From Freud’s strata of id-ego-superego to the more modern “marshmallow testing” of our youngest, self-control has long been a struggle of our race. It seems we’re constantly battling between what we know to be right and what we want that isn’t, despite the well-known consequences of that lost hour on Facebook or that extra cookie after dinner.
But how can we conjure up restraint in a world that seems tailored to excess and consumption? In his new book We Have Met The Enemy: Self-Control In An Age of Excess, author Daniel Akst claims to have the answers.
Like most self-help books, Akst’s analyzes the research done by his contemporaries and offers a potpourri of analysis and answers that wouldn’t surprise any reader who’s taken basic psychology, sociology or econ class. According to Akst, we give in to temptation because our best interests are constantly one-upped by our pesky hormones and our taste for indulgences.
Yet Akst never specifically underlines the steps one could take in aiming towards greater control – instead, he leaps haphazardly between “Jeopardy!”-esque categories of intellect, which makes We Have Met The Enemy feel less like a book and more like a marathon game of Trivial Pursuit.
Amidst the muck of seemingly random associations, Akst repeatedly refers to one famed Greek hero to look to in the fight against ourselves: Odysseus. Akst praises Odysseus’ self-control in the face of the lusty female Sirens in completing his goal of returning to his wife and homeland. While Odysseus is certainly an admirable historical model, one has to wonder how he might have been diverted from his path if it had been wrought with McDonald’s and free Wi-Fi instead of Apollo’s cows and Calypso’s den.
In the end, Akst might have been a more reliable guide if he himself had listened to his own advice; in several chapters he begins by maligning his own tendencies to procrastinate writing the very book itself.
A few other books to help you keep your resolutions this year (unlike last year):
Eat This, Not That! by David Zinczenko
Zinczenko analyzes all aspects of what can sometimes seem to be a jungle of culinary choices we have today in America, and he does so in a way that’s both easily accessible and immeasurably useful. The amount of calories hidden in some seemingly innocuous foods are truly terrifying – while, on the other hand, that lone scoop of ice cream might not be as evil as you expect.
The 4-Hour Body by Timothy Ferriss
Where Zinczenko’s book can be used as a “how-to” guide, Ferriss’ might be seen as a “how-not-to,” or at the very least a great lesson in keeping one’s ego in check. Concoctions of strange oils and vegetables along with curious exercise regimens are the bread and butter of Ferriss’ dubious self-help book, the worst part of which is Ferriss’ detailed descriptions of his vivacious sexuality. You’ve been warned.
Cultural Amnesia by Clive James
If one of your goals in 2011 is to explore a bit more intellectually, look no further than James’ exhaustive and charming encyclopedia of forgotten cultural figures across the globe. James is a stunningly charismatic writer, covering topics from women’s underwear (Coco Chanel) to the impossibility of the translation of poetry (Marcel Proust).
This was originally published in The Current, a weekly supplement to The Daily Northwestern.
