Truth Imagined
by Eric Hoffer
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Book Summary Information
Author: Eric HofferEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-12-25
ISBN: 1933435011
Number of pages: 120
Publisher: Hopewell Publications
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9781933435015
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Truth Imagined
Book Review: Fascinating and inspiring in some ways, but also rather sad
Summary: 4 Stars
This short autobiographical memoir can be read in one sitting and, for me, the experience was much like watching a movie: fascinating episodic stories, manifestations of the man's character, occasional profound observations regarding the ways of the world, but always an incomplete outsider's perspective preventing us from really getting inside and grasping what made the man tick. Yet even with this limitation, we witness an interesting case study of how a person's life can unfold when restless rootlessness is combined with an innate passion to learn and understand and become something worthwhile.
To very briefly sketch his story, Eric Hoffer lost his mother and vision while a young child, regained his vision as a teenager, lost his father not much later, and spent the remaining decades of his life as a migrant worker and longshoreman, all the while reading voraciously in various fields (math, science, history, classic novels, Montaigne, etc.) but never receiving formal education. He almost committed suicide at one point, but aborted the attempt just in time. He never married or had children, and he fell in love once, but his insecurity and his inability to put down roots compelled him to abandon that relationship, a decision which he always regretted and which permanently wounded his heart and spirit. All of this culminated in his writing several books, including his classic The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements (Perennial Classic.), which established him as a thinker worth taking seriously.
The positive aspect of Hoffer's story is that his unusual background, tied mostly to manual labor and the underclass rather than ivory towers and polite society, enabled him to come up with a variety of original psychological and sociological insights which we're still mining even today. This accomplishment is inspiring for anyone who strives to be self-educated - or, more precisely, educated in a self-directed manner drawing on both books written by others and one's personal experiences.
But the negative and sad aspect is that he ultimately didn't look back on his life as a happy one. What he achieved came at the expense of not having truly meaningful and lasting human relationships, and he felt himself to be a tourist in this world rather than someone who really belonged here. He reveled in his physical and mental powers, but he also perpetually struggled with feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness. A part of him wanted to be remembered and respected, but he couldn't really enjoy his accomplishments because his underclass background made him reflexively dismiss such feelings as vain and pretentious. And I was also surprised to see that Hoffer had essentially no interest in spiritual matters, which suggests that his curiosity was intense but also quite bounded; for example, in discussing the Old Testament, he expresses fascination with the richness of the lives which are depicted, but he entirely ignores its metaphysical dimensions!
Many people have put Hoffer on a pedestal, perhaps even as a model to emulate in some ways, but I can't help but wonder what more he might have accomplished and how much happier he might have been if his life hadn't been deprived in so many ways. If you're intrigued enough to read this book, I recommend reading it to see examples of not only the potentials but also the perils of living an atypical and fairly narrow life.
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