After a very relaxing and refreshing day in the Crowsnest Pass, I managed to spend an hour in the evening with the Non Zero book.

Chapter 5 was titled, "War: What is it Good For?". Fascinating. Here is the author's main point:

• War, by making fates more shared, by manufacturing non-zero-sumness, accelerates the evolution of culture toward deeper and vaster social complexity (p. 56)

He makes it sound like we are so fortunate to have a waring nature. This is the first time I have seen someone put a genuinely positive spin on the value of war. I hope he comes back to this theme again, since it deserves a much more thorough treatment.

He has accomplished the primary purpose for a book I am reading, which is to "make me think". This is quite different than reading about Ancient Greece, where my effort is largely spent trying to organize and remember the key events, people and places in a chronological timeline. Although in both cases, the primary effort is directed toward understanding: Do I see the pattern in the Ancient Greek history, do I see the logic of Wright's argument? Does it make sense? Evaluating and judging comes later. The first goal is understanding.