Rating  - The Assault on Reason
Don Stacy
Kunming, Yunnan Province, China
August 13, 2008
Al Gore
Nashville, TN, USA
Dear Mr Gore,
Ocassionally I will be prompted to write to an author whose work I
found interesting or informative or of exceptional literary value. I
have been deeply moved by what you have said so far in The Assault on
Reason. Obviously you are the only person who could have written this
very unusual critique of the present weakened state of public
discourse.
Not only have you produced an unassailable indictment of the
fault-filled Bush years in the White House, and of his appalling
disregard for authortative reports from various people to whom he
should have paid careful attention, but you have also easily
vindicated yourself for America's failure to elect you as President in
2000.
Before I moved to China to teach English at a "software college" in
Yunnan Province, I had been studying computer science at a small
university in Idaho. I was particularly interested in your metaphore
of a massively parallel system in comparison to the public workings of
Democracy and Capitalism. I thought it rather illuminating--but then
your entire book is exceedingly illuminating and I must thank you for
having written it.
I hope that not a few Conservatives will have the simple courage and
good sense to read your book, thus innoculating themselves against the
further tendency to immerse their heads in the moist warm sand of
willful neglect of the truth. But of course there are those, some whom
you refer to, the radio hosts and so forth, who will deride you as
before hoping to seek a laugh from their gullible audience, who smugly
retain their shallow views and unwittingly mock Truth itself in doing
so.
When you pointed out that Capitalism has proven to be a far more
efficiently workable economic system than Communism, you illustrated
this with the emaciation that is North Korea, and the lumbering
corruption-ridden former Soviet Union. You might have also mentioned
Cuba. The one country you did not mention--which would have interfered
with your argument--is China, a timely topic right now, considering the
Olympic Games.
I've only read a few books about the modern political history of
China, most recently a biography of one of their Presidents, Zhang
Zhemin. Now, we are all perfectly aware thanks to TV coverage of the
Olympics just what China has become in so astonishingly short a time.
The Chinese are accustomed to change like no other people on the
planet, I believe. And thanks to Deng Xiao Ping and his hand-picked
successor, Zhang Zhemin, the country is now on its way to surpassing
the United States as an economic power, a thought which would have
been inconceivable twenty years ago.
I'd be curious to know your views on China. Perhaps someday you will
publish a book which touches upon the relations between the United
States and this protean nation so crowded with people, so determined
toward prosperity, so different from anything we have seen before.
Respectfully yours,
Don Stacy
Rating - A Profound, Insightful and Jaw-Dropping Book
Regardless of your political disposition, everyone should read this book. It is NOT about global warming, it is about the current state of our democracy, and what we can do to improve it. Highly recommended!
Rating  - Love of Power
Who would have thought Al Gore could be so eloquent, persuasive, and passionate? Well, he is. And he has no qualms with monopolizing the market of inconvenient truths. "The Assault on Reason" reveals a truth that, if we aren't already well-aware of, almost certainly intuit: reason, logic, and truth are in alarming short-supply in this country and if we, as a people, don't open our eyes, turn off our televisions, and engage in the national political discourse, the sovereignty of our country may slip away. One such reason for this lack of reason, as it were, is America's obsession with television and the four hours and thirty-five minutes we spend, on average, watching it *every* day. The bumper-sticker advice, "Kill your television", is now more important and timely than ever. Nevertheless, Gore brackets his points re: television with a discussion of the internet at the end of the book and how, if allowed to develop largely free of government intervention, could revive the national discourse, stave off further anti-intellectualism, and steer this country back toward a country of the people, by the people, for the people. In sum, Gore's treatise is well-written, artfully presented, and capable of inspiring rage, disgust, and...the motivation to return our government to one of laws -- not incompetent, power-obsessed, religiously crazed men.
Rating - What could have been...
Oh Al, if only you had spoken like this when you were running for president the country might not be in the mess it is in today. I have no desire to get lost in what if, but with the Assault on Reason, Gore gives us a glimpse into what life could have been like with a president that got A's in school instead of C's. (Which turned out to be more important that we thought it would, especially since in school all one ever hears is "if you at least make the average you to can do well in whatever you choose." Man was that wrong.) Gore's guiding principal is that with the advent of the television and the decline in reading, a culture that holds no emphasis on such things as facts and logic has emerged. Gore's book is eloquent in a manner one would not assume he possessed, what with his performance on the campaign trail. Like all books of this type Gore makes his point in the first two thirds and spends the last third dragging it out until forever, but its still good.
Rating - Assault Reason Review
Excellent book. Gore will eventually be respected for what he is, a visionary American politician. He has brought global warming to the conscience of America and with this book he will bring the lack of conscience that the American right wing is inflicted with.
Go to the Product Information page
page 2 of 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Customer Reviews for Penguin Press HC, The,0739484613,9781594201226,1594201226,973.931 |
