Average customer rating:
- I know, I know...
- A must read for anyone
- Good stuff, but less important than his other work
- Buy the ticket...take the ride
- A wild and extraordinary ride down a lost highway ...
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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream
Hunter S. Thompson
Manufacturer: Vintage
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ASIN: 0679785892
Release Date: 1998-05-12 |
Amazon.com Reviews
Heralded as the "best book on the dope decade" by the New York Times Book Review, Hunter S. Thompson's documented drug orgy through Las Vegas would no doubt leave Nancy Reagan blushing and D.A.R.E. founders rethinking their motto. Under the pseudonym of Raoul Duke, Thompson travels with his Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo, in a souped-up convertible dubbed the "Great Red Shark." In its trunk, they stow "two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half-full of cocaine and a whole galaxy of multicolored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers.... A quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls," which they manage to consume during their short tour.
On assignment from a sports magazine to cover "the fabulous Mint 400"--a free-for-all biker's race in the heart of the Nevada desert--the drug-a-delic duo stumbles through Vegas in hallucinatory hopes of finding the American dream (two truck-stop waitresses tell them it's nearby, but can't remember if it's on the right or the left). They of course never get the story, but they do commit the only sins in Vegas: "burning the locals, abusing the tourists, terrifying the help." For Thompson to remember and pen his experiences with such clarity and wit is nothing short of a miracle; an impressive feat no matter how one feels about the subject matter. A first-rate sensibility twinger, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a pop-culture classic, an icon of an era past, and a nugget of pure comedic genius. --Rebekah Warren
Book Description
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is the best chronicle of drug-soaked, addle-brained, rollicking good times ever committed to the printed page. It is also the tale of a long weekend road trip that has gone down in the annals of American pop culture as one of the strangest journeys ever undertaken.
Now this cult classic of gonzo journalism is a major motion picture from Universal, directed by Terry Gilliam and starring Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro. Opens everywhere on May 22, 1998.
Customer Reviews:
I know, I know..........2007-09-30
I know, it's THE Hunter S. Thompson book. It would be like having the gall to write a review for the Grapes of Wrath or Slaughterhouse Five and think you'd be doing anything other than blabbing just to see your own words on a computer screen.
That said, read this book this instant. Whatever good anyone's ever said about this book, it's twenty times better. I read it in two sittings and only stopped myself from reading it again because it was a library book and had to be returned.
The late HST's gift for gonzo, that strange mix of fiction and nonfiction, is ultimately realized in this book. Reality is seamlessly mixed with a bizarre fantasy world of sentient reptiles and split personality through the medium of hard drugs that serve to clarify (and sometimes amplify) a violent and twisted town in a strange time.
This book will have you laughing hysterically at parts, so don't read it around other people unless you're okay with passing it to them. This book will have you cringing at the brutality of human nature at points, so have your wits about you.
I really can't say anything else, other than that this book must be purchased and read this very instant if you haven't already done so.
A must read for anyone.......2007-09-21
Thompson's book helps create a vivid picture of the drug fueled 60's and early 70's a way no one else has before.
Good stuff, but less important than his other work.......2007-09-14
¨Fear and Loathing¨ is a great ride for sure. A drug-addled, hilarious, disturbing romp through Las Vegas in search of the American Dream. Thompson is definitely a skilled writer and an outlaw and this stuff comes through in this book. I don't want to shrug this work off by any means, but I definately prefer his other work, such as ¨The Great Shark Hunt,¨ because it truly brings out Thompson's outlook on the world, his hatred of wealth, power and greed, etc. This book is fun, but Thompson is definitely capable of more depth and thought. While this work might be what gave him his big break, he definitely went on to better things.
Buy the ticket...take the ride.......2007-08-23
A bizzare journey to the heart of the American Dream, funny, witty and full of memorable episodes. The illustrations by Ralph Steadman are also superb. Raul Duke says it clearly : "buy the ticket...take the ride"
A wild and extraordinary ride down a lost highway ..........2007-08-20
The lost highway of the American Dream.
