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deanna_rigney's review against another edition
4.0
At once ominously serious and flippantly comical, this is probably the only self-help book that gives you rhetorical question after rhetorical question and no answers whatsoever. The reader is forced to think (not a popular topic for most). Percy is an existential guru that haphazardly throws around hypothetical situations that frustrate and cause discomfort. This is not self-help in the glad-handing sentimental tripe model we’ve been presented with most of our lives. If anything you probably come away more confused than ever, but in a good way (trust me). There’s a middle section chock full of semiotics, the theory of signs, which was très interesting, even though I felt I didn’t have the intelligence to make sense of it. My only complaint really was that at times I felt like I was being preached at…Percy does this in a very subtle way. His opinions seem quite crystal in a few parts. I wouldn’t necessarily dislike this if it were the norm throughout, but most of his questions seem to steer clear of an obvious answer, letting the reader make his or her own decisions, so in this way it seems like peer pressure when he does in fact “get preachy.” This was a highly interesting and thought-provoking read despite this one flaw, and it is an existential delight I’d highly recommend.
chrisburlingame's review against another edition
5.0
I was gifted this book by a friend about 20 years ago. If I read it then, instead of now, my life would have turned out much different.
method3000's review against another edition
2.0
The middle section on semiotics, with its "modes of reentry", is interesting. The rest of the book is entertaining if you can look past how dated everything is, and how weird his frame of mind is.
The general idea of the book is that everyone in modern life is in some way fleeing the self, which operates as a nullity. This claim isn't really supported or investigated; it's the basic premise of the whole book and is supposed to be self-evident from the series of "thought experiments" that he offers, and it's also supposed to follow from the very nature of semiotics, which involves the "ternary" relationship between a percipient, a signifier (word sound) and a signified. Anyway, as a proposition it's not that bad; he means something like, people can't perceive their own "selves" because consciousness looks out on the world of signifieds but can't reduce itself to a signified, so people chase after things in the world to construct an ersatz and vanishing self out of, ultimately making themselves miserable and/or crazy. Percy seems to be particularly interested in the idea that this state of affairs results in both an explosion of sexual license and of violent criminality.
He never fully comes out and says it but the implication is that modern man is afflicted because of the death of god, with all of his attempts at self-definition failing because he is incomplete, ie. in need of redemption. Percy seems to want to advocate for a kind of postmodern Catholicism where adherents believe in the big bang, evolution, and the irreducibility of human consciousness, and otherwise enjoy a serene mysticism which is opposed to overweening "scientism". The way he does this is through a series of cryptic and patronizing set pieces, culminating in a science fiction story wherein the solution for rebuilding the human race is... to reinvent Catholicism. Also this sketch of a short story starts getting aggressively racist out of nowhere...
All in all a strange book. The core idea is worth thinking about though, and there are some provocative passages here and there, strewn between all the references to Elvis and Johnny Carson and Burt Reynolds.
The general idea of the book is that everyone in modern life is in some way fleeing the self, which operates as a nullity. This claim isn't really supported or investigated; it's the basic premise of the whole book and is supposed to be self-evident from the series of "thought experiments" that he offers, and it's also supposed to follow from the very nature of semiotics, which involves the "ternary" relationship between a percipient, a signifier (word sound) and a signified. Anyway, as a proposition it's not that bad; he means something like, people can't perceive their own "selves" because consciousness looks out on the world of signifieds but can't reduce itself to a signified, so people chase after things in the world to construct an ersatz and vanishing self out of, ultimately making themselves miserable and/or crazy. Percy seems to be particularly interested in the idea that this state of affairs results in both an explosion of sexual license and of violent criminality.
He never fully comes out and says it but the implication is that modern man is afflicted because of the death of god, with all of his attempts at self-definition failing because he is incomplete, ie. in need of redemption. Percy seems to want to advocate for a kind of postmodern Catholicism where adherents believe in the big bang, evolution, and the irreducibility of human consciousness, and otherwise enjoy a serene mysticism which is opposed to overweening "scientism". The way he does this is through a series of cryptic and patronizing set pieces, culminating in a science fiction story wherein the solution for rebuilding the human race is... to reinvent Catholicism. Also this sketch of a short story starts getting aggressively racist out of nowhere...
