Suicide as Ontology

…the question is not whether we have enough people to make the world a better place but rather whether we have enough people who will know the difference.”  So closes an early chapter in Mr. Galvin’s book, summing best the author’s idiosyncratic view of civilization.   This collection of essays strolls through twenty years of observations and ruminations, sometimes cynical, sometimes whimsical, and dances from amusing to poignant.

Mr. Galvin examines ‘covert elitism’, a philosophy scrutinizing the gulf between people who are wrong but insist they are right and people who are right but wish they were wrong.  Through the lenses of ethics, economics, sociology, art, religion, atheism, history, literature, and politics – along with plentiful citations from philosophers throughout history – these essays enlighten and entertain.  He shows us in an unusual way that the journey, not the destination, is the important thing, but all the while reminding us one still does need a destination in order to have a journey.

This book is available at East Village Bookstores