That is a great review! For some odd reason I found it hilarious. Thanks for sharing!!
On Dec 5, 2011, at 11:43 AM, "Larry C. Lyons" <[email protected]> wrote: > > This is the 1st paragraph of a book review -- by the philosopher > Matthew Cartmill -- of Donna Haraway's book, Primate Visions: Gender, > Race and Nature in the World of Modern Science. It appeared in the > International Journal of Primatology (Vol. 12, No. 1, 1991) > âThis is a book that contradicts itself a hundred times; but that is > not a criticism of it, because its author thinks contradictions are a > sign of intellectual ferment and vitality. This is a book that > systematically distorts and selects historical evidence; but that is > not a criticism, because its author thinks that all interpretations > are biased, and she regards it as her duty to pick and choose her > facts to favor her own brand of politics. This is a book full of > vaporous, French-intellectual prose that makes Teilhard de Chardin > sound like Ernest Hemingway by comparison; but that is not a > criticism, because the author likes that sort of prose and has taken > lessons in how to write it, and she thinks that plain, homely speech > is part of a conspiracy to oppress the poor. This is a book that > clatters around in a dark closet of irrelevancies for 450 pages before > it bumps accidentally into its index and stops; but that is not a > criticism, either, because its author finds it gratifying and > refreshing to bang unrelated facts together as a rebuke to stuffy > minds. This book infuriated me; but that is not a defect in it, > because it is supposed to infuriate people like me, and the author > would have been happier still if I had blown out an artery. In short, > this book is flawless, because all its deficiencies are deliberate > products of art. Given its assumptions, there is nothing here to > criticize. The only course open to a reviewer who dislikes this book > as much as I do is to question its author's fundamental > assumptions-which are big-ticket items involving the nature and > relationships of language, knowledge, and science.â > -- > Larry C. Lyons > web: http://www.lyonsmorris.com/lyons > LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/larryclyons > > There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always > has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant > thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, > nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance > is just as good as your knowledge." - Issac Asim > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:344319 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
