Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 slanted diatribe from the religious right. August 17, 2008
4 out of 8 found this review helpful
This Book makes a mockery of the progress of Human thought in the past few centuries. It criticizes and makes light of some of the greatest works of human thought. One gets the opinion that the author would rather have us living in the dark ages,when we all had to conform to the rigid dictates demagogues.
This is a book for Luddites.
Intellectually Dishonest Christian Propaganda August 11, 2008
7 out of 12 found this review helpful
It is a sad commentary on our times that a book like this can be written, let alone shown respect. Wiker insults some of the greatest minds in Western Civilization (e,g, Hobbes, Descartes, Darwin, Freud, Rousseau). It is clear that Wiker regards any school of thought undermining the Medieval concept of God and Society as anathema. He longs for the good old days. He clearly hates the Enlightenment and modern materialist science. Too bad Wiker lives in the 21st century instead of the 12th. He would be more at home there.
His lies and slanders are too numerous to mention. Suffice it to say that this is yet another right-wing Catholic broadside against the emancipation of women (hence his attacks on Sanger and Friedan), against the separation of secular power from ecclesiastical control (hence his attacks on Machiavelli and Hobbes), against modern science (hence his attacks against Darwin), and against the emancipation of human sexuality from the cesspool of superstion, guilt and repression (hence his attacks on Freud and Kinsey). And notice how he impugns these great thinkers b linking them with Hitler, an anti-Semite who was spawned by the Austrian Catholic Church. Wiker is appalled by the modern world. I wonder what he thinks of Founders such as Paine, Jefferson, Franklin and Madison! After all, they revered John Locke, whom Wiker despises.
 Crying in the Wilderness July 26, 2008
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
I remember almost thirty years ago a brother-in-law retorting, during a discussion about child-rearing, that he intended to raise his children as wild stallions in a state of nature. I recall commenting that the poor deluded man was merely repeating what he had heard in his sophomore sociology and psychology classes and that, in doing so, he manifested his ignorance of the subject.
One reviewer of Dr. Wiker's book, "10 Books that Screwed up the World," offered the following thought:
"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."
While intended to be a criticism of Professor Wiker ("Is this guy an enemy of free speech?"), the critic, in fact, makes his point; few people have actually read these books. Like my brother-in-law, had they actually read Rousseau, other than Emile, had they actually read Hobbes, other than the usual snippets of Leviathan offered, had they read Darwin's the Descent of Man, Machiavelli's The Prince, etc., they might have been better able to digest the unfounded and destructive utopian visions of Marx, Lenin, Hitler, and assess the illusions conjured by Freud, Sanger, Mead, and Kinsey. The reality is that few who have proffered these writers as icons of enlightened intellectualism, namely the professorial and teaching class, have taken the time to consider their products rationally. And, certainly those to whom it has been asserted that the writings comprise a source of deep reflection beneficial to humanity - essential to an understanding of humanitas - have not taken the opportunity to consider them rationally and counter the assertions. These vapid arguments have seeped into the mainstream only because they were developed by "so-and-so." In other words, the foundation is ipse dixit; the proof is hearsay.
That's why Professor Wiker bemoans the fact that the writings he has singled out have had such profound influence. If writings are not actually read and subjected to rational assessment, it would be better had they never been written. Unfortunately, the writings that Wiker addresses have been and continue to be highly detrimental to the body politic and the human soul. That is the more important reason that they should never have been written.
"10 Books that Screwed up the World" is easily read in a couple of sittings; is readily understood; and, is a must read especially for young people headed for the "castles" of higher learning.
Wiker hits it on the nail once again! (Or did he unscrew something?) July 11, 2008
9 out of 14 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
5 out of 11 found this review helpful
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.
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