I wasn't old enough to remember much from the late 60's early 70's let alone the political aspects of Nixon's presidency or the drug culture of the time, so this review won't have any profound social or political commentary, except that comparisons can well be made to the drug culture of today, and it is glaringly apparent that not much has changed.
Considering the climate of the time: Nixon's presidency, the war in Vietnam, and the country's young men succumbing to the draft, it was no wonder that an entire generation wanted something more, for this was not the American Dream they had been sold. And for some, the only way to drown out the hypocrisy gnawing at your brain is to give your brain an escape. Expand your mind, as that might be the only part of you that is truly free. Whatever it takes to get you directly out of your head -- the higher the better. This story chronicles a journey utterly devoid of restraint and reason as these two men, Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo, and their trunk full of felonies set themselves loose upon Las Vegas -- the last vestige of the American Dream. However, their idea of the American Dream is not how most of us would understand it, but somehow, through the fog of hallucinatory metaphor, we can actually see and feel what the main characters are searching for so desperately.
All that aside, even if the 60's culture is beyond your age group, Thompson's writing is worth the read -- Brilliant, sarcastic, and frighteningly funny: Bars seething with has-been lounge lizards, tearing the patrons to shreds, blood soaked tacky hotel rooms, police car chases, kidnapping, gambling, excess, and debauchery ... not to mention the Narcotics Convention. The dialog is brilliant. Harrowing experiences abound; it is amazing that the two main characters make it out of Vegas alive.
Definitely a wild ride for all.
Book Description
From the bestselling author of Love Is the Killer App
You can win life’s popularity contests
The choices other people make about you determine your health, wealth, and happiness. And decades of research prove that people choose who they like. They vote for them, buy from them, marry them, and spend precious time with them. The good news is that you can arm yourself for the contest and win life’s battles for preference. How? By raising your likeability factor.
The more you are liked, the happier your life will be. In The Likeability Factor, business guru Tim Sanders shows how to build your likeability factor by teaching you how to enhance four critical elements of your personality:
• Friendliness: your ability to communicate liking and openness to others
• Relevance: your capacity to connect with others’ interests, wants, and needs
• Empathy: your ability to recognize, acknowledge, and experience other people’s feelings
• Realness: the integrity that stands behind your likeability and guarantees its authenticity
When you improve these areas and boost your likeability factor, you bring out the best in others, handle life’s challenges with grace, enjoy better health, and excel in your daily roles. You can win the close calls and tight competitions that define and determine success and happiness at work and in life—The Likeability Factor can show you how!
Customer Reviews:
L-Factor is the key element of Biz Success.......2007-09-28
The L-Factor of what Tim calls "Likeability" is the key element of success in business or personal relationships. As a therapist and business consultant for 25 years I believe that this approach will guide you toward a more fun and fulfilling way of life. I can't say enough good about the power of this resource as Tim coaches you toward a strategic approach that will sharpen your ability to instantly connect with others to achieve greater results. This is must reading if you are struggling in your career, and essential reading if you are just getting started because once you know how to use the secrets of the "L-Factor" you will avoid problems to rapidly reach your potential. Pick it up and read it twice!
Who Doesn't Like Likeability?.......2007-07-23
Tim Sanders does a great job with his book "The Likeability Factor" in showing business executives that their personality, and how others see them, really will make a difference in the bottom line. Being liked leads to opportunities, and Sander's uses his personal experiences (I have met him, he is very likeable), research and his easy writing style to educate the reader on how to improve their "L-Factor"
We all have limited time, but this book is worth the time investment to read it, take notes, do the exercises, and incorporate the wisdom into our daily lives.
is it too late for hillary to read.......2007-06-27
If only Hillary did not scare so many people. This is the book that anyone should read to make themselves more in touch with their village.
Made me a better person.......2007-05-20
The first thing to note here is this is a short book. Only 224 pages, including the table of contents, introductions, etc. The first 131 pages are basically an infomercial for the book, telling you why it was such a good idea to purchase it. Nothing really helpful or exciting, it talks about why it is important for people to like you. Obviously you realize how important it is to be liked, otherwise you would not even be looking at this book.
