Money is a subject which tends to blur our awareness of our private lives, our professional careers and social problems as well. For instance, here, in Brasil, the government rates money as the most important national problem. Maybe this is how it should be, maybe not...
When I lecture, teach or write about business management, I try to show people that money is something that has to be dealt with, but is not everything. It is not easy, because there is a tendency to radicalism: some people (the so called materialists) think money is everything, while others think money is secondary.
Needleman's book performs an alchemical transformation, showing how money can be changed into a means to human development. This miracle can be performed if we increase our awareness of its role in our lives.
This book is everything a good philosophy book should be: it is pleasat to read and maintains the reader curious until the last page. It is clearly written, but faces the difficult questions, for which there are no easy answers. It contains references for peole who want to go further into the ideas it presents.
This is one of Needleman's best accomplished books!
The book is strongly based in traditional philosophy as the author attempts to clarify, sythesize, and interpret classic works that support (or can be made to support) his premise. In some instances there is inadeqate discussion of the philosophical context on which the arguments are based. A portion of the work is a narrative which I found distracting. The book is an attempt to present a philosophical treatise to non-philosophers - perhaps the author should have either written an academic text or resigned himself to more adequately developing his thesis in the beginning with more limited supporting material.
Overall this is a provocative book for those who are searching to resolve the apparent conflicts between the spiritual and the material. How likely is this to occur in a global economy built on consumerism? An interesting sequel to the work might be an edited volume of articles by economists, sociologists, theologians and anthropologists related to the implications and feasibility of infusing some degree of moderation into this market-oriented world.
The topic, the place of money in the life of the modern thinking person, is a compelling one, and Professor Needleman provides a lucid and intelligent discussion of it in the third part of the book, beginning at chapter 21. Unfortunately, you will gain nothing more by reading the first 20 chapters, which consist of undisciplined ramblings by an author who considers himself charismatic. It is as if they were written by a totally different person.
