The Book of Life

I read Upton Sinclair's The Book of Life: Volume 1, Mind and Body.  I thought it would be interesting to read something by Sinclair since he was a prize winning journalist and I already loved his book The Jungle.  The Jungle exposed the dark side of the meat packing industry and the Food and Drug Administration was started in part because of this novel.   I liked that story and that is why I chose this one which is full of advice from Upton to us.  After reading this book, if I had to picture Upton Sinclair he would look like Bernie Sanders.  Sinclair was a socialist.  He writes about the dangers of capitalism.  He was a free thinker.  I find it incredible that this book, written in 1921, nearly 100 years ago, talks about current events like diet and disease, vaccines, and the health benefits of nature.  One of the things he write very early in the book has stuck with me for weeks now.  He wrote that the pursuit of money is human cannibalism.  How could that be?  I work for money.  I pursue money by working 40 hours a week.  Am I a cannibal?  A cannibal eats the flesh of another animal of the same kind.  I don't do that!  But then I started thinking about people who pursue money more seriously than I do.  What about Martin Shkreli?  Is he a cannibal?  He changed the price of a pill that fights parasites from $13.50 to $750.  Why did he raise the price that much?  He says, and I quote, "If there was a company that was selling an Aston Martin at the price of a bicycle, and we buy that company and we ask to charge Toyota prices, I don’t think that that should be a crime".  I think Upton Sinclair is right.  The single-minded pursuit of money makes us cannibals.  Martin Shkreli is a cannibal and he's not the only one.  This book is old but still true.