On page 132 things get interesting. Tim Sanders does not let you sit back and be passive. There is a little writing and a lot of thinking involved with the self-exploration exercises Tim gives you. You are required to look inward to see what about you is already likable, and what needs improvement.
The best advice I got from this book is to "observe no unfriendliness." If you are able to visualize yourself as a friendly person, you will become friendlier, and thereby you will become more likable. There is plenty of advice like this to help you become a better person. I know, because it worked for me.
Are likeable people also prone to filling entire books with their ramblings?.......2007-05-20
Okay, I get it. Likeable people are happier, more successful, have better sex lives, more face time with their doctors, long marriages, bulletproof job security, and longer lives.
Do I need to read a whole book supporting this controversial theory with hundreds of anecdotes and statistics?
If you woke up this morning and asked yourself: "Should I be disagreeable today? I really feel like screaming at everyone. But I'm not sure if it's a good idea," then this book would be a great antidote. Church might also do the trick, if that's what you're into.
For the rest of us, I'm not sure this is anything more than a pleasant distraction from a long car or airplane ride. And I'm not sure I should be reading this book in that case. Wouldn't it be better to have a conversation, so as to increase my likeability? Do people really like people who read books?
Bottom line: this book is a bloated ramble. It feels like he created it for the purpose of handing it out to business associates to show them how cutting edge he is. Likeability Factor! A New Buzzword! Don't waste your time. Read some thing else or go meet a friend for coffee. Yahoo!
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Book Description
The goal of this revised edition is to explore multiple perspectives in intercultural communication that are grounded in the everyday communication experiences of study. The essays in this edition range from the classic writings of E. T. Hall, Gerry Philipsen and Geert Hofstede to more recent scholarship influenced by critical theory and cultural studies.
Book Description
In one compact volume, POP DREAMS analyzes the trends, events, and personalities that influenced American culture from 1945 to 1970. The discussion broadens students' understanding of major events in popular culture by putting those events in historical context.
Customer Reviews:
brief and well written.......2005-08-25
This little book could easily have been a fully fledged tome. Loss surveys the popular American media in the 1960s. He shows how it echoed and in turn fed back on the burning issues of the times. The Vietnam War and the civil rights movement.
There is discussion of politics at the Federal level, with the actions of US Presidents being key events. But Loss manages to tie this all into a narrative that also encompasses analysis of the rock and roll scene and the counterculture.
The book is aimed at an undergraduate or high school reader, as a quick synopsis of trends that Loss traces back to 1945 and the emergence of the US from the Second World War. He hopes to whet the reader's appetite for more detailed reading of these vast topics.
Amazon.com
California seems to have been the source of almost every cultural trend that defines modern America--often in contradictory ways. Consider the waves of conservative and progressive politics, self-love and selflessness, sushi and Big Macs, great literature, and banal films. Inventing the Dream traces this extraordinary state through the early years of the 20th century, when Americans began to flock westward and Los Angeles grew from a town of 50,000 to a large city of 320,000 in justa couple of decades. By 1926, Starr writes, Hollywood was the United States' fifth-largest industry, grossing $1.5 billion a year and accounting for 90 percent of the world's films--and, of course, changing the values of whole cultures. This is a fine work of historical reconstruction, joining Starr's other well-regarded works of Californiana.
Book Description
This second volume in Kevin Starr's passionate and ambitious cultural history of the Golden State focuses on the turn-of-the-century years and the emergence of Southern California as a regional culture in its own right. "How hauntingly beautiful, how replete with lost possibilities, seems that Southern California of two and three generations ago, now that a dramatically diferent society has emerged in its place," writes Starr. As he recreates the "lost California," Starr examines the rich variety of elements that figured in the growth of the Southern California way of life: the Spanish/Mexican roots, the fertile land, the Mediterranean-like climate, the special styles in architecture, the rise of Hollywood. He gives us a broad array of engaging (and often eccentric) characters: from Harrision Gray Otis to Helen Hunt Jackson to Cecil B. DeMille. Whether discussing the growth of winemaking or the burgeoning of reform movements, Starr keeps his central theme in sharp focus: how Californians defined their identity to themselves and to the nation.
