Maura's review
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
by John Perkins
Maura,
Some people rave about this book, others find it less than good. what did you think of this one?
naeem
I picked this book up in the bookstore, sat down and before long I had read the first fourth of the book and needed to know more. Plus I liked its lightweight feel in my hands. Part of the appeal of a book for me is also in the weight of the paper and the burden of carrying it around. So I went home thought about it and came back to buy it.
I like the tone, it sounds like its written by a real person, who is saying - oops, look what I found myself in the midst of here...like he is saying to the reader, Can you believe these guys?, what operators they are! of which he is one. cheeky.
thanks for the review, Maura.
That is a nice encapsulation Maura. I unlike you did not have high expectations of the book and took it for what it is. A tenth grade boy's mentality in a grown man's body. Doing worldwide damage, of a sort. Pathetic. But what I liked about the tone, was not that it was briliant or anything, it was rather that it was so obviously the product of an unreflective attitude that on this point, his point of view was perfectly clear to me in this way. Its like seeing through a crystal clear window , a garbage heap. or something.
I did not realize that this was a book on feminism/gender studies. I am being sarcastic in case you cannot tell. This is a book on globalization and the perils of the way it is going. I am surprised that you feel he was being a 10th grader in a grown mans body. You have never met people like this? We do live in a paternalistic world. Go work in the international arena. It is rife with this mentality. So, what is even the significance and making a big deal out of this? Especially, when the book relays other positive messages? I am just saying that if you nitpick this one issue of chauvinism then it seems likely that you can't move forward on all manner of things. Ever walk down the street? Ever make it to your destination? Just for the record, the book is not great but it is great at what it does.
Maura's review
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins
Maura's review
rating:
bookshelves:
economics,
non-fiction
I'd had high expectations of this book and was very disappointed--mostly because I wasn't able to get past the fact that Perkins is a chauvinistic pig who I hated from the beginning til the end. He must have thought the fact that he later wrote a "confessional" about being a chauvinistic pig would make his readers forgive him or feel sorry for him, but that definitely wasn't the case for me. Also, he writes like a horny 10th grader--very poorly, and in the middle of discussing serious issues he feels the need to comment on the attractiveness of all the females in the room.
The book's saving grace is that the subject matter is interesting. It's about the many years Perkins spent working for a consulting firm (if I remember correctly), and his job was basically to approach the governments of poor countries and convince them to commit to building huge infrastructure projects that they couldn't afford, so they'd have to take out massive loans they wouldn't be able to pay. Es...more
The book's saving grace is that the subject matter is interesting. It's about the many years Perkins spent working for a consulting firm (if I remember correctly), and his job was basically to approach the governments of poor countries and convince them to commit to building huge infrastructure projects that they couldn't afford, so they'd have to take out massive loans they wouldn't be able to pay. Es...more
Maura,Some people rave about this book, others find it less than good. what did you think of this one?
naeem
I picked this book up in the bookstore, sat down and before long I had read the first fourth of the book and needed to know more. Plus I liked its lightweight feel in my hands. Part of the appeal of a book for me is also in the weight of the paper and the burden of carrying it around. So I went home thought about it and came back to buy it.
I like the tone, it sounds like its written by a real person, who is saying - oops, look what I found myself in the midst of here...like he is saying to the reader, Can you believe these guys?, what operators they are! of which he is one. cheeky.
thanks for the review, Maura.
That is a nice encapsulation Maura. I unlike you did not have high expectations of the book and took it for what it is. A tenth grade boy's mentality in a grown man's body. Doing worldwide damage, of a sort. Pathetic. But what I liked about the tone, was not that it was briliant or anything, it was rather that it was so obviously the product of an unreflective attitude that on this point, his point of view was perfectly clear to me in this way. Its like seeing through a crystal clear window , a garbage heap. or something.
I did not realize that this was a book on feminism/gender studies. I am being sarcastic in case you cannot tell. This is a book on globalization and the perils of the way it is going. I am surprised that you feel he was being a 10th grader in a grown mans body. You have never met people like this? We do live in a paternalistic world. Go work in the international arena. It is rife with this mentality. So, what is even the significance and making a big deal out of this? Especially, when the book relays other positive messages? I am just saying that if you nitpick this one issue of chauvinism then it seems likely that you can't move forward on all manner of things. Ever walk down the street? Ever make it to your destination? Just for the record, the book is not great but it is great at what it does.