Rating: 
Summary: Ummm...
Review: "Rousseau is not one of the world's most famous political and social commentators..."?!?!?!?!?!? C'mon, New Jersey -- I think a bit more respect is due to the man who brought you the Social Contract... Anyway, read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Ummm...
Review: "Rousseau is not one of the world's most famous political and social commentators..." ?!?!?!?!?!? C'mon, New Jersey -- I think a bit more respect is due to the man who brought you the Social Contract... Anyway, read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Average
Review: I found this book to be Average. The writer is honest in his confessions I'll give him that, but I lost all interest in the reading after about 100 pages. Missing spirituality, not compelling.
Rating:
Summary: A startlingly honest
Review: I'm thrilled to see Amazon books' celebration of Rousseau's
birthday because his writings not only transformed Enlightenment thought, but also prefigured the emergence of
Romanticism in the nineteenth century. But Rousseau's Confessions
is not just a work for historians. This work is stunning in
its honesty, even to a jaded twentieth-century reader. The psychological insight is remarkable: As the narrative progresses, Rousseau's suspicious nature moves into a chilling paranoia, yet one cannot help but feel compassion
for such a brilliant and beleagered man. Even paranoids have enemies, and Rousseau certainly had plenty, and his
Confessions provide an insiders view of the Enlightenment,
with all the rivalries and quarrels.
Rating:
Summary: Ummm...
Review: Rarely have I read such a relevant and sophisticated thinking in a book centuries old. While Rousseau is not one of the world's most famous political and social commentators, his impact and the quality of writing should convince everyone to read his book. In Confessions, he gives a wonderful literary performance, running the gamut from humorous cultural commentator to serious political theorist. It is just a wonderful book to read.
Jean Jacques Rousseau was born in 18th century France, to a middle class family that was wealthy enough to give him a chance at schooling. Rousseau has an amazing ability to find sponsors to fund his education and continued way of life. The man is quite the rogue however, and he is constantly running from town to town, getting in some outlandish situations. The narrative includes plenty of social critiques, anything from the effect of religion on society to the class system. Through Rousseau's social life, you see deep into the world of Bourbon era France. A clever mind can pick up on satirical and damning indictments the young Rousseau makes on the existing system, as he becomes aware that rather drastic changes are needed. Of course, the story also takes us through Rousseau's sexual adventures, which make for fun reading alone. With all the frivolity of the narrative, it is important to remind ourselves of the importance of this book. Rousseau and his philosophy, outlined in Confessions, was one of the driving forces behind the French revolution, especially among the Jacobins. It is said that Robespierre claimed his allegiance to Rousseau in the moments leading up to his execution. While one can doubt Robespierre's real allegiance to the true ideals of Rousseau, it does highlight the emphasis many French intellectuals put on Jean-Jaques. To the modern reader, the philosophy of Rousseau can teach us all a lot about government and the nature of its relationship with the people. A great book.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Story, Insightful Philosophy
Review: Rarely have I read such a relevant and sophisticated thinking in a book centuries old. While Rousseau is not one of the world's most famous political and social commentators, his impact and the quality of writing should convince everyone to read his book. In Confessions, he gives a wonderful literary performance, running the gamut from humorous cultural commentator to serious political theorist. It is just a wonderful book to read.
Jean Jacques Rousseau was born in 18th century France, to a middle class family that was wealthy enough to give him a chance at schooling. Rousseau has an amazing ability to find sponsors to fund his education and continued way of life. The man is quite the rogue however, and he is constantly running from town to town, getting in some outlandish situations. The narrative includes plenty of social critiques, anything from the effect of religion on society to the class system. Through Rousseau's social life, you see deep into the world of Bourbon era France. A clever mind can pick up on satirical and damning indictments the young Rousseau makes on the existing system, as he becomes aware that rather drastic changes are needed. Of course, the story also takes us through Rousseau's sexual adventures, which make for fun reading alone. With all the frivolity of the narrative, it is important to remind ourselves of the importance of this book. Rousseau and his philosophy, outlined in Confessions, was one of the driving forces behind the French revolution, especially among the Jacobins. It is said that Robespierre claimed his allegiance to Rousseau in the moments leading up to his execution. While one can doubt Robespierre's real allegiance to the true ideals of Rousseau, it does highlight the emphasis many French intellectuals put on Jean-Jaques. To the modern reader, the philosophy of Rousseau can teach us all a lot about government and the nature of its relationship with the people. A great book.
Rating:
Summary: My own confesssion
Review: Rousseau's Confessions had been on my book shelf for at least two years before I got motivated to read it. I had started it a few times, but never got beyond the first chapter. I read quite alot, though, and the Confessions seemed to pop up everywhere, in History, Philosophy, and especially in articles on influences in Literature. Flipping through it, it seemed dry and the passages boring and out-of date. But I told myself I must read it, if only to better understand the references that kept drawing from it.