Customer Reviews:
Read the 'Dream' and weep.......2006-07-24
I read this book 20 years ago. It has held up remarkably well. California is the victim of its own utopian dreams.
Should Be Called a History of Southern California.......2004-02-18
... Not that I have a problem with that. This is the second volume in Starr's definitive six volume history of California. Starr writes history that combines straight forward "who, what, when" facts with digressions into literary criticism and pyschologlogical speculation. This is a blend that is quite apt for California, and I have found volume one and two to be rewarding.
Starr (who is also the state librarian for California) also includes excellent essays on his sources for each chapter, which makes further reading a snap! For example, after reading his first volume "Americans and the Californian Dream", I read "The Octopus" by Frank Norris and "Two Years Before the Mast" by Dana.
This book covers roughly the same time period as the first volume, and there is some overlap. After all, there wasn't THAT much going on in California from 1850 to 1900. However, while the first volume focuses almost totally on Northern California, this volume focuses almost totally on Southern California.
And by Southern California, I mean Los Angeles, with a little bit of Riverside thrown in. As a native of San Francisco and a current resident of San Diego, I simply couldn't believe at how little San Diego county came in for mention. Again, I'm hesitant to label this as a criticism, since I did love the book, but I just wonder what San Diego did (or didn't do) to get left out.
Starr spends ample time covering pre-American Southern California history. He charts the development of California agriculture, talks about the "Craftsman" movement and, as his wont, spends entire chapters talking about the artists and boosters of the time. Personally, after reading this book I have resolved to read at least one book of Mary Austin.
Towards the end of this volume Starr dishes out a hefty dose of the history of the Progressive movement in California. His essay on sourcing for this chapter reveals a penchant for the works of more traditional political history writers, and I felt like this chapter was kind of "eh."
His final chapter is on the growth of Hollywood. I don't feel like he adds anything to the voluminous literature on this subject, but hey, this is a survey of California history, and I suppose he had to include it.
Overall, I highly recommend this book. If you are more interested in Southern then Northern California, you may want to skip the first volume and proceed directly to this one.
Book Description
Acid Dreams is the complete social history of LSD and the counterculture it helped to define in the sixties. Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain's exhaustively researched and astonishing account-part of it gleaned from secret government files-tells how the CIA became obsessed with LSD as an espionage weapon during the early l950s and launched a massive covert research program, in which countless unwitting citizens were used as guinea pigs. Though the CIA was intent on keeping the drug to itself, it ultimately couldn't prevent it from spreading into the popular culture; here LSD had a profound impact and helped spawn a political and social upheaval that changed the face of America. From the clandestine operations of the government to the escapades of Timothy Leary, Abbie Hoffman, Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters, Allen Ginsberg, and many others, Acid Dreams provides an important and entertaining account that goes to the heart of a turbulent period in our history. "Engaging throughout . . . at once entertaining and disturbing." - Andrew Weil, M.D., The Nation; "Marvelously detailed . . . loaded with startling revelations." - Los Angeles Daily News; "An engrossing account of a period . . . when a tiny psychoactive molecule affected almost every aspect of Western life." - William S. Burroughs; "An important historical synthesis of the spread and effects of a drug that served as a central metaphor for an era." - John Sayles.
Customer Reviews:
Beyond is Right- This book it GREAT.......2007-09-20
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R2NWFN612DXX3 My video review of Acid Dream. Really great bookAcid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond. ***** 5 stars =)
Top End Data.......2007-06-27
Yhis book belongs on the bookshelf of all those interested in the early days of psychedelic research and it's social ramifications. One word for it: Excellent!
awesome!.......2007-02-07
Can't think of a more informative and interesting way of describing this period of time. I loved this book. Big thanks to the authors!
EXCELLENT.......2006-12-13
This book is perfect - It offered everything I was hoping for when I first purchased it. It covered from the end of the 50's and the Beat generation and how their influence lead into the hippie generation, and it ended in the early 70's tying in the beginning of rock and punk. It is a true spectrum of the 1960's counterculture generation.
