What social differences are still tolerable? Such that they lead to differences in lifestyles only so great that marriages between children from the poorest families and the richest families are conceivable. I am under no illusion that this happens too often and that such cohabitation is easy from the start, but it should be so frequent that it is not considered a sensation.
After all, it is also the case with animals that we know them to be the same species by the fact that they can breed with each other. In humans it is similar – with the caveat that the barriers are not biological but social.
It is also the case with animals that we know them to be the same species by the fact that they can breed with each other. In humans it is similar – with the caveat that the barriers are not biological but social.
That’s what I tried to say, in a nutshell, at yesterday’s launch of my new book, Breaking the Walls Two.
That’s why I’m proud that my books are read by university professors, who describe the reading as great, and that at the same time a substantial proportion of my readers make their living with their hands. Reading Hampl connects people across social classes. Indeed, yesterday’s launch of the new book was no different. University professors, business owners, warehouse workers and saleswomen gathered in the same pub. Of course, there were more of the latter.
When there are contacts and common interests across the strata, people should be able to enrich each other. For example, if someone is an electrician, he knows how to wire, but he also has a lot of practical experience and common sense. Or if you’re a taxi driver. Technologists, on the other hand, know a lot of things about materials, but they also know a lot about physics and chemistry. Medical practitioners know something else entirely. And if one is a professor who has spent thirty years studying anthropology, one sees a lot of connections that others don’t think to consider. Everyone can benefit from the knowledge of others, and it is easy for everyone to improve and learn on their own. But all of this requires mutual respect, so that one doesn’t drop the other’s knowledge in two seconds, saying “if I don’t understand it, it’s all bullshit.” This then in turn leads to an environment where everyone levels up to the level of the weakest, and where the smart ones hide their knowledge so the crowd doesn’t turn on them.
That’s why I’ve never gone for simple conspiracy stories or anything else that “people want to hear.”
Perhaps that respect is evident in my books. I have always respected my readers, and I have always taken it for granted that even those with the least formal education deserve to be held to the same standard as upper-class readers. That’s why I’ve never gone for simple conspiracy stories or anything else that “people want to hear.” Someone will give it to them, get likes, and possibly extract money from those people. I respect them too much to take that kind of communication. And as a completely independent author, I can afford to reject such practices, even if it means I don’t get invited anywhere.
But that doesn’t change the fact that a book should be written in a clear and readable manner. Hopefully, it succeeded this time.
