Rating: 
Summary: Pac-Man, Ford, and the Girl Next Door
Review: Served as my intro to Baudrillard's work and a brilliant entrance at that.Insightful as always, cutting, pulling no punches as he presents the interface for what it is. Some of the poetry is lost going from French to English, but in the absense of the one pick up the other.
Rating:
Summary: Epistemology 101
Review: Thelonious Monk said Kennedy was killed because he liked jazz. Try to disprove that. Postmodernism can be infuriating especially when it touches 'serious' topics. The writing style of Baudrillard (and translators) is not as dense as Derrida's but is not to everyone's taste. Still I think this is an important book. We are about to (maybe) have a sequel to the Gulf War. When I first reviewed this book I expected the new war would have minimal actual reporting from the field. It now appears that the press may be invited to the front lines.Apparently they have demonstrated sufficient loyalty or credulity in the last year to be trusted, or maybe the troublemakers have all been replaced.Anyway we will still be in a position of not knowing what to think, as usual. Since 9-11 it seems that many people are too craven to question anything at all in whole or in part. It behooves us as 'free people' to exercise some critical thinking. Personally I only believe the moon landing happened because the production values of the TV show were so poor.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the most important political texts of the 1990s
Review: This text describes and defines the relations between the dominant states (USA Western Europe), the media and the wars they choose to have. Wonderful read and learn
Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: Very well-written and mind-provoking. Certainly a MUST read!
Rating: 
Summary: So what?
Review: Yeah, so there was a lot of tv coverage of the Gulf War. Yeah, so some people confuse the tv coverage with what actually went on to the point where the real war is irrelevant. Yeah, so there is a level on which there is a war for public opinion, a purely media war. Beaudrillard says all of this in the tortured language of continental philosophy. Since I love continental philosophy, I appreciate the points he makes about images and simulacra. But he offers not the slightest recognition of the fact that the war DID take place, people, animals, and buildings were destroyed, money and years of work erased, longlasting suffering and illness a legacy among all countries involved . And for that reason, this book made me VERY angry.
Rating:
Summary: So what?
Review: Yeah, so there was a lot of tv coverage of the Gulf War. Yeah, so some people confuse the tv coverage with what actually went on to the point where the real war is irrelevant. Yeah, so there is a level on which there is a war for public opinion, a purely media war. Beaudrillard says all of this in the tortured language of continental philosophy. Since I love continental philosophy, I appreciate the points he makes about images and simulacra. But he offers not the slightest recognition of the fact that the war DID take place, people, animals, and buildings were destroyed, money and years of work erased, longlasting suffering and illness a legacy among all countries involved . And for that reason, this book made me VERY angry.
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