It's a large book but its facinating to learn about the history and the culture. Like previous reviewers said, it really ties up everyhting and clearly shows the correalation between the drug counterculture and the govn't & society during that time period. I was born in the 80's and this book really showed me alot about the 60's counterculture and the attitudes towards drug use and young people during that time. I can see alot of correalations between that era with Vietnam as the war that they were protesting versus todays war in Iraq and the amount of US citizens that are against it.
The author also goes into government policies at the time and conspiricys and covert CIA and classified documents. I was amazed by the actions of the CIA and thetesting of LSD on unsuspecting American citizens. It is like the stuff movies are made of but it really happened! Truly and amazing and interesting book - I could not put it down. I reccomend it to everyone, regardless of your view on LSD or drug counterculture - a true wealth of information on 1960's America.
Acid Dreams Review.......2006-11-10
This was a great book. It was an easy read and a fast read, while at the same time being very informative and interesting. It was everything I was hoping it would be and I would refer it to anyone whom was interested in the topic or anyone whom just wants to be more informed in general. There is a lot of great information is in this book. (I myself am a college student and I would say that this is a great book for my peers but also those who are a bit older.)
Average customer rating:
- Not Bad
- An American Anti-Hero
- Best Overview of the Sixties Ever Written??
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Steal This Dream: Abbie Hoffman & the Countercultural REvolustion in America
Larry Sloman
Manufacturer: Doubleday
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0385411626
Release Date: 1998-08-17 |
Amazon.com
Although there have been other biographies of the late-'60s radical dissident and counterculture publicist Abbie Hoffman, as well as his own writings such as Steal This Book, this oral biography strikes a valuable chord. Unlike other oral biographies--particularly those organized by George Plimpton around such figures as Edie Sedgwick and Truman Capote--with snobs waffling on about nothing much, the context of Hoffman's fame amid the political struggles of the '60s and '70s fits the mold of a many-voiced, democratic narrative. The interviews were carried out, selected, and assembled by the prolific Larry Sloman, former editor at National Lampoon and High Times, author of On the Road with Bob Dylan, and coauthor of Howard Stern's Private Parts and Miss America. In his own way, Hoffman could be a "shock jock" too, but during such gripping events as the Chicago Seven trial or demonstrations agains the Vietnam War, he could be funnier and sadder than Howard Stern ever was. Plagued by manic-depressive syndrome, psychosis, substance abuse, and relational problems, he ruined his life by choosing to deal drugs, which forced him to go underground for six years late in his life. Hoffman, who died of suicide, nevertheless possessed, as Sloman, who knew him from 1967 on, writes, an "incredibly sharp wit" and "charisma" that won him friends even when he was plainly exploiting them. A lively ride of a book, one that will bring back memories for anyone who lived through these parlous times of America's history. --Benjamin Ivry
Book Description
In the tradition of Edie, the oral biography of Edie Sedgwick, Steal This Dream is a captivating roller-coaster ride of an oral biography of Abbie Hoffman and the sixties, told by over two hundred of those who demonstrated, protested, and lived through those tumultuous years.
Abbie Hoffman was at the center of most of the political and social tumult of the sixties, as a participant, disciple, instigator, leader, and dissident. He helped fight for civil rights in the South, organized on behalf of the poor in New York City, was a leader of the Flower Power generation in Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco, and was one of the most vocal and visible counterculture guerrillas in the fight against the war in Vietnam. He created chaos on Wall Street, experimented with psychedelics, hashish, speed, cocaine, and free love, planned be-ins, attempted to "levitate" the Pentagon, helped to disrupt the Democratic Convention in Chicago, and was one of the forces behind Woodstock. A genius at exploiting and manipulating the media, and through them, inspiring a counterculture across the country and throughout the decade, Abbie was the most famous hippie and revolutionary of modern times.
