A Book A week #49-Utopia

I am an optimist.  Many of you are too, I would bet (see how that works).  Sometimes, when I have something coming up, like a home improvement project, I think ahead to what it will actually be like.  What usually happens is I get frustrated because the reality is not like my vision and I’ve made three more trips to Home Depot and spent twice as much as I had planned.

I think More was an optimist.  His description of the perfect society looks great on paper with a cursory reading, but is not only optmistic, but also unrealistic.  He paints a civilization that seems free of normal human vices like greed, and seems to make the claim that penalties, laws, and proper training can remove these  things from humanity.

It’s an interesting book and I’m glad I read it.  I can see how it might influence some to try to create a utopian society, but it is incredibly flawed.  As satire, it works pretty well in how it pokes fun at some of the European culture and leaders of the time, and there were some decent ideas on how to do things, but I found most of it to be fantasy, and not the good kind.

Keep Reading.