The Simpsons and Society: An Analysis of Our Favorite Family and Its Influence in Contemporary Society

Rating:
Summary: An Enjoyable Book For All Ages... and ALL Simpsons Fans
Review: Great book for all ages. As long as you're a fan of The Simpsons, you will definitely enjoy this book. It gets my 5-star rating.

Rating:
Summary: DON'T LISTEN TO NEGATIVE REVIEWS.. AN AWESOME SIMPSONS BOOK
Review: This is a great book for any fan of The Simpsons. Don't listen to the negative reviews... This book is a MUST READ. The quotes are hilarious, and the essays are insightful. The book is very well-written, and it was a treat to read..

Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT SIMPSONS BOOK!
Review: This is a great book!! I just read through my copy of 'The Simpsons and Society'... The book is a MUST READ for every Simpsons fan. It is an insightful analysis of The Simpsons television series. 'The Simpsons and Society' uniquely demonstrates that The Simpsons is more than a cartoon. In fact, the author notes that The Simpsons provides viewers with both comedy and the opportunity to uncover its inherent intellectual nature. The author taps into both the satirical and intellectual elements that have made the series so successful throughout the years. The author's use of great Simpsons quotes to purvey academic messages and insight make this book a 5-star read. I particularly enjoyed the sections devoted to Simpsonian politics, media culture, and medical malpractice (Hi Everybody! Hi, Dr. Nick!) I highly recommend this book to every Simpsons fan, and everyone else interested in reading about how popular culture infiltrates our lives. You gotta buy 'The Simpsons and Society'! You're going to enjoy it!

Rating:
Summary: Uninteresting and poorly written.
Review: A huge Simpsons fan, I usually eat up anything associated with the series. Unfortunately, even a die hard like me did not enjoy this book. I have complaints with the writing style and the contents in general. To be quite frank, it reads like a Grade 9 English assignment. Worse yet, it attempts to pass itself off as quasi-intellectual. For the first time, a book somehow managed to iritate me. Ah well, at least it was only 160 pages.

Rating:
Summary: Great SIMPSONS book!
Review: Great Simpsons book. Very insightful, and interesting. Excellent READ! A must buy, I give it an A+.
A great gift item for the holidays!
Great book for all fans... A serious and funny look at The Simpsons television series. I'm going to read it again!

Rating:
Summary: mixed feelings...due mostly to my love of the show
Review: The only reason that I gave this book any stars at all is because I love "The Simpsons" and enjoy remembering scenes as I read about them. The concept of the book is also a worthy puruit-generally speaking. Otherwise, I think this book should never have been published. As an aspiring writer myself-as well as a writing tutor-I am VERY distracted by the constant grammatical errors throughout the book. It is VERY repetitive, badly organized (disorganized), oversimplified, and that's only to name a few issues. The potential inherent in this subject is infinite; reading this book makes me want to tackle something similar, but to do so with greater attention to detail, stronger evidence to support my theories, and the time to delve deeper into the concepts involved. To me, this book reads like a first draft of a thesis, one that needs major revision, a lot more evidence, less varying theories, more depth in those that do have the most merit, and months-maybe years-to make it better and suitable for publishing.

Rating:
Summary: The Simpsons and Society Rocks!
Review: Simpsons fans listen up: check out "The Simpsons and Society"..
Satire is great. And "The Simpsons and Society" by Steven Keslowitz demonstrates why this is so.
Any Simpsons fan should enjoy this book. I'm going to take the time to outline the reasons why "The Simpsons and Society" is an excellent supplementary resource tool for other scholarly works, such as "The Simpsons and Philosophy".
I read an excerpt from "The Simpsons and Society" on The Simpsons Archive (www.snpp.com) The chapter posted there is entitled "C. Montgomery Burns and the Pursuit of True Happiness." I've always been fascinated by the portrayal of Burns as a rich capitalist. The author of "The Simpsons and Society" analyzed the character of Burns, and made me feel as though I was actually immersed in each episode discussed. As I read on, I realized that my fascination of the character of Burns goes beyond his portrayal as Homer's rich boss. The author enlightened me because I now realize that Burns is truly a REFLECTION of the American capitlist: his character triumphs as well as his flaws. And, as the author notes, Burns is indeed similar to us: at times he is frail, and it is then that we can more closely relate to him.
After reading the excerpt, I purchased the book and hoped that it would contain as much insight into contemporary American society as the excerpt did. Indeed, the book met my highest expectations. My advice: read the excerpt... but don't stop there - there's a LOT more insight contained within the book. (The academic essays at the back read like scholarly works, each devoted to a particular topic. These were my favorite parts :)
It is Simpsons books such as this one and "The Simpsons and Philosophy" that make being a Simpsons fan fun - and enlightening. It's great to read about all of the ways in which The Simpsons enters our lives, influences thought processes, and reflects the "average" family in contemporary America.
I heartily enjoyed reading this book for several reasons: Firstly, the author delves deeper into The Simpsons than I had previously imagined possible.
Secondly, the author's writing style is entertaining and makes the book a fun read.
Thirdly, the academic insight is explored in many areas: For example, Neil Postman's views on the Age of Television are discussed in the context of Homer's infatuation with television. Another example: The author notes how a particular Simpsons episode portrays Descartes' Three-Fold Method of Doubt.
As a college student, I have found keen academic value in The Simpsons over the years. What the author does in this impressive work is compile many of the academic elements that The Simpsons has to offer the viewing public. Great read! Also recommend: "The Simpsons and Philosophy" by William Irwin