A fast-paced and utterly compelling oral history told by the people Abbie worked with, for, and against--from Tom Hayden and Jerry Rubin to Paul Krassner and Timothy Leary--Steal This Dream is the finest social history of the sixties yet written.
Customer Reviews:
Not Bad.......1998-12-30
This book is a pretty good overview Abbie Hoffman. It uses differing quotes to outline who and what he was about. For the real deal, however, readers should turns to Hoffman's own autobiography "Soon to be a Major Motion Picture".
An American Anti-Hero.......1998-11-11
I came to this book with only a cursory knowledge of Abbie Hoffman and his generation of the Yippies. I found this book very interesting and entertaining exposing Abbie for all his faults and successes as a peace/environmental activitist. The only problem I have is that the oral history format leaves holes in the story and makes some of the comments hard to put in context. More context from the author between the passages would have made it more enjoyable reading. Overall, this was a very interesting book.
Best Overview of the Sixties Ever Written??.......1998-10-19
Larry 'Ratso' Sloman has created a masterpiece with his oral biography of Abbie Hoffman. Not just the story of a fascinating, complex, American clown and activist, Steal This Dream is perhaps the first major book to put the sixties and seventies in perspective. Sloman knew Abbie and many of the other players intimately, and they open up to him with a forthrightness and honesty only possible now that the events are decades in the past. Hardly a homage to Hoffman, this excellent and highly readable book will make Hoffman worshippers cringe and Hoffman haters respectful. Larry Sloman deserves a Pulitzer.
Book Description
This book of essays looks at the multitude of texts and influences which converge in Ridley Scott’s film Blade Runner, especially the film’s relationship to its source novel, Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Essays consider political, moral and technological issues raised by the film, as well as literary, filmic, technical and aesthetic questions. Contributors discuss the film’s psychological and mythic patterns, importance political issues and the roots of the film in Paradise Lost, Frankenstein, detective fiction, and previous science fiction cinema.
Customer Reviews:
Essays that , like, prove it's amazing and stuff.......2005-05-26
For the ignorant fools who didn't know what they were watching the first 168 times around, this book has essays with subtexts and subconcious imagary that will blow your mind.
A box office failure shined to gold by looking-back critics and an army of fans, Blade Runner is now the requisite sci-fi inspiration film. It's still a stylish but bleak, cold film and has rightfully earned its supercult status. A lot of people responded to it in their own way.
The book has plenty of food for thought, but it gets to be much after a while. Authors compare the various themes in Blade Runner and use this as a springboard for ruminations on Frankenstein, feminism, film noir, you name it, Blade Runner has it. Slave narrative, horror film, it's in there. And there's room for an updated version as plenty of published material has appeared since this book did in the early 90s. Recommended for the obsessed Blade Runner fan--and there is no other kind.
Fascinating and Exhaustive.......2001-08-30
I thought my 10 year career as Blade Runner appreciator would have overturned all the 'stones' of interest - and yet this book yields countless articles many of which containing subtleties and revelations totally new to me. Of course, if you're not a major blade runner fan you'll want to become one first.
Oxygen for any Blade Runner fan.......2001-08-21
A must have for any die hard BR fan. Well crafted essays and opinions covering every angle a fan could ever hope for. Reads similar to a textbook. If only Scott could release a DVD version of BR this detailed.
A difintive analysis of 'Blade Runner'........2001-06-18
This book is a must-have for Blade Runner fans. Wonderfully written essays. Desser's article comparing the film to John Milton's poem/novel Paradise Lost and Frankenstein is a writing at its mind-bending best.
One of the finest books about this amazing film.......2000-07-17
If you are looking for info about the making of BLADE RUNNER you'd best look elsewhere, but if like me you want to read intelligent analysis of this amazing film then this book is one of the finest you'll find. The range of the essays is wide, looking at every facet of the film; the script, music, symbolism and much more. I've read many books on the subject of BLADE RUNNER and this one was one of the most enlightening and informative. There is more to BLADE RUNNER than you might think - and this book will show you in considerable detail. Highly recommended for fans of the film.
