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Once I got pass the fact that it wasn't satirical and humorous I did enjoy the book. It is redundant at times, but overall enjoyable. Just know that it is a philosophy of Assholes, not a satire.
funny
informative
slow-paced
Don't bother. Chuckle at the title and premise and put the book back on the shelf.
This started out as a diatribe about assholes, who was one and what havoc they cause..but somewhere along the way it became a philosophy book about what we can do about assholes, and if we really have a chance of changing them. An interesting read to be sure.
Didn't get very far with this one. Interesting premise that could have expressed more succinctly - too many distractions and footnotes serve to show the writer's knowledge and wide reading but really just diminish his point.
Although James can be very repetitive and prone to beanplating terms & situations in the manner of many philosophically inclined folk, there are some things I enjoyed about this book.
First, his definition of what it is to be an asshole (as opposed to an assclown or a buffoon, for example) is delightfully precise: an asshole believes systematically that he is entitled to special privileges, has an entrenched sense of entitlement, and doesn't hear other people's complaints about him because his entitlement is systematic and entrenched.
Second, at the very end of this book, James writes a letter directly to the asshole that contrasts the asshole's entrenched systematic entitlement as motivation for behavior with Kant's categorical imperative code of morality in a sort of brilliant way that pokes holes at the asshole's ability to believe the way he behaves is right.
Third, I learned from the chapter on gender (aka "why most assholes are men") that the woman about whom I tend to think "what an asshole!" five out of seven days of the week is actually, more precisely, a bitch, since she acknowledges complaints made about her behavior to the face of the complainer -- which is something an asshole would not do -- and then continues to behave as if the complaints were never made.
I'd recommended this book to philosophy undergraduates and anyone who might get a laugh from seeing the subject of philosophical argument pervasively referred to as "the asshole."
First, his definition of what it is to be an asshole (as opposed to an assclown or a buffoon, for example) is delightfully precise: an asshole believes systematically that he is entitled to special privileges, has an entrenched sense of entitlement, and doesn't hear other people's complaints about him because his entitlement is systematic and entrenched.
Second, at the very end of this book, James writes a letter directly to the asshole that contrasts the asshole's entrenched systematic entitlement as motivation for behavior with Kant's categorical imperative code of morality in a sort of brilliant way that pokes holes at the asshole's ability to believe the way he behaves is right.
Third, I learned from the chapter on gender (aka "why most assholes are men") that the woman about whom I tend to think "what an asshole!" five out of seven days of the week is actually, more precisely, a bitch, since she acknowledges complaints made about her behavior to the face of the complainer -- which is something an asshole would not do -- and then continues to behave as if the complaints were never made.
I'd recommended this book to philosophy undergraduates and anyone who might get a laugh from seeing the subject of philosophical argument pervasively referred to as "the asshole."
informative
reflective
slow-paced
informative
It was fine, but I do wish he would have spent time with the concept of "entitlement," namely it is a privilege to be an asshole. He plays with this in his brief mention of gender and intersectionality, but it doesn't seem enough to fully flush out the details of how assholism is fostered culturally and how we can help interrupt the process and encourage a more collective, empathetic, and kind culture (and weed out assholes).
This book had the potential for laugh-out loud funny. Instead it was dry and boring. I had to abandon it, couldn't finish it. The 'philosophical' seriousness doesn't match the subject. Let's face it, Asshole's aren't a serious subject.