#17 Utopia, Thomas More
book everyones heard of but barely anyone has read. obviously the originator of the term 'utopia' and the description of one such place by a lawyer and statesman. the work itself is not particularly rich in prose but the ideas contained therein are quite illuminating in regards to what an ideal world looked like for that time and writer.
surprisingly almost half of the very-short (140 pages) book is not even about the island of utopia itself, but the discussion between the protagonist and a traveler he met concerning the politics of england of the time, and the ways both of them believe it to be fundamentally flawed. the main complaint is the death penalty, at that time often used as punishment for theft. the shockingly modern-feeling argument is that punishing a crime of desperation with death will not decrease how much people commit it, and can only make them more willing to perform worse crimes in an attempt to evade the law. as an answer to "well, what else can there be done", the traveler recounts a tale of an island nation he lived in for a considerable period of time, the ideal world of utopia where everyone has plenty and crime is almost unthinkable.
so far its almost par for the course, but what i did not expect to see is the writers respect for the natural world and belief in the fact that the distinction between rich and poor is the primary cause for all of the unhappiness in society. on the island of utopia everyone has as much as they need, money does not exist, people swap houses every 10 years, work days are 4 hours long, and gold and pearls are used exclusively to chain slaves and for children to wear. the slaves consist exclusively of people who have broken one of few laws of the nation and people from other nations who have chosen to become utopian slaves because its still a better life than being a normal peasant (lol).
women participate in all aspects of life, the communal eating space is directly next to the hospital so you can hang out until the exact moment youre about to give birth, and religion is based on personal preference but they were really receptive to christian teachings, dont worry. a fascinating tidbit is also that there exists a nation of 'natural warmongers' who sell themselves to wage war for other countries, willing to even kill their own countrymen for money, that are employed by the utopians to defend their nation if necessary 'in ultimate hopes that such a horrid people will in this way die out'.
its a fascinating book that shows that many people 500 years ago still had similar views on what is good and right as we do today. historical relativism makes sense, but the distance we put between ourselves and the 'uncivilized' people of the past is excessive and only serves to pretend that ruling classes then and now arent willing to sacrifice any moral good in the name of personal profits. but it is also quite annoying to read and you wont get much from the book itself that you cant find in the wikipedia article on the book and you can save yourself a few hours of reading.