Book Description
The final decade of the Second Millennium has issued a flourish of books foretelling the end of everything from science to history. In the first decade of the Third Millennium, books about new beginnings will take their place. Is it a time for despair or hope? Many of today's social critics deplore the effects of multiculturalism in spawning a postmodernism era. One observer, however, finds reason to celebrate, claiming it's about time we looked beyond the confines of our king-of-the-mountain value system, to a broader plane of understanding.
In his newest book, Charles D. Hayes submits that the American Dream we've learned to champion is an insufficient aspiration for human beings. Cultural expectations create social reality. "If having must come at the expense of being," he asserts, "then you and I are missing the best part of life and our culture is the worse for it."
Reaching the top--at any cost, by the current model--has outlived its usefulness as a go! al in human society. Those who make it, remain unfulfilled. Those who don't, become marginalized and resentful. Through the power of our intellect, says Hayes, we can begin living off the interest of our biological world instead of continuing to eat away at the principle. Either we improve society through our ideas, or we perpetuate its deterioration through a lack of them.
A sophomoric sense of citizenship might reason this way: "Since I wasn't alive during slavery, I bear no responsibility for it." Certainly, it is senseless to blame ourselves for what happened before we were born, but Hayes maintains we do have a responsibility toward what is. If you and I are the beneficiaries of an unjust system stemming from the biases, prejudices, and atrocities of the past, then we have an obligation to remedy the unfairness. Beyond the American Dream points the way to rising above the lock-step patterns of our culture and assuming our rightful roles as thoughtful, responsible citizens.
In failing to truly value to individual thought and reflection, our society guarantees that an ever-increasing number of citizens will practice neither. As in his previous works, Hayes urges readers to take control of their own learning and to adopt self-directed inquiry as a lifelong priority. Education should be regarded "not as something you get," he says, "but as something you take. Self-education is the lifeblood of democracy, the key to controlling your life, and a means to living your life to its fullest."
Beyond the American Dream illustrates these ideas in practice. Offering fresh insight on the wisdom of great thinkers from Aristotle to Alan Watts, together with a tantalizing juxtaposition of ideas that can't help but foster reflection, Hayes demonstrates how the sensual pleasures of learning can be inherently more satisfying than anything posing as entertainment. He gives compelling evidence that America's greatest treasures are found, "not in our shopping malls, but in our libraries."
Certain that the greatest means we have of persuading others is to live by the example we advocate, Charles Hayes challenges each of us to re-evaluate our values and to amend our ambitions accordingly. Beyond the American Dream is a thoughtful summons to awaken from the New Age doctrines that have so engulfed our culture. It is a book about the meaning of meaning and implores us to find purpose and meaning in life by leaving the world a better place than we found it.
Customer Reviews:
Awful.......2000-12-07
Simply a waste of time. Sorry. The sentiments are fine, but a really tedious read.
The most thoughtful book I've read in the last 20 years.......2000-10-11
I've had thoughts similar to some of the ideas in this book but have never seem them expressed before. This is not the easiest book I've ever read, but it may be the most inspiring. The term lifelong learning means something entirely different to me now.
An Intriguing Read.......2000-09-25
Hayes' text sets out on a challenging journey and does it well. From the outset, he seeks to relate the concepts of high academia to the reader for what they are: elements of a world that has distanced itself from the layperson. This text consistently demonstrates the applicability of these themes to all, regardless of occupation or position. Quite simply, Hayes rejects the academic tendency to assert that compex themes are reserved for an academic audience and places these squarely before any reader to see that they are not mystical, overly sophisticated notons for a special set, but quite easily understood and intriguing given the desire to learn.
Frommian.......1999-08-23
Although I like the book a lot, I can't give it 5 stars (I'd give 4.5 stars if I could), because:
* There were numerous typos -- the most glaring, were at least two places where he confused the words "principle" and "principal" (no intentional pun could be inferred from the context, either);
* Although the book starts off real well, towards the middle, it jumps around disjointed topics that can lose focus, even though he keeps referring back to the "King of the Mountain";
* I found my attention wandering, and I found myself skipping pages, towards the middle of the book (especially the chapter on "belief"), although that might just be because I found myself rehearing old arguments on issues I had already resolved for myself years ago (I'm an atheist);
* It repeats a lot of what many philosophy readers (especially Freethinkers) already know, and that's where it starts to lose my attention. Hayes reminds me a lot of Erich Fromm.
