Books I Have Read Myself Redux

Long ago, I posted about a distinction between books I have read versus books I have read myself.  The idea is I could have opinions and knowledge about what a book says without reading it, which is distinct from a book I actually read.  I have been thinking about this today because of a kerfuffle on twitter--a guy at a think tank criticized a woman's book for winning an award from the American Political Science Association without reading the book.

Somebody called me out on my assertion that "if you want to criticize something, read it first."  And, yeah, I have been guilty of criticizing stuff that I haven't read.  Mostly policy plans of politicians that I have only read summaries or reporting, but the occasional book as well.  Well, to be clear, I'll refer to the Robert Kaplan Rule--that I will trash any book that Robert Kaplan writes without reading it.  Why?  Because I am very familiar with his approach, and his work always sucketh mightily.

But the Kaplan example illustrates a key thing--that while I should probably read everything I criticize, when I violate that rule, I do so only by punching upwards.  Not sideways and never down (as far as I can recall).   While I may have twitter-argued with folks who are junior to me, I hope that I never blasted their work or them without taking seriously their arguments, their stances.  I am not perfect, I have a lousy memory, and I sometimes shoot quickly.  But I also apologize quickly.

The thing is--I don't really read as much as I should, especially books outside my narrow research agenda and articles in the various journals.  So, if I blast anything that is written, the odds are I haven't read it.  So, this situation may lead me to being a bit more restrained.

I have already found that having a new leadership position--Director of the Canadian Defence and Security Network--has caused me to pause and not hit the send button on a number of tweets.  Oh, I still  scream about Donald Trump and am critical of the government and of the opposition and, well, lots of actors.  But I think I am dialing things back a smidge.  And maybe not criticizing things I haven't read is a good step--except when it comes to Robert Kaplan and his dreck.


Note: there were probably other dynamics in today's controversy--gender, think tank dweller vs. professors, etc.