Quite dated, but interesting.

Soyinka encapsulates the collage of fears that grips humanity- from the mundane to the pinnacle of power.

He carefully dissected the dialectics of power as it affects even the holder himself.

The 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th lectures are very captivating for me. But the 5th lecture is the pressing thing for me. Here, he questions the US role in Iraq, as well as its dearth of philosophical thinkers "despite its reserves of original thinkers".

He also placed Bush and Bin Laden on the same fanatical scale- an assertion that many may not take.

In all, a very engaging series of lectures.

Some words are enough to create the climate of fear by themselves and in his genius work Soyinka underlined many of them. I strongly recommend this book for those who would like to see the world in detail.

Soyinka has been called one of "The Three" outstanding figures in modern African literature (the others being Chinua Achebe - also from Nigeria - and Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, of Kenya. If it were up to me, I would include Cheikh Hamidou Kane, from Senegal, as Fourth). As such, I thought it would be worth seeing what he had to say about the world's current state of affairs ("Climate" was published in '05). I was right.

The author makes a convincing case against extremists of both the political and religious spheres, and calls on good people of every persuasion to fight for human dignity by opposing such zealots. Reminding us of the dangers of certain religious and political rhetoric, he captivatingly traces the evolution (or should I say, "evilution") of extremist thought that has gone from a dialogue in which those holding differing viewpoints might say, "I am right, you are wrong" to the viperous monologue that announces, "I am right; you are dead," and then make their words reality. Using multiple instances from the news and from his own life - and he is no stranger to persecution by those who inflict suffering, fear, and death to silence any ideological dissident - Soyinka paints a stirring picture - startling, but not without hope - of the fear-filled climate of most or all of the world's nations.

I must admit that I was let down by what I felt were some one-sided or simplistic, or even outright wrong, conclusions on the part of Soyinka (such as the oft-repeated accusation that President Bush knew there were no WMDs in Iraq, and attack for reasons that were spurious at best - an accusation that discounts the intelligence of France, Germany, Russia, and England that supported President Bush's assessment; or how he didn't give religion, whatever the variety, the credit it deserves for improving the world in many ways); however, on the whole, I came away with a greater sense of urgency in opposing those whose values are based on gaining and maintaining power over others, using murder as a casual tool in their quest to dominate, as well as a clearer vision of what is to be done about such fearmongers. I am certainly glad I read the book. I will read it again, and recommend it heartily to you.

Ah-Mahzing. Profound.

Soyinka's fight for humanity is commendable. He talked about fear and the most egregious form of fear is the one that strips us of our dignity.

La idea original de poder explicar cómo por medio de diferentes estrategias o época, las personas realizan diferentes actos para generar miedo o sin darse cuenta lo hacen para conseguir algo a cambio

Se me hizo muy pesado el libro

The lectures that make up this book encourage the reader to seek to assess current situations as accurately as possible and not be cowered by "the guilt-ridden avoidance language of political correctness."

One of the best things I've read on the state of our anxiety in the world today and the manipulation and use of power to dominate and control the lives of others.