Saturday Read: Enter the Babylon System

Summer break has arrived!! (Sorry to those of you still studying for exams. You’ll enjoy that sweet taste of freedom soon.) No more studying or exams or long nights writing papers, but summer isn’t quite the freedom fest it used to be. Now you have jobs and internships taking up most of your tanning time. So, to help you make the most of the little time you will have to bask in the sunshine, use my book reviews as your summer reading list! I promise not to disappoint.

Now, I love my fiction, but sometimes I just get a hankering for a real fact-filled, non-fiction book. I was watching MTV Canada one day saw Rodrigo Bascunan, the author of a fantastic book called “Enter the Babylon System,” being interviewed. On a whim, I decided to get it from the library (if MTV likes him, then he must be bad ass, right?) and boy was I impressed!

Now, before you go grab this book yourself and stare blankly at the cover thinking “WTF is this sh*t?” let me explain something: the book is about guns.

Yeah, I know that you probably have no interest in guns, their history, or their evolution, but hear met out; the  book was seriously great.

Even if you have absolutely NO interest in guns, “Enter the Babylon System” will still entertain and inform you. I have no affiliation or opinion on guns and gun culture and was surprised by how easy the book was to understand despite this. Not to mention how interested I was in the topic once I began learning about it.

I learned so much, from the history of guns to their central role in the hip hop and rap industry today. Within this culture, most carry weapons, sometimes illegally, and many fatal shootings occur because of this easy access to firearms. The authors, who look more like the gang members they discuss than the scholarly men that they are, are vehemently opposed to this new gun culture and use their unique access and perspective to share their reasoning with the world.

I found the authors’ point of view the most interesting part of the book. It’s really nice to see two individuals who had many opportunities to immerse themselves in gun culture take a stance and tackle a national and international issue. They know what they are talking about and it shows, forcing many readers to give real thought to a topic they never considered before. It is a mature and thoughtful book, but as I said, one that can benefit even the least interested or knowledgeable in the topic. And I’m proud to say I now know who rappers are talking about when they name-drop Smith & Wesson or Colt.

Anyone who is looking for an informative, smart, yet entertaining summer read should pick up “Enter the Babylon System.” You’ll need something to make you think a bit after 8 hour days answering phones at that summer job and this book will give it to you in a way that isn’t dry or boring. I found it engrossing and unbiased and I highly recommend it for the non-fiction buff like myself.