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Jun 25, 2007

Jerzy rated it:

This didn't turn out to be the book I was expecting, but I'm quite glad I read it.

I think the biggest moment of insight for me came when I read these lines (and of course all the context around them):
"Respect for our president is important. But even more important is respect for our Constitution."
Indeed!
Many Republicans have denounced Bush-opposers as unpatriotic. Well now, folks, I agree it's important to respect our leaders, but NOT when they blatantly d More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Patrick rated it:

Really, I probably would give this book a 3.75 stars, but this system only allows whole digits in its ratings.

This book is great and terrible at the same time. The start and end of this book hit it right on the mark - there is a crisis in how information about our Democracy is being shared. It is clearly being manipulated by corporations and government entities. I whole-heartedly give two-thirds of this book a might big thumbs up.

But there are flaws. A minor one is Gore's More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Nov 14, 2011

Manny rated it:

Point

Al Gore Tells You What's Wrong With The US, And How To Fix It

Most Americans agree that their country's on the wrong track, but what exactly is the problem? It's easy to blame it all on Dubya - no one except a few true believers would say he's blameless. But surely there's more to it than that? Al Gore has thought deeply about the issues, and his analysis makes sense. The real strength of the US is in its system of government, but a democracy is only as strong as its citi More...

6 comments like (16 people liked it)

Jan 15, 2008

Elizabeth rated it:

The idea that TV is rotting our brains is nothing new, but the idea that TV and the modern American system of politics by television has completely ruined our democracy is a bit more novel, and that is the main point of this book. Several other things struck me as I was reading this, however: 1. This book, which very bluntly calls out myriad ways in which the current Bush administration has disregarded, denied and dismantled our constitution and historical tradition, could never have been wri More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Aug 10, 2009

Andrew rated it:

This book was a very easy read, and as a pretty liberal individual, my views are very well in line with Al Gore's. I know there must be hundreds of anti-Bush books published by now, but if you just read this one, you should get a pretty good sense for the numerous abuses of this current administration. Gore cites many good examples ranging from Katrina to the War on Terror to Global Warming. The entire middle of the book is dedicated to this and eventually, I just wanted to browse through it sin More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 25, 2007

Peter rated it:

Gore begins by lamenting the nature of politics in the post-modern United States:

..."Why do reason, logic and truth seem to play a sharply diminished role in the way America now makes important decisions?"

American democracy is now in danger—not from any one set of ideas, but from unprecedented changes in the environment within which ideas either live and spread, or wither and die. I do not mean the physical environment; I mean what is called the public sphere, o More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 06, 2007

Joshua rated it:

It's a shame that the people who should read this book never will. Al Gore's critique of the current state of media, politics and democracy in America is thoughtful and thought provoking. His writing is methodical and intelligent, if slightly repetetive and not always clearly structured. The book points out Gore's perspective that our country has fallen into a slump of disinterested, uninformed decision-making. He says one of the major factors contributing to this state is the ubiquitous nat More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 24, 2007

Steph rated it:

Gore confronts the Bush administration on issues of policy, ideology, and ethics in a rational manner, and lays out his argument that television and a lack of transparency in the government is causing the trend of an apathetic, cynical public. At first I was skeptical of his argument railing against TV, because it seems like such an easy thing to attack. But it is hard to deny the way television, as the primary source of most American's news and information, has contributed to a lack of civic di More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 15, 2007

Marissa rated it:

This book was OK. I will admit that it was an impulse purchase from the AU campus bookstore the last time I went over there to tie up some loose ends at the Eagle office, and it kind of delivered like an impulse book purchase: not half bad, not half great and kind of monotonous.

