Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin
This book took place in the not-so-nice of Berlin. Nazism is gradually ascending, however, the focus is not on politics. The characters are living their not-so-good lives in a not-so-good Germany. They are struggling and not super happy. I struggled to get involved with the book.
Hume lived back in the 1700s. He was from Scotland and spent time on the continent. As a youth he tried to perform sacrifices that were in vogue with the intelligencia. However, he found himself unhealthy in the process. He became somewhat of a skeptic. Yet, he also believed that his time was better than past times. (The common perception of the day was that other times in the past were better.) One interesting observation was with the group that we compare ourselves to. We respect the elite and look up to them. We don't feel bad when they have a great many more privileges and material benefits than us. We are more concerned with the small relative advantages of people of our own level. This could explain why inequality is a greater concern today. The media takes us into the intimate details of everyone's life. We now see everyone as somewhat of an equal, and thus feel bad at even the smallest differences.