Once I got past the first chapter, I found I simply could not put it down. Admittedly, I had the extra advantage of knowing alot about the period in history and the life of Rousseau himself, but that wasn't the magic of the book. It was Rousseau himself who seemed to come alive through the pages. The tortured honesty on every page which excited and shocked me kept me up late every night until I was finished. There were times I simply had to put the book down, catch my breath a little, and think, "Oh My God! I can't believe it!" After, I realized I had finished one of the best reading experiences of my life. It ranked right up there with "The Red and The Black", "Les Mis", "Crime and Punishment" and "Anna Karenina". This book will live through the ages, I had read a hundred times but dismissed it. I only hope you are more trustful than I.
Rating:
Summary: Sure, Jacques...sure
Review: There are certain books that are cornerstones in your life. This is one of mine. A lot of the Romantic self-centerdness that marks my character can be traced directly back to this guy. But then again, whatever my expansive vision and love of variety and the vagaries of human nature can also be traced back to this cynical, but at the same time genial soul. Rousseau, like Voltaire and Diderot, his contemporaries, could look upon his fellow man and himself with both a frown and a smile. He claims at the outset of the work that he is going to show you himself as he honestly is, warts and all. Don't believe him! But don't turn your back on him either, or dismiss him as a liar! You would be denying yourself the company of one of the most charming alluring reconteurs in all of literature, should you do so. Monsieur Rousseau absolutely loves talking about himself. That sounds like a recipe for boredom, I know. But the trouble is, he's got such a fascinating subject. He knew everyone who was anyone in the 18th century. The women, in particular, were the actual movers and shakers of fin de siecle France. They were figures who presided over literary salons when there actually were literary salons. Madame de Stael is only one matron who looms large in the account. France was basically ruled by powerful and cunning women in that era. Rousseau was there, mentally recording every intimate bon mot and detail. Then there is his infectious, expansive nature to win you over! Try as you might, self centered as the man is, you can't help liking the guy! He is the ultimate Romantic, in the best sense of the word. He believes in his soul that mankind is noble, that we were put here on earth to enact a divine plan for the benefit of all. That the French Revolution would show a different, Hobbesian side to his theory doesn't really diminish his optimistic, humanistic influence on the Romantic movement and ultimately 19th century literature, in general. He's one of those seminal figures without whom Goethe, the Romantic poets, Blake, Emerson, Whitman, etc. wouldn't have been possible. This is a great book. Liar, hedger, whatever, you really will get to know this character in all his colors, subterfuges, moods, etc. Love him or hate him, you will have to admit that he's like no one you have ever met. Unfortunately. BEK
Rating: 
Summary: TIMELESS philosophy...
Review: this is a classic tell-all, coming of age story in 1700's europe: rousseaus' mother dies at an early age, and through his imagination and melancholic pursuits, and once his father's hands-off approach ensues, he is left to seek beauty and justice elsewhere. rich with detailed observations of life, people and his place in the world, it is a wonderful introduction to the man rousseau. persecuted for later writings and publishment of his philosophy, i.e. the social contract, among others (and much like de sade and huxley} he still found a small niche of support in his time. other related authors/books i would recommend: the first man, albert camus; aldous huxley; mario vargas llosa.
Rating:
Summary: Average
Review: This is the most beautiful, heartfelt and, as humanly possible, honest autobiography I have ever read. In fact, it is really the first "modern" autobiography written, in which the author freely questions himself and his motives all with an impelling desire to know who he really is (though he mentions in these Confessions that such a quest is futile, that all men, especially himself, are different people at different times). Thus, he is also a forerunner of the modern literary and psychological notion that the unchanging "self" is a fiction. -But this is really by the wayside, Rousseau had one of the tenderest hearts in all of literature, and to read the story of this heart as it makes its way through life is both beautiful and tragic beyond almost beyond endurance.-The best parts of the book are those all too few times when he enjoys the liberty to follow wherever his heart leads him. The reader cannot help but feel the joy in such occasions, the writing makes it so contagious. His enchantment with Nature rivals that of Shelley and Thoreau, and his transports of Platonic love give the lie to the modern notion that it pales in comparison to the physical.-The Confessions has its faults:I can't remember how many times Rousseau inveighs "...and here all my troubles began." At a certain point, one realizes that his persecution complex is at least, in part, a form of paranoia in a more and more frequently disordered mind. In his case, though, most of the facts are on his side. He didn't just make up that he was exiled from almost every country on Continental Europe at some time during his life.-To everybody reading this review, READ THE BOOK! Only a heart of granite can fail to be deeply moved by it...Those with granite hearts may excuse themselves. The Confessions are proof enough that such persons do exist.
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