Voltaire's Bastard

[theBruiser500]

This is a book which got pretty good amazon reviews, 50 reviews, 4 stars and has kind of an interesting premise.

"Reason, he argues, has run amok; instead of the enlightened utopia envisaged by Voltaire, the modern West is a soulless machine run by technocratic elites that promise efficiency but create disasters. The author targets the insane waste of our "permanent war economy," the perils of nuclear power, the co-optation of democracy by vested interests, the news media's focus on false events and manufactured celebrities, the "personality politics" of presidential campaigns."

But I've read the first 25 pages so far and to be honest, I just don't understand what he's talking about. He is saying a lot of words, but to me they don't mean anything. It sounds like a lot of rhetoric, just the same thing over and over again with no real content. Anyone who read the book... am I being stupid here or this book just bad?

[ScottyP431]

Maybe you should try pancakes in the age of enlightenment

[somethingstupid]

[ QUOTE ]
Maybe you should try pancakes in the age of enlightenment

[/ QUOTE ]

nh

[Popinjay]

This [censored] ain't See Spot Run yo'. Reread slowly until you understand.

[bholdr]

well, i haven't read the book, but it sounds pretty clear that the author has some kind of agenda- i'd wany to find out what that is before giving him my money.

if you're into this kind of stuff, try:

'The Image' by Daniel J Boornstien ( throughout his carrer he was a professor at universities of rome, geneva, kyoto, cambridge and the sorbonne, as well as being the librarian of congress) talks about the rise of media and the psudeo-event- it's very imformitive.

[jakethebake]

Get the Cliff's Notes.

[thatpfunk]

Do you have a philosophical foundation to build upon bruiser? j/c. You seem into reading this stuff, might be easier if you start with some broad stuff and move towards specifics you're interested in.

I know nothing about this book, but some stuff is very difficult to understand without very close readings...