Gore's got some good insights (and statistics) about things the Bush administration got wrong ... but nothing I (or any other well-educated person with common sense and an independent mind) haven't noticed alr More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 17, 2007

Carole rated it:

Not a quick read, but worth the effort. I'm a pretty big fan of Al Gore. The main concern he addresses is that the shift from print media to television has undermined the involvement of most Americans in the marketplace of ideas and made us more susceptible to getting tricked by our leaders. He talks about how the one-way nature of television that lets us receive information but not send a response creates a kind of learned helplessness where a lot of Americans don't feel like they have any cont More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Feb 23, 2008

Travis rated it:

After reading this book my sentiment is that Al Gore could be a modern day Abraham Lincoln. His work demonstrates his knowledge of the human condition both through science and scholarship. His book looks at decline reason in Society. Gore quotes many frightening prophecies from men like Thomas Jefferson to show us that the alarm bells have been ringing only we're too ignorant to know what to listen for because we (me included) have never read Jefferson or Thomas Payne. I didn't quite know of his More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 05, 2008

Erma rated it:

Excellent book, although you could really start with Chapter 4. The first 3 chapters are a prelude to and set up for the rest of the book. Details the many ways are personal liberties have been curtailed and destroyed under the Bush/Evangelical administration. This book makes you hear things in the news differently and gives a context to the usual 30 second sound bites we get through the media. Very scary though, to think we already have the "disappeared" in America-people who have More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 24, 2008

Melissa rated it:

THIS BOOK SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR EVERY AMERICAN! This book lays out what exactly our government is doing, and how we are letting them systematically destroy "our democracy" and turn it into a Theocracy. It lays out flat how every single report the admin. has gone on to justify our wars has been a lie, often ignoring true reports from independent sources and going with biased reports from interest groups. How they are deleting, re-classifying, and covering up documents on the wa More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 09, 2008

David rated it:

Gore presents his disagreements with his opponents as evidence of their mental inferiority. Even though his critiques of their policies are reasonable, by framing them as a question of smart (him) and dumb (them), he alienates anyone whom he might want to convince of his position. And massively annoys those who are already on his side.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Feb 08, 2009

Peter rated it:

Al Gore is an example of men who fail in their quest for the highest office despite very clear intelligence and seeming lack of cynicism. I may disagree with his 2006 book, An Inconvenient Truth, but this book The Assault on Reason, seems well argued but hardly deep. It is a fair compendium of Democrat propaganda.

Gore is partly right about the war in Iraq. However, the real problem is not merely that there really was no case for it based on weapons of mass destruction: the right rea More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 06, 2011

Christopher rated it:

A good book on the importance of two-way dialogue in our democracy and a scathing critique of the failed Bush administration. Despite the number of times I read about it, it still never ceases to amaze me how dangerous the current administration has become to our basic rights as citizens and how important this current election is for our country. I also completely agree with Mr. Gore that we as Americans are no longer communicating effectively with one another in the "marketplace of ideas" More...

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Jul 27, 2011

Anthony rated it:

I couldn't get through the whole book. The first half was alright because Gore made some interesting points:

1. TV is a one-way medium that the govt. uses to inflict fear and brainwash citizens with deception and propaganda. Because the average American spends 4.5 hours a day watching TV, we have become indolent, stupid, and unable to reason. As a result, the citizenry is uninformed about global affairs, and has no idea what the hell the government is up to. This essentially means that More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 13, 2011

Benjamin rated it:

One part Bush-bashing (enjoyable if not particularly novel), one part Al Gore being Al Gore (wistful could-have-beens are only so useful now that we're past the Bush days), and one part biting critique of how the nature of television as a one-way, controlled-by-the-powerful medium (that furthermore operates on primitive emotional reactions as much as or more so than well-reasoned thought), has been ruining the quality of public discourse in America for decades, but how the internet as a two-way, More...

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Jan 14, 2011

Joe rated it:

In this book, AG has pulled together, supported, and articulated a thesis that resonates with thoughts, worries, and concerns I have been having for years now. That is, watching the elections and politics of the last decade, being somewhat aware of the thrusts and “rhetoric” of right-wing talk shows, and seeing the garbage that floats around the internet, it strikes me that critical thinking is at an alarmingly low ebb in our country. One of the central theses of the book is that our democracy More...

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Sep 16, 2010

Daniel rated it:

I should have read this book back when it was originally published in 2007. Today, it reads like a blunt statement of the obvious, mixed with a lot of resentment toward the results of the 2000 Presidential Elections. In the years since he lost the election to George W. Bush, Al Gore has become a very polarizing public figure. To those on the left, he is an inspirational leader and philanthropist; to those on the right he’s a liberal hack and an environmental alarmist. I fit in the former cat More...