To seasoned Frommians, Anti-Credentialists, Freethinkers, and Skeptics, this book isn't as "belief-shattering" as it might be to the average reader.
Still, I highly recommend it -- I've bought 2 copies as gifts, and I've told friends about it.
A Blow to the Side of the Head.......1999-07-16
In the preface of this book, the author uses Franz Kafka's assertion that a book should wake us up with a blow to the side of the head. This book does that repeatedly.
Average customer rating:
- Don't believe the hype
- extra ingredients sacrificed to page layout
- A fun and original book!
- A stupid pretentious book, written by a stupid pretentious person, for stupid pretentious people - a complete rip-off.
- freakish and pretentious
|
Art and Cook: Love Food, Live Design, Dream Art
Allan Ben
Manufacturer: Digital in Space, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Design & Decorative Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Essays
| Gastronomy
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
Professional
| Professional Cooking
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
Gourmet
| Special Occasions
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
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The Artist's Palate
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Movie Menus: Recipes for Perfect Meals with Your Favorite Films
ASIN: 0974308927 |
Book Description
Have you ever seen a cookbook that mixes controversy into its recipes? Have you ever come across a book that combines gourmet dishes, artwork, and political and social commentary? Have you ever experienced a book, beginning with the suggestive and unique packaging it comes in, that contains cutting-edge creative, and provocative contents that simultaneously stimulate, insatiate and exacerbate? Can a single book raise questions, stir emotions, and make you thirst for food and knowledge? Art and Cook may just be this generation's breakthrough book and it's aptly labeled by its creators as being the leader of the Revolutionary Movement.
Customer Reviews:
Don't believe the hype.......2006-12-15
I bought this book because of a rave review in the LA Times. It was intended as a gift but I would be too embarrassed to give it to anyone. Rarely have I seen a worse designed book. It looks like first generation web design blown up and printed between hard covers. The recipes themselves look interesting and the photos are cute but the prentious verbiage and overblown graphics gave me indigestion before I set foot in the kitchen.
extra ingredients sacrificed to page layout.......2006-03-03
If you want a cookbook that is so poorly edited that you will have multiple extra ingredients from the ingredient list that are not used in the recipe, then this is the book for you.
Entire paragraphs seem to have been cut out of the recipes for the sake of page layout.
What a piece of garbage. I have never been one to burn books, but this is a good candidate for the incinerator.
A fun and original book!.......2005-12-03
I was very impressed with this book. Art and Cook is a very original concept and a great conversation piece for your coffee table or as a gift. There are fun recipes and VERY fun design to compliment them. This was a great purchase. The package alone is worth the cost of the book!!
Very Recommended.
A stupid pretentious book, written by a stupid pretentious person, for stupid pretentious people - a complete rip-off........2005-11-27
Aside from the fact that the book was plagiarized by Allan Ben from unknowing photographers & designers who were swindled out of their ideas, designs, compensation, and credit - the book has no soul. There is no "running thread" or theme. Not one original thought. Not even worthy as a coffee table book. Don't embarrass yourself - you deserve better.
freakish and pretentious.......2004-06-04
I use the words freakish and pretentious to describe this book because not only is it filled with "the cloud" (frenetic repeated techno-graphics used so commonly in early 90's websites) it reeks of turtleneck sweaters and black berets. The graphic design and images are distracting, at times distasteful, and on occasion, enough that I want to slap the book shut and hold it with two fingers away from me at arm's length.
Some of the images scare me. Take a look at the front cover. You see the eyeball EYEing you from inside the egg? If you perhaps think that a cookbook is about how food should eat you, then maybe it's for you. Or if you want to create food and have a nice display to put next to it when you display it in a gallery, maybe this book is good choice.
This is not a cookbook. It is a graphic design study with the subject of unappetizing food.
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