All in all a strange book. The core idea is worth thinking about though, and there are some provocative passages here and there, strewn between all the references to Elvis and Johnny Carson and Burt Reynolds.
tsharris's review against another edition
4.0
A decidedly odd book, difficult to describe, but basically an acerbic and pessimistic account of the challenges of a modern human, knowing progressively more about the universe and progressively less about himself and his place in the universe. I'm sure I'll revisit it again soon.
suvata's review against another edition
3.0
Continuing my TBR project:
This is one the oldest selection on my TBR list - Originally added August 29, 2017.
This is one the oldest selection on my TBR list - Originally added August 29, 2017.
moonshake's review against another edition
3.0
dont know if this one really cleared anything up.
theres this, though:
"A new lay of the Cosmos, applicable only to the recently appeared triadic creature: If you're a big enough fool to climb a tree and like a cat refuse to come down, then someone who loves you has to make as big a fool of himself to rescue you."
theres this, though:
"A new lay of the Cosmos, applicable only to the recently appeared triadic creature: If you're a big enough fool to climb a tree and like a cat refuse to come down, then someone who loves you has to make as big a fool of himself to rescue you."
jcschildbach's review against another edition
4.0
I read this several years ago and was really drawn in, and loved the tone and organization of the book. On reading it again, I got bogged down in the middle, shelved it for a while, then came back to it and quite enjoyed pushing through to the end. It's hard to explain exactly what this book IS. It's definitely not a self-help book in the sense of offering a theory on how to fix one's life. It's far more provocative and funny than that. Instead, Percy sets up scenarios, throws out a bunch of ideas, follows that with questions, and moves on. There is a section on langauge theory in the middle, and Percy's own comments about it kind of sum up much of the book: for those who aren't really into the more technical (scientific, semantic, etc.) aspects, it will seem far too technical, and for those who are into the technical aspects, it will seem far too simplified. Percy discusses various philosophical issues related to modern life, and our sense of self in a world that essentially encourages alienation from self. There is much about the tension between people clinging to old religious ideas, and people embracing science as a "quasi-religion," and Percy points out that in a lot of instances, people are essentially just naming the same concept in a different way; i.e. the big bang versus God calling everything into creation. Percy makes up hypothetical situations, plops in various characters, and encourages the reader to consider the various possible perspectives using a humourous multiple-choice strategy. Perhaps the end result can be simplified by saying that there is no definitive right and wrong, only different choices and different ways to view those choices. And Percy points out that most of us spend a lot more time engaging in activities that ensure we will continue to avoid knowing ourselves, rather than in trying to understand ourselves. There are things in the book that are outdated (it was written in 1983). For instance, much of Percy's discussion of sexual behavior revolves around the idea of people being bored and so exploring things that had previously been taboo, following from the sexual revolution and its aftermath, which fits in with his overall thesis, but not with more modern understandings of gender and orientation. There's also some racist language, which was delivered with a completely different intent then, but which just sounds ugly now--especially being delivered in the context of future scenarios. Overall, though, the book is worth checking out, definitely thought-provoking and often very funny.
miss_laura_smith's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
hmm. I think I probably read this book way too fast (and I skipped the semiotics section) but to me a lot of it felt like just words??? there were some funny moments and good insights but I thought they could’ve been reached easier. The only reasons I felt like I got much out of it was a) the space odysseys, which tied a lot together and b) attending a 2.5 hour discussion group ab it.
michael_kelleher's review against another edition
5.0
I think this is one of the most brilliant books I've ever read. Percy does a great job of pointing out the weird inconsistencies in the human self. He asks the very best questions. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to write, is interested in the problem of the self, or who just wants to have a good laugh at the good ol' human race.