This book documents forays into The Land of Forbidden Thoughts by someone who late in life realized that he was a "misanthrope." I'm not the usual misanthrope, I'm just profoundly disappointed in human nature, and I haven't given up hope that a better nature may someday evolve. It occurs to me that hopeful misanthropes are in a privileged position to critique the problems with human nature that must be acknowledged and dealt with if a better world is to be achieved. Most of these forbidden thoughts were developed during the Midnight Hour, when it felt safer to question sacred beliefs that...