Rating:
Summary: 244 PAGES OF SIMPSONS
Review: I recently purchased the "new, expanded edition" of The Simpsons and Society after reading about it at The Simpsons Archive, and visiting the author's website (www.simpsonsandsociety.com). Keslowitz's analysis of "The Simpsons and Celebrity Culture" was especially enjoyable. I had read the chapter on celebrity culture in Turner's Planet Simpson book, and while Turner's chapter was enjoyable, it was quite lengthy and did not focus on the key episodes that Keslowitz outlines in "The Simpsons and Society". Keslowitz's analysis of "When You Dish Upon a Star" brilliantly outlines the problems associated with the current celebrity culture haunting American society. That's just one chapter. Other chapters include discourses on education in Springfield, Gun Control ("The Cartridge Family", "Bowling for Columbine", character analyses, some academic essays, and a Homer quiz. Furthermore, the quotes made me laugh. Any book that discusses what Neil Postman would say about Homer's television watching is worth reading. If you're a Simpsons fan, this is a great book to add to your collection.
I especially enjoyed the conclusion of the book, where the author discusses the closeness of the Simpson family and argues that the show presents family-oriented values. A book to be had.

Rating:
Summary: The Book that Ralph Wiggum Would Write
Review: I totally agree with all the One Star reviews listed here: this book blows chunks, to put it nicely. I've read books I disagree with, books where I felt the writer was dumb, books that are just plain boring, etc., but this truly is the first book I've read that shouldn't have been published. You see, key to understanding this book is this: *it's not a book*. It's a collection of things Keslowitz thinks are mild amusing.

So, a book on South Park by the same writer might sound something like this: "In many episodes, Kenny is killed. [insert twenty quotes of characters saying "You killed Kenny"] This makes us wonder about death. But it's funny. Funniness is good, and people like it. So Kenny dying is good, perhaps. [insert another eight quotes from characters about things that are good]"

In short, it's about as smart as Ralph Wiggum. However, while Ralphie is amusing, this book isn't. PLEASE save your money and don't buy it. Ask an eight year old about why they like the show, and you'll get about the same level of analysis and thought (not to mention writing ability).

Rating:
Summary: A Remarkably Poorly Conceived Book
Review: I am angered that I was asked to pay money for this -- I didn't, but I did ask my librarian to buy it, and so have that on my conscience. Let me be clear -- I am not writing this to upset or hurt the writer. But I do think the text is painfully self-indulgent, and even manipulative: using The Simpsons to sell work that shouldn't be published.

There are some neat books on The Simpsons that take the time to do more than just check out snpp.com, and that provide depth. John Alberti's Leaving Springfield is great, Pinsky's Gospel According to Simpsons is thoughtful. This one just reads like a rushed student essay. I grade student essays, and this one wouldn't do well, let me tell you.

Where's the research? Where's the incisive commentary? Where's the reason I should buy it? Forget other books on the topic -- there are hundreds of websites that give more info and analysis. Publishing has gatekeepers for reasons, and it's so clearly obvious that this guy tried to jump the gates, and as a result, he's produced self-indulgent drivel of a low standard. The fact that the book exists is fine, but the fact that he wants/expects people to *pay* is borderline offensive: I don't ask people to pay to listen to me humm and hah about things I think are cool, so why should he? The book doesn't even build up to any kind of analysis -- just when you think he *might* have something to say, he gives a list of quotes from a character, then changes the topics.

His bio is even laughable, since he tries to drape himself in academic respect. If he didn't do this, I wouldn't be so angered by the book, since it has no academic credibility. Just say "he likes The Simpsons and hopes you do too." Don't get my expectations up that you're actually offering something intelligent and reasoned when you're just giving me a pastiche of Little Kids' Website -level analysis.

The Simpsons, ultimately, is a text with so much more depth, importance, and relevance than this book comes close to finding. The book therefore not only does an injustice to media studies (no wonder people think media and mass comms is a slack major when books like this see the light of day), but an injustice to a great program. Save yourselves the money, and invest in Alberti, Pinsky, or Arnold's texts (or just watch the show for ten minutes and learn more).