Ego, the book

To post, or not to post, that is the question.

Was the question.

One of the best German non-fiction books you'll never read -- because it is in German -- is the book "Ego, the game of life" by the editor of conservative German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

The K-Landnews team always finds it pleasant to witness the expansion of somebody's views, and Mr. Schirrmacher, the author of the treatise, appears to have come from a staunchly conservative point to something more comprehensive.

At times, some writing projects end up at the opposite end of the spectrum. Take Mr. Sarrazin, who used to be a respected politician and banker. Then he wrote a doom and gloom book about Germany, along the lines of "way too many immigrants", "way too lazy kids", "way to lazy adults", propelling him to the top of the bestseller list and to riches -- all for just the cost of one man's conscience.

"Ego" describes the monetization of virtually all aspects of life and is not afraid to be pointed and to exaggerate. It's not a happy book.

Needless to say, we do not agree with everything, for instance, the premise "you cannot hide any more".
"Ego" is heavily influenced by the big economic fuckup ca. 2008, and we want to stress how much we love a good crisis because it has the potential to make change for the better possible. Yes, but also change for the worse, as pretty much every German can still tell you - in spite of Mr. Sarrazin's claim of a dumbed down country.

And yikes, we at the K-Landnews seem to pick lots of easy topics -- as we were about to click Publish, Eric. T.  H. published his ZEIT ONLINE column about the German penchant for doom and the American love of success stories.

It is a great read, but we do want to add one damper: if you think the Germans are enamored with doom and gloom, you have not delved into the Russian psyche.

[Update 9/2015] Mr. Schirrmacher has since passed away.