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May 28, 2009

Shaun rated it:

I usually don’t read books by politicians, mainly because it’s usually a book displaying why the other side is wrong or putting forth some ideology. But when I was Gore’s book and the title, I told myself, “this book is going to be different.” After all, he isn’t a politician anymore and I thought, just based on the title, that this book would be talking about society instead of politics. I was mistaken. At times, Gore seems to show off his erudite knowledge. However, these little tangents More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 22, 2011

Dave rated it:

I agree with all the theses that are in this book, but I have to say that the writing itself has A LOT of problems. As a matter of fact it looks like it could of used a lot of work by a good editor. It uses a lot of examples from the Bush administration, and while I agree with the examples the sections that use the Bush examples come off as a rant.

All the excesses and corruptions in the Bush administration come from its relentless drive to gain more power and funnel money to thei More...

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Jan 29, 2011

Sven rated it:

The title is only part of the coverage of this book. Al Gore argues that the influence of television has degraded our ability to use reason in our political and social life. He argues that reading printed material engages our higher reasoning, but that TV hits our brains at an emotional level, and thus we don't use logic and reason nearly as much in the decades since TV has become dominant. He also points out that television is one-way, non-interactive, and that very few people have the abili More...

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Aug 04, 2009

David rated it:

Al Gore has written a well-reasoned critique of the Administration's leadership (or lack of same). He draws on Chomsky and other progressive critics. This book is surprisingly direct for a practicing politician. Of course, the environmental parts are the hardest-hitting.
If the conservative coup in 2000 had been prevented, this country, under Gore, would have had liberty and justice for all, not just the superrich.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 26, 2008

Andrea rated it:

This is a must read in an election year. Gore outlines how television, a cool medium, has reduced political discourse to sounds bites. He pleads to a return to reasoned discourse, perhaps through the internet and blogs. The analysis is outstanding and disturbing. His solutions are not fully formed. Is there a way out of being observers back into being participants. He's doing a good job of it himself.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 18, 2008

Paul rated it:

What to say about this book? Other than it totally, in clear and step by step methodical detail, listed and described not only the abuses of the Bush administration in the past eight years, but also proceeds to specifically pin them down, and then explain as to how this is bad for America as a whole.

I didn't get the impression that Al Gore was being for one side or the other in this book - if anything, it felt like he was making a case for the return to the place that reason and thi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 05, 2011

Scott rated it:

Al Gore got a lot of criticism for not having a single reference noted in "An Inconvenient Truth". Well, he sure made up for it this time.

It's really no surprise that one of the main messages in this book is; "For the love of God, don't vote for a conservative, evangelical, Republican with strong ties to corporations in 2008!" And while I agree with that sentiment, I got a bit tired of the sledgehammer.

I was expecting less finger pointing and more psycho More...

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Jan 13, 2009

Kat rated it:

If I had read before the holiday this year my whole Republican family would have gotten a copy for Christmas. It´s a book you have to love and hate. Gore is the man, and we will lament his loss and praise his sense, but we are made to feel a little stupid for these last 8 years.

Just picturing Bush sending back the CIA report telling them to make a connection to Iraq after they already said there was no connection never will quite match his innocent/child-like expressions and poor loc More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 05, 2009

Jostalady rated it:

This is a fine book. I just keep hearing the same messages from many different places and I support the message...it is just hard to determine the originator or recommend one over the other. The core message is that democracy only works with well informed citizens. We currently manipulate information and shrinking percentages of voters could be considered informed. I suppose if you personally feel Al Gore is a credible person of intellect, which I do, you may appreciate hearing the message from More...

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Jan 10, 2012

David rated it:

This has been on my "to read" list so long, I forgot exactly what I was thinking when I selected it. It turns out to be two things, in my mind. First, it is a general philosophical look at how reason and facts and logic are being driven from the marketplace of ideas and how this impacts democracy. Second, it is an indictment of the Bush administration and how it has used this assault on reason to perpetrate its reign of error.

I enjoyed the philosophical bits; the general case More...

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