A column on the Obama-Romney race by political and social commentator David Brooks in the August 20 New York Times bore the caption \u201cGuide for the Perplexed.\u201d\u009d Brooks was trying to give some helpful counsel to undecided voters trying to make up their minds, and either he or the editors of the column thought this would make a good title. If it came from Brooks, I have no doubt that, a man of cultivation, he was aware that it is also the name of a greatly influential, late 12th-century work of Jewish religious philosophy by Maimonides or Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, widely known among Jews by his acronym of \u201cRambam.\u201d\u009d If it came from the editors of the columns page, I\u2019m not so sure.<\/p>\n
I say this because, lately, \u201cguides for the perplexed\u201d\u009d have been popping up everywhere, like mushrooms after a rain. Recently, the British Daily Telegraph published an article on \u201cCancer Cure: A Guide for the Perplexed.\u201d\u009d August\u2019s Jewish World Review has a contribution called \u201cA Parenting Guide for the Perplexed.\u201d\u009d This past June, The New Yorker ran a piece on the euro crisis, titled \u201cThe Spanish Bailout: A Guide for the Perplexed.\u201d\u009d Last January, American film historian David Bordwell reviewed the movie version of John le Carr\u00c3\u00a9\u2019s \u201cTinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy\u201d\u009d under the title \u201cTinker Tailor: A Guide for the Perplexed.\u201d\u009d Among books appearing in the past several years, you can find \u201cChristian Bioethics: A Guide for the Perplexed,\u201d\u009d \u201cChina Energy: A Guide for the Perplexed,\u201d\u009d \u201cEgypt and Islamic Sharia: A Guide for the Perplexed\u201d\u009d and \u201cA Guide for the Perplexed: Translations of All Non-English Phrases in Patrick O\u2019Brian\u2019s Sea-Tales.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n