Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by jpbradt
Mind Wars: The Battle for Your Brain by Ian McFadyen
3.0
In Mind Wars, Ian McFadyen invents a new field, ostensibly a science, called tenetics, defining it as the study of tenets and doctrines. Tenetics attempts to explore the workings of ideologies: attempting to eradicate competing doctrines, trying to establish themselves and spread, and doing all the other things which ideologies do to function and interact. In fact, McFadyen goes as far as to identify doctrines as living organisms; whereas obviously, if the author things that doctrines are truly living, he has no grasp on the very most basic biology.
I found the book intriguing enough to finish. It did, however, trash science, academics, and art, intimating that perhaps scholars thought too highly of their education and their ability to think clearly and that they used doctrines (through tenetics) to take advantage. This looked to me like the author's attempt to shove his way into credibility by taking others down a few notches, rather than simply making his point and letting it succeed or fail on its own merits. Maybe he was trying to push a "doctrine."
I found the book intriguing enough to finish. It did, however, trash science, academics, and art, intimating that perhaps scholars thought too highly of their education and their ability to think clearly and that they used doctrines (through tenetics) to take advantage. This looked to me like the author's attempt to shove his way into credibility by taking others down a few notches, rather than simply making his point and letting it succeed or fail on its own merits. Maybe he was trying to push a "doctrine."