The Future Dictionary of America

Rating:
Summary: Some inaccuracies abound...
Review: ...in the previous reviews. This is, simply, a screed. Imagine Ann Coulter on a bad day, and you've got an idea of the tone of the book. Not that it won't appeal to a certain segment of the "reading" population for precisely that reason, mind you, but for most people, it's something to be avoided. Like acid. It's not inconceivable that some would disagree with the current administration's policies. But pure venom and hate isn't going to carry the day.

Rating:
Summary: One of a kind
Review: I've never read a book quite like this. It's delightful, philosophical, inventive, poignant, unique, funny. The "dictionary" format lets you read it a paragraph at a time or in long stretches; a perfect book for the crapper or a long plane ride. Most importantly, the book reminds us there is a future. All we need now is a more useful present. If we are lucky, this book will help us get there.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: Insightful, interesting, a hint of McSweeneys with a more critical bent. I look forward to good things from this magazine.

Rating:
Summary: Impossible to stop reading
Review: It's impossible to stop reading this. We just picked up the book yesterday, had it on the coffee table when friends came over. It's a quirky little book--looks like a dictionary and then you open it up and there are colored comics. Our friends took turns reading out the definitions, and before we knew it, we'd read the entire book and then had a many-hour political discussion as a result. I recommend it. It feels easy and frivolous to read it, but it also makes you think about all the big issues of the day. The book comes with a CD of musical groups, but I haven't played it yet.

Rating:
Summary: great book, lovely CD, fantastic cause
Review: Not only did I enjoy this book both for straight-out reading as well as random dipping, but I've bought it for three different friends AND I've purchased more copies as insurance for the looming gift-giving season. It really is the perfect book for every shelf.

Rating:
Summary: Hopeful
Review: This book is a positive contribution to our current state of disunion in the United States. Yes, there are entries that look back at the Shrub administration with contempt, but others look at a positive future where we overcame the myopia, nepotism, and greed of the bushies. It is positive in itself that the future is there to write the entries. I would have given it 4 stars, but a reviewer that obviously did not read it compared it to Ann Coulter and only gave it one star. I am canceling out that vote. Thanks are owed to Foer, Eggers, et al. for their quality writing, work, and discerning eyes.

Rating:
Summary: unique, fun
Review: This is a really unique book. I kept hearing about how it was supposed to be really funny, and some of it is funny, but a lot of the entries are philosophical, or just artsy writing, or fun to think about in a science fiction kind of way; some of them aren't really political at all. Though I don't agree with conservative politics I don't like personal, mean attacks on people with different opinions and I was happy to find that overall, this book isn't caustic. With a few exceptions. Mostly its just fun, and the $$ is for a good cause.

It also contains some interesting extras like the Declaration of Independence and a charting of the evolution of Indo-European language families (I don't want to give a lot of stuff away). It's definitely worth having, I would like to give it 4 1/2 stars. But, the CD that comes with the book is truly a jewel and it definitely deserves 5 stars.

The CD contains several folksy type songs, several good rock songs, a couple of punk songs, a good r&b song, an interesting a capella song, and a remake of a real 19th century campaign ditty.

Rating:
Summary: Ha ha ha sob
Review: What a funny book, but also sad. This is exactly the kind of thing that will make people think about this year's issues without giving them headaches. Superb work generally, but I especially like Sarah Vowell, Robert Olen Butler, and Ben Greenman. I hope this has the desired effect.

Rating:
Summary: A funny and trenchant look "back" at our time
Review: Who would think of reading a dictionary straight through, and for laughs? And who would have thought of writing one that anyone would want to? This "future dictionary", like all good utopian and dystopian literature, is a mordant comment on our age. Ostensibly published at some distant point in the future -- perhaps 100 years from now or more, judging from some of the entries -- the dictionary consists mostly of invented words, and invented definitions of familiar words. Some of it is slightly absurdist, some of it reflects a broad critique of the state of our culture, and some of it is a scalpel-edged swipe at the outrages of our current administration. The 150 or so writers who contributed entries for the book obviously had a great time. It is hard to imagine that they were not smiling to themselves as they wrote their definitions, just as it is hard to imagine any reasonably conscious American failing to smile as he or she reads them. Art and ideas can have consequences in the larger social and political arena, and the creators of this book obviously hope to have an impact. Whether or not it contributes to the outcome on November 2, though, this is a terrifically well conceived and well executed piece of work.