Summit

“Read” (audiobook) this for a book club I recently joined with some friends and I was surprised at how much I ended up enjoying it. I like Trevor Noah but never felt inclined to learn more about him or his life. I loved his narration of the book and thought it added a lot to the overall enjoyment, so I would highly recommend listening to it as an audiobook if possible.

The book itself revolves around Trevor's youth growing up in apartheid South Africa with his African mother and the trials they faced during that era. He talks about growing up as mixed race (his father was a Swedish expat) during a time where it was illegal to be mixed and the challenges it presented to him and his family. His experience resonated with me since there were a lot of similarities in my own life growing up as an outsider in suburban Georgia being the only Indian person among a community of whites and blacks.

It's a fairly short read and worth picking up if you're looking for something that is on the lighter side but still highly informative about apartheid. I did not know much about the subject apart from apartheid existed, Nelson Mandela happened, and then it didn't. Trevor does not pull punches about the realities he faced so you really feel for his position, but he also manages to help you understand his experience through his humor so you're not feeling guilty or sorry for him throughout the book.

Read this in a single afternoon. While it has some good messaging (be more thoughtful and critical about humanity's impact on the Earth) it's not as mind blowing as I expected. Additionally it has some problematic messaging as well. If you're the type of person who equates “natural = good”, then you'll enjoy this book immensely. However, if you're someone who's able to take a step back and do some critical thinking, you'll quickly find that this book is extremely shallow and only a worthwhile read if you're a teenager or a sheltered (probably white) person.

There's a line in the book about how the narrator wishes Ishmael had reached him when he was 15 years younger, and that basically sums up how I feel about this book. This is perfect for someone in high school who is still learning about many of the topics covered, but there was very little new information presented to me as I approach 30.

Additionally, I have two big issues with this book. One being the dismissal of Eastern ideologies and the very Western focused assumptions made about the narrator (who is a stand in for the reader). This might have made sense in the 70s when this was originally conceived or even the 90s when it was published (which is the version I read), but is outdated by 2020 standards. I can give this a pass for the most part because it's from a different time.

However, my bigger issue is with the writing itself. There's this constant repetition of repeating back previous lines over and over to the narrator. Ishmael will say something, the narrator will say he doesn't understand, and beyond a few times where Ismael launches into a story to try and convey the information in a different way, he essentially just repeats what he said as he guides the narrator through the same thought process with more pauses and breaks. While I understand this is the Socratic method of teaching (and maybe even a stylistic choice since this story begins with a teacher seeking a pupil), it is still a bore to read. Especially when there is little to no new information being presented to me.

Is the book a decent introduction to ecology, mindfulness, and philosophy? Does the book tell us how we got to our current state of affairs in a capitalistic society that consumes without thinking but fails to provide any real solutions on how to fix all of it? Does Ishamel advocate for the mass genocide of people by starving them out to reach some misguided notion of “balance” in nature? Are you the type of person who will become an anti-vax mom who only eats organic and romanticizes the hard and cruel life of hunter-gatherers from millennia past?

Absolutely.

I don't think this book has aged well. I think I heard that he recently released a new version that is more up to date. That being said, I think there's some good knowledge to be gained here. Unfortunately, I felt as though I already knew most of what he was discussing through my own personal productivity quest. I think the biggest gains to be had were the examples and how to actually go about implementing a system to have a more productive life. I would probably recommend the newer version so the examples are more up to date.

The book starts off slowly, setting things up and relaying the novel to you in an unconventional way that is tough to get past at first. But once you're past the first 50 or so pages, it all starts coming together and creates a gripping story that pays off for the rest of it. I had to knock off 1/2 a star for the rough start, but other than that it's easy to see why this is hailed as one of, if not the, most influential sci-fi novels of all time.

Also, I killed a book club I joined by recommending Dune even though everyone at the time seemed very excited to read it. All except one couldn't get past the rough period, and even she hasn't finished the last third of the book. I guess covid-19 played a part in most of them abandoning it, but I think the real takeaway is don't recommend meaty fiction to a book club.

A lot of people have an issues with the whole “white savior” trope that is apparent in this book, but if you learn a little about context in which Dune was conceived and what the future entries in the series do, it's all a set up for the ultimate downfall of Paul. It reminds me a lot of Ender's Game in this way, where the first book paves the way for the real story the author wants to tell.