Knowing I would have a 90 minute bus ride back from Incheon airport in Korea after taking my sister Kila to the airport after her Christmas 2009 visit, I brought along 3 Christmas presents; all books. I started "The Death of Adam" pessimistically, since I got mired half way through the author's Pulitzer prize winning "Gilead" 3 years ago. But the opening chapter on "Darwinism" captured my attention (study of evolution and its evidence is one of my hobbies). Powerfully written; critical; thoughtful; perhaps a rational polemic almost. It is a chapter I plan to reread this year.
The balance of the book was criticisms of modern thought' specifically lack of historical literacy and apathy toward constructive criticism. This book helped prepare my mind to make thoughtfulness, clarity and openness my goals as a teacher and colleague this semester at GSIS.