Rating: 
Summary: Interesting look into the value of behaviorism
Review: Skinner, the champion of radical behaviorism, offers the blueprints of his utopian society as driven by a technology of behavior. Instead of boring readers with an extensive review of the research by himself or others, Skinner returns to his literary roots and provides a novel. This book provides a working knowledge of Skinnerian psychology and should be on the book list in psychology classes that deal with Skinner's theories. Beyond academia, this book provides an interesting dialogue concerning science's role in society. The novel is fairly easy to read and moves along well. However, this is not a book to read solely for entertainment -- it does not move quite that quickly! As Skinner intended, this book is a conversation piece.
Rating:
Summary: fiction transforms into fact
Review: something i noticed the other reviewers did not mention (perhaps did not know) is that this book originally inspired one of the longest standing intentional communities the u.s. ~ twin oaks. you can check out "a walden two experiment" documenting their first 5 years & "is it utopia yet" written after their 25th anniversary - both by kat kinkade, one of the founding memebers. they are much more personable than this; funny and refreshingly honest they give you a glimpse into what actually happened when people tried to materialize this vision. (note: they may have been inspired by this novel, but they are not necessarily bound to its principles now) also worth checking out is "the intentional communities directory" which highlights hundreds of such projects around the world & also provides insights into various issues encountered when trying to recreate your own world & other nifty tidbits."walden two" itself is a rather dry book; it was written by the father of behavioral science, after all. i also think it's interesting to note that this book came out the same year as "1984" ~ though it offers a vastly different vision. while the story may not be terribly engaging, it is truly sincere & rather thorough in its line of thought. i also really liked the format as i felt a part of the unfolding. i'd always been interested in community & was aware of the ic directory at the time i read this, yet found myself still shaken to the core contemplating some of his proposals. this book also gave me, personally, an amazing sense of validation. it helped me understand