The Society of Timid Souls

July 1, 2013
British documentary filmmaker Morland takes readers on an expansive philosophical inquiry into the nuanced qualities of timidity and courage. With a mix of cheerful camaraderie and robust curiosity, she reports on individuals in widely diverging circumstances that try their courage or cowardice. Her choices range from veterans of the war in Afghanistan and big-wave surfers to a computer scientist with ALS and an opera singer heckled at La Scala. As she wades through thorny moral and ethical issues, Morland also delves into etymology, making frequent use of major writers and thinkers who have pondered the value of courage. Another tricky notion Morland tackles is whether selfless acts trump self-serving, high-risk adventures like high-wire walking and scaling skyscrapers. Occasionally, it seems as if she is comparing apples and oranges, but generally Morland steers deftly through touchy areas like the role of non-violent yet courageous actions. Her well-chosen examples are thought-provoking, and her refusal to offer a pat answer opens dialogue that will continue long after the book ends, making it a great choice for book clubs and classrooms.

June 15, 2013
A celebration of one of humankind's rarest and most valuable virtues: bravery. Documentarian Morland interviews a diverse group of brave individuals--soldiers, big wave surfers, civil rights activists, sufferers of terminal diseases and bank robbers make the cut--in an attempt to isolate the origin and meaning of this elusive trait, which she believes is in distressingly short supply in our coddled yet hysterical age. The title refers to a group of musicians struggling with stage fright convened in the early 1940s by Bernard Gabriel, a classical pianist and proto-inspirational speaker. He subjected his charges to aggressive heckling as they practiced in order to inure them to that particular anxiety, freeing them to play in real performance situations with greater confidence. This immersive method is one of many strategies Morland identifies as courage-building. Others include the comprehensive preparation and devotion to a unit that allow soldiers to regularly risk life and limb, the rigorous practice and heightened sense of pride drilled into bullfighters, and spiritual notions of self-actualization and nonconformity that motivate surfers and climbers. Most mysterious of all courage-builders is the innate knowledge of the right thing to do in a crisis, which some people instinctively access and act upon in a mental state that supersedes conscious decision-making. Most of Morland's subjects are articulate and engaging, and the stories of tragedy and atrocity have obvious emotional impact, but the book's greatest strength is the author's brisk, witty voice, which conveys the seriousness of her subject in an agreeably light, humanistic tone. Though the author's conclusions are not earth shattering, her subject is worthy, and her journey is in turns thought-provoking, amusing and heartbreaking. An entertaining and occasionally inspiring look at a surprisingly slippery subject.

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