Review by David Keranen

On Human Excellence gives an exceptionally good analysis of what constitutes excellence and how we can strive to obtain it. But then the question is: why should we strive for excellence at all? McDill starts by showing that many of the major religions strive for excellence through their values and then goes on to highlight people in the secular sphere (although they may be religious also) that achieved excellence in their lifetime: people such as Henry Ford, John Dewey, Richard Feynman, Abraham Lincoln, Plato, Aristotle, Mandela, Wiesel, and others. Of course everyone should seek excellence, since the opposite of excellence is mediocrity and inferiority and nobody in their right mind would seek these as life’s goals. McDill goes on to describe many of the features of excellence of character: we seek to find harmony of directions, movements, and energy from everything that we experience, try to keep everything in their appropriate importance, avoid getting bog-downed in nonessentials, and make the most fitting decisions in life. In the process we will evolve “from a pool of infinite developmental possibilities those which serve to move man (humans) in the direction of the most perfecting growth.” This produces sweetness, gentleness, reverence, and a sense of mystery – an existential experience. Martin Buber (1878-1965), an Austrian-born Jewish philosopher is a prime example of a life of excellent character. He emigrated to Palestine in 1938, where he became a professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Buber describes the ideal man (i.e., excellent character) as having a purity of soul, an acuteness of mind relative to the level of intelligence, and an ability to live a life of dialogue, community, and relationships. On Human Excellence is excellent guide for anyone seeking excellence in one’s life. Highly recommended. David Keranen, retired community college mathematics professor.

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