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Rating: Summary: Blah, Blah, Blah Review: I had to read this book for my Freshman lit/comp class and it is by far the most pathetic collection of essays every gathered. It is almost unreadable, pretentious, and laughable. It is a collection of essays by writers who think considerably more of themselves then they are due. Subsequently they choose to use language that "shows" how much smarter they think they are.
Rating: Summary: Challenging, yet rewarding read Review: I had to read this book for my upper division journalism class this fall and found it to be one of the best books that we used in the course. The editors have tried to collect well-written, intelligent documentaries that challenge traditional connections between words and photographs. Included are Edward Said's inspiring piece about the Palestinian holocaust and exile, a piece by Roland Barthes about the meaning of photograph, "Let Us Speak Now of Famous Men," and many others. Although some pieces are better than others, Barthes' piece is more exciting and informative than Marianne Hirsch's writing on the way that children are used in photography. Over all, the collection is a rewarding and challenge book that could be used for any upper division class. (Maybe the reason that previous reviewers did not like the book is that it was not intended for first year college composition classes.)
Rating: Summary: From a Teacher Review: I have used this book to teach a freshman writing and reading course at a liberal arts school. Because of the difficulty of many of the texts, it was met by my students with little fanfare. While a few of the pieces are clearly too much for the average freshman (Foucault comes first to mind), most can be used effectively to get them to discuss issues. I have found that the students would rather talk in generals and universals than with the intricate arguments that some of the writers brilliantly present. This is one of the those books that if you decide to use it in a class, then you better be prepared to not only sink with the ship but also be able to provide an inspiring tour of the ruins.
Rating: Summary: The stories are uninspiring Review: This book contains a number of stories written by such notable authors as Paulo Friere. My biggest problem with this book is that it is too left wing for me. A few examples areFriere's overview of the "banking concept of education", an essay wit serious marxist overtones Joh Edgar Wideman's essay on the hardhips that an author has when he visits his younger brother in prison. More of a commentary on prison conditions, as well as the tragedies happening in the inner city. Susan Bordo's esssay on "hunger as ideology" and how ads still target womens insecurities about weight If you're going to write a book such as this one with essays from writers, at least have the decency to make it fictional essays instead of either a left or right wing perspective. My beef is that this book is used extensively by freshman college students and showing them one side of the political spectrum is not fair.
Rating: Summary: A book that contains great argumentative writing! Review: This book contains great argumentative writing in it. We used this book when I was a freshman in college for my argumentative class at the Universoty of Florida. It has classic scenarios of critics and advocates of movements expressing themselves in essay form. This book contains arguments about real life events that occured recently and discusses them in a very intellectual level. One of the best things about this book is that you can compare the essays within with other essays in the book. Sometimes the essays are foils of one another and through this you can see their subjective viewpoint more clearly. Most of the time the essays do compliment one another and intensify the other's argument tenfold.
Rating: Summary: Brilliant and rewarding Review: This tremendously rich and rewarding book is probably the best collection of essays, with the best apparatus (the most interesting questions, the best ideas for writing) of any teachable collection out there. I teach at the University of California, Berkeley, and use this book, as do a number of my colleagues. Each one of these essays will unlock a world. Some of them, like Clifford Geertz or Paolo Freire or John Edgar Wideman or Adrienne Rich are centerpieces of my courses. History, anthropology, literature (the new addition of Alice Munro is a brilliant stroke), fieldwork, sociology... but to say that one can introduce any of these fields using this book doesn't do it justice. These essays are complex and balanced, representing a wide variety of world views, whether political or aesthetic. Reading them requires some effort, but the essays will well repay that effort. They will transform any reader's ideas of what an essay can be.
Rating: Summary: From a Teacher Review: unfortunately i am forced to read this book for an english class. very uninspiring and agrivating to read. so far all i have encountered is stories of pompous windbags and pointless observations written by people who obviously like to be noticed. its painful to read seeing as each story is all detail and no substance. if you are looking for something enlightening, don't pick up a book called, "the ways of reading".
Rating: Summary: was there a point? Review: unfortunately i am forced to read this book for an english class. very uninspiring and agrivating to read. so far all i have encountered is stories of pompous windbags and pointless observations written by people who obviously like to be noticed. its painful to read seeing as each story is all detail and no substance. if you are looking for something enlightening, don't pick up a book called, "the ways of reading".
Rating: Summary: This book is not good Review: Ways of Reading is the textbook for the Freshman English class I am in. I generally enjoy English classes because they are usually a chance to discuss things and talk about differing opinions. Well, that's not the case with this book. Every essay in this book is by some radical leftist. The "varying perspectives" talked about in the other reviews are simply the different perspectives of a lesbian feminist and a Brazilian communist, not actual differences in their beliefs. This book is basically a leftist handbook meant to tell the "proper opinion" on every issue. These essays aren't even particularly good. Many are poorly written, ostensibly to make a point. Now, some of the essays do have value, but taken all together they constitute not an attempt to show the best and most useful works in the English language but rather to convince students of a certain point of view. I would advise any professor not to use this book exclusively, as the essays are really repulsive to anyone who doesn't agree with the premises therein.
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