; I hope to be so madly in love, or at least mad, that I etch "Sonnet 29" in its entirety in a vast field with lye.

But Hamlet, I think, taps a more sinister part of my nature. I love revenge tragedies. I know Titus Andronicus isn't a "great" play, but it's got some wonderful soliloquies, and of course, a brutal and bloody finale. Julie Taymor's production, starring Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange, is highly recommended if you've got a strong constitution for gore and disgustingness.

Hamlet, though, touches upon pretty mundane stuff when you think about it. Tons of people have horrible stepparents, and start hating their remaining parent for shacking up with the ass. Almost everyone has been betrayed by friends, and the really unfortunate have suffered conspiratorial betrayal at the hands of friends and family. Most of us love the concept of a sidekick/buddy, even if not all of us have one as competent, trustworthy, or respectable as Horatio. Most of us have thought about killing ourselves in the face of seemingly endless sorrow. But few, if any of us, have fought with such cleverness and, ultimately, violence, that we destroy practically everything in our vengeance.

Maybe admiration for Hamlet is about vicarious living as beautiful prose. I know when I get pissed off, I'm not quite as articulate as Hamlet when he tells Polonious to f*** off. (II, ii, 215-217)

The important, albeit infrequent, impact of Hamlet in my life comes as much from the performances I've seen. I've yet to see Mel Gibson's version, and I might keep it that way. I did see Ethan Hawke's version, and thought it was an interesting if weird attempt to bring Hamlet to 21st century audiences. I really liked Kenneth Brannagh's version, I liked it enough to seek out just about everything Shakespearean done by Brannagh, including productions of Henry V and Othello. I haven't seen the version of Much Ado About Nothing. Interesting side note: He plays the villainous Professor Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Totally missed that.

To this day, one of the best gifts I ever got was the aging VHS copy of Brannagh's Hamlet from my sophomore English teacher.

Anyway, yeah, it's important.

First read in 1998.

The Holy Bible

I think if we thought about it, this book would be on everyone's list. No one has been untouched by it, for good or ill. It is possibly the single sacred text that has had the most impact on Earth, though I'll admit a safer claim would be to say that it, combined with the Qu'ran, the Torah and the holy Vedas might be the most influential quartet.

I personally have been shaped by scripture. I grew up in a churchgoing family, with a number of conservative Christian members. I worked with a number of Christian volunteer organizations. I read the Old Testament as a personal project, though foolishly I stopped at Malachi (end of Old Testament). I've read the New Testament in its entirety, though over the course of many years and in a somewhat haphazard manner. One scripture that, somehow, carried itself in my memory these many years is Deuteronomy 24:16.

Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their parents; only for their own crimes may persons be put to death. (NRSV)

The world would be a better place if we'd remember that character, not genetics, determines outcomes.

In my experience, many zealots (both of the religious and atheistic types) do not know their history well. The history of the Holy Bible itself is quite complicated, and Christianity in general is maddeningly large and convoluted. I got parts of my Biblical/Christian history lesson in two college courses, one titled "History of Rome and the Early Church", and the second titled "History of Europe: Rome to 1648". In it, we covered a lot of good and evil that was done in God's name, or His Son's, or the Holy Father's. If nothing else, it would leave one with a renewed sense of the power of this book, and the often complicated motivations of those who act based upon their interpretation of it.

Whatever one's personal views/identity on religion, I think one has to admire the tremendous organizing power religion in general, and Christianity in particular, has had on the world.

First read God knows when. :)

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion - Robert Cialdini

I love thinking about how people think. Maybe it's inspired by a personal history where psychology played a significant role. Maybe it's out of a feeling of weakness/vulnerability, as only children are wont to feel. But I'd like to think it's for positive reasons that I'm drawn to books about social psychology. I especially like applied behavioral psychology, since I feel that this provides the best clue to understanding human behavior (the chief observable we've got).

I liken this book to The Prince (which narrowly missed this list). The author holds a dual professorship in the Psychology and Marketing departments at the University of Arizona. And while written as a way to defend against marketing, it can clearly be used as a training tool to learn how to influence others.

Cialdini lists six weapons of influence. They are: reciprocation, commitment and consistency, social proof, authority, liking, and scarcity. All have been used to motivate, deter, coax, or otherwise influence individuals and groups to do things they might not ordinarily do.

I think I especially like this book because it has given me an insight into why I fall for certain tricks. I've been victim to all six weapons, and, if I examine my history and how I live, probably have used all six, with varying degrees of competence and success, to influence others. Whenever I meet a psychology major and we start talking about what they like, if they seem at all behaviorally inclined, I recommend this book.

First read in 2008.