I've taken months to read this collection of essays, partly because life has been busy for me, but also because this is a very heavy work of social thinking. Adorno writes on a variety of topics, many of which are systematically inter-related (the exact relata is a matter for closer exegesis).

Adorno writes on the culture of his time, and tries to underpine a theoretical base to what he observes, this involves a mix of Marxism, Freudian theory, empirical work on mass culture, his own sometimes tenuous observations on culture as well as his background and upbringing in the Schoenberg school of composition.

This is a work which is seminal to my thinking. I absolutely love Adorno, and I do believe that there are some aspects of this work that he needs to be called out on. One is the lack of reference to empirical studies, there are some, but not enough. Another is a lack of methodological rigour and a potential lack of operationalisation characteristic of good social research.

I suppose it depends on how you read this: is Adorno a philosopher trying to wax lyrical on sociology? A cultural theorist who is too heavy on music theory and Kantian metaphysics? Or a brilliant genius who requires a reader to be an intellectual deadlifter who is comfortable with a discussion on Mahler, Freud, Kant and pop culture.