Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 Wiker hits it on the nail once again! (Or did he unscrew something?) July 11, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Ben Wiker has written an important and entertaining work.
This book is important, because it details the thoughts of 15 people who have so thoroughly shaped the way most of us think about things, that we don't even realize their influence on us. Most of us haven't read these books, but all of us can recognize the peculiar threads of thought that are interwoven throughout the fabric of our society as Wiker brilliantly lays them before us. Finally, I think his conclusions are right on.
The book is entertaining, because Ben Wiker is a smart and funny guy. You may not always agree with him (although I myself mostly do), but no one would think his time poorly spent reading this book. Wiker can turn a phrase in a masterful way, and if you have even just a shred of a sense of humor, he'll make smile, even if you do it ruefully. The sheer clarity of his presentation, both of the authors he considers and of his own thesis, make this book a delightful read.
To address a smaller issue, however, I wish his title didn't use the unfortunate expression, "Screwed Up," since it is simply a gentler version of the expression that uses the "fudge-like" word. It demeans the dignity due to conjugal love and tinges the beautiful with unnecessary, crude connotations.
That said, I loved the book. Definitely worth the price of the book and time I invested in it. Way to go, Mr. Wiker!
A witty, if a bit macabre examination of the monumental impacts of these titles July 7, 2008
Words have power. While a great book can bring joy to thousands, some books can bring pain and misery to the same amount. "10 Books That Screwed Up the World And 5 Others That Didn't Help" is a look at volumes throughout history that have allegedly done serious damage to the world - to the point where some say humanity would be better off if they were never written. From obvious inclusions such as Adolph Hitler's "Mein Kampf" to surprising inclusions like Charles Darwin's "Origin of Species", to the just plain weird in the piece on Alfred Kinsey's "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male", "10 Books That Screwed Up the World" is a witty, if a bit macabre examination of the monumental impacts of these titles.
 Scary, but Fun if You're Up to It July 3, 2008
7 out of 14 found this review helpful
I was so tempted to put Professor Wiker and his book through the same process that he uses on the fifteen books he examines here. Argumentum ad hominem seems to be the argument de rigueur in modern "debate" and Professor Wiker uses it nonstop in these pages. And, let's face it, it would be so easy to take what I could glean from Professor Walker's bio and create an argument that would be as feisty as his and satisfy many, at least those who already disagree with him. Then I decided that to do so would cloud the fact that, though I wish he had written a better book, I enjoyed it in many ways nonetheless.
Let me be clear, however: I disagree wholeheartedly with Professor Wiker's premise. I do not believe that there are "books that we would have been better off without." Ideas can certainly be dangerous but, once they are articulated in print, a thinking person has an opportunity to consider them rationally and counter them. This process is much more difficult if we are working from an oral articulation of ideas because orators can sway emotion and equivocate more effectively.
For example, did Hitler's writing of Mein Kampf really impact the world? Unlikely, since the evidence points to the fact that very few people read it. Perhaps, if people had, there would have been more of an effort to stop his rise to power. In fact, it was Hitler's oratory power, and use of intimidation and violence that allowed him to succeed. A similar argument could be made for Lenin's The State and Revolution.
In fact, I am surprised by the number of occasions where Wiker has chosen titles that are little read compared to other titles by the same author. Why Rousseau's Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men rather than Emile or The Social Contract? Why Darwin's The Decent of Man rather than Origin of Species? Why Freud's The Future of an Illusion rather than the raft of psychoanalytic titles that are just begging to be debunked? Why? Because Wiker clearly has an axe to grind and he needs titles that speak to his issues--a perfect example of choosing the data to support the argument instead of taking the data and seeing where it leads.
Which leads me back to where I started: my biggest problem with Professor Wiker is that he cares more about tearing down people than in following his own premise. I could care less that Nietzsche was clinically insane. So was Van Gogh and he produced timeless art. I could care less if Kinsey was "sexually perverse" by Wiker's standards. Most tiring are his constant references to atheism (real or imagined) of these authors. Make an argument about the idea in the book, not some secular belief system that offends your morality. Wiker ends up coming off like someone who is desperate to champion his own beliefs by ridicule rather than making a rational case.
I wish I had space to devote to every book Wiker takes to task but let me give one last example: Margaret Sanger. There is no doubt that her book, The Pivot of Civilization, is a disturbing (to the modern ear) support of radical social Darwinism and eugenics. It doesn't matter that, at that time, eugenics was respected science and the basis for public policy in many places in the United States. (When my grandmother passed away, she had two books--the Bible and Eugenics: The Science of Life, a handbook for raising a "good" family--despite being the sweetest, most devoted Catholic woman you could ever meet.) It doesn't matter that eugenics grew out of ideas that still permeate our culture; that is, evolution and IQ measurement. The eugenics of the time was deeply flawed.
Of course, no one today would suggest sterilization or murder to forward the ideas of eugenics, common as that was in the 1920's and `30's. And yet, in our growing ability to manipulate genes, a modern form of eugenics is still around. That is something that deserves serious thought today. But Wiker almost completely ignores this opportunity to add something to what should be an important debate. Instead, he wants to talk abortion, which has nothing to do with eugenics and this book, other than that Sanger was the founder of Planned Parenthood. That is not to say that having a debate about abortion isn't important. What I am saying is that Sanger's book is about an outmoded concept of eugenics, not a modern debate about abortion. It seems that Wiker chose this book just so he could try to score more ad hominem points that have nothing to do with the reality of what is said in the book.
But abortion is a fiery issue and barely controlled hysteria seems to be what passes for intellectual discourse these days. And there is a lot of that in this book. But it is fun. It gets the juices going and stirs my own intellectual energies (such as they are). I could have written another 50,000 words about this book and I would have enjoyed it immensely. I may disagree with his assessment of every book he discusses here but I would never say his book has the power to screw up the world. It is only because Wiker wrote his words down that I have the opportunity to reply and make sure that his ideas are countered because his ideas, unchecked, could screw up the world.
Benjamin Wiker & The Negative Impact of Famous Authors On Our Civilization June 22, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
A great synopsis of the negative impact of Famous Authors on Western Civilization. These authors, Rousseau, Hobbs, Marx, etc. are often quoted as if they contributed something positive to society but in reality they have been very detrimental to our civilization. Their arguments are quite illiogical and fallacious and seem to stem from their own grandiose notions of themselves. "I think, therefore I am" states Descartes when in reality one must exist before one can think.
A Revival of Reason June 18, 2008
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
A refreshing, witty and sometimes disturbing examination of humanity's collective post-Enlightenment fall from logic, which Wiker attributes largely to a collected body of works that have been elevated and nearly divinized by modern scholarship. After four years of indoctrination at a public University, this was a startling wake up call. And I loved it.
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