Rating: 
Summary: Required Reading for Serious Playwrights - by David Bronczyk
Review: As an aspiring playwright currently developing a script, I found Mamet's book to be an invigorating and succinct investigation of the function of true drama ("The theater exists to deal with the problems of the soul, with the mysteries of human life, not with its quotidian calamities."). For me, the most arresting and appealing aspect of Mamet's aesthetic philosophy is his candid unearthing of the roots of our dramatic urge in the collective human psyche. This urge manifests itself in our natural impulse - indeed, "our unique survival tool" - to structure our perceptions of the world into 'event-complication-denouement' sequences, in other words, to seek a three-act structure (the book's title, with a hat-tip to Leadbelly, derives from this progression). Mamet cites Aristotle in delineating a protagonist/hero's dogged and single-minded pursuit of his/her goal within this framework of a play.Also intriguing in "Knife" is Mamet's association of theater with myth, magic, religion, and dreams - all of which address the most fundamental non-rational human needs, compulsions, and feelings of powerlessness in the face of death. "Knife" is a bracing must-read, and left me hungry for more.
Rating: 
Summary: Arrogant over-simplifications
Review: David Mamet is a genius. I sat down with this book, thinking it would be discussing the drama of a play, or theatre, and it does, but more than that, it dissects the drama of life in general. I am not a big philosophy buff, but I read this book in one (and 1/2) sitting. Then my husband read it right after me.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, should be listed under Philosophy
Review: David Mamet is a genius. I sat down with this book, thinking it would be discussing the drama of a play, or theatre, and it does, but more than that, it dissects the drama of life in general. I am not a big philosophy buff, but I read this book in one (and 1/2) sitting. Then my husband read it right after me.
Rating:
Summary: My Copy Is Torn To Shreds!
Review: I bought this book when it first came out in hardcover. It was about triple the price that it is now on Amazon, and many people I knew thought I was insane to buy such a small book for a high price. But to me -- it was all too worth it. David Mamet is all at once a very clear writer and a very mysterious writer. Critics of this particular book mainly see fault in its "seeming" lack of clarity -- Mamet has the intellect of an academic but does not feel that he should write like a dry academic because ACADEMIC PAPERS ARE BORING -- right? At least, I think so. Three Uses of The Knife -- I've read it about 30 times, I've underlined my favorite parts, and the dust jacket is falling to shreds. When I had Mamet sign it at a book reading he gave me this confused look because everyone had a brand-new book (it was South of the Northeast Kingdom) and I had this tattered one. I had to have that book signed because that book is really awesome and means a lot to me (it taught me alot). Wether you love it or hate it you have to appriciate it. Mamet's genius is undeniable, and the confidence he enbues in his writing is unforgettable.
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Summary: Premium content, distractingly poor typography.
Review: I just got this book this morning and these are preliminary reactions.
First of all, the content rocks!
Mamet suggestivey points out how we dramatize our lives in our banal exchanges with each other about impersonal things like the weather. In doing so we endow our lives with significance. The insight reminds me of how charged the world once was when I was in love for the first time. I am sure that the access that this small volume gives to an interesting mind repay reading and reading. This is one of those books that makes you think and makes you feel clever for the thinking the thoughts it guides you to.
Unfortunately, I find the poor word-processed typography is distracting. One line has the the initial capital of a sentence squeezed up against the period of the preceding one. The next line has wide open spaces between the words. Paragraph after paragraph finishes with the dangling ends of hyphenated words. I would rather pay a dollar more for a clean view of a remarkable mind.
Surely a respected publishing company can do better than just feed the author's data file to a poorly automatic compositing application and then print the results unperused by human eye?
Rating:
Summary: I Like Mamet... Even if he is Unbelievably Opinionated
Review: I think that this book follows Mamet's M.O. to a tee - It is very erudite, yet I find myself laughing. His writing is very thought provoking in this essay on using your writing to convey meaning. It is not his best book, but it is certainly worthy of the 1 hour it takes to read. I think this book, as other Mamet books, benefits by his ironclad belief that there is one way to do things. He may actually argue that his POV is not consistent with my last sentence, but he is such an ornery S.O.B., that it is simply a pleasure to listen to him go off on his tirades and tangents. Will this book allow you to write better? - Maybe. Will this book thoroughly entertain you and enlighten you with Mamet's POV on the issue? - Absolutely. It reads almost like fiction.
Rating:
Summary: I Like Mamet... Even if he is Unbelievably Opinionated
Review: I think that this book follows Mamet's M.O. to a tee - It is very erudite, yet I find myself laughing. His writing is very thought provoking in this essay on using your writing to convey meaning. It is not his best book, but it is certainly worthy of the 1 hour it takes to read. I think this book, as other Mamet books, benefits by his ironclad belief that there is one way to do things. He may actually argue that his POV is not consistent with my last sentence, but he is such an ornery S.O.B., that it is simply a pleasure to listen to him go off on his tirades and tangents. Will this book allow you to write better? - Maybe. Will this book thoroughly entertain you and enlighten you with Mamet's POV on the issue? - Absolutely. It reads almost like fiction.
Rating:
Summary: A Little Gem
Review: In 3 Uses of the Knife, Mamet has helped me realize that the difference between provoking an audience and manipulating them is the difference between art and salesmanship. We see precious little of one, and an overabundance of the other. Mamet reminds us that theatre is not a product to be consumed, but a lense through which we may understand a complex world, a world seeking to distract us from our own lives. This book is art.
Rating:
Summary: A Little Gem
Review: In 3 Uses of the Knife, Mamet has helped me realize that the difference between provoking an audience and manipulating them is the difference between art and salesmanship. We see precious little of one, and an overabundance of the other. Mamet reminds us that theatre is not a product to be consumed, but a lense through which we may understand a complex world, a world seeking to distract us from our own lives. This book is art.
Rating:
Summary: Informative & Entertaining
Review: In a short, easy-to-read book, Mamet reveals, as the title suggests, "the nature and purpose of drama."
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