Title: The Character Gap: How Good Are We?
Author: Christian B Miller
Published: 1st Dec 2017
Hello my fellow Bookworms and page turners,
Today we are taking a break from my usual fiction and high fantasy reading, to something a little more real and considerably more heavy, I am of course am talking about Christian M Miller’s case study heavy, psychological insight into the human character.
Despite the subject matter, It was surprisingly wide in its approach. With an even mix of psychology and philosophy, and even trying to recover some theology towards the end. Two important points are highlighted throughout the book. The first that it’s important to develop moral character, and second that our moral character is likely a mix of good and bad.
It all seems rather obvious on the surface, but I assure you that the outcome of this work is not quite as black and white as you may think.
For me the most memorable part of the book was the section that focused on what a morally good person would do. As we all know there are times that we should do a particular action, but we are not always inclined to do so. We may end up doing it, but purely out of a sense of duty. He reminds us, however, that this is not how we percieve our role models. Their act comes naturally, and they wouldn’t have to win an internal struggle, or would they?
After we have weighed the good the bad and the ugly of the human character condition. The book then deals with the actual practices of becoming a better person. I found this well done, and brought things to a particular conclusion that im not entirely sure I agree with, but for the most part it was an interesting read. However, all in all it was fairly one-dimensional, and I would not use it as a foundational book for ethics or character analysis.
Until next time, read more books!
Between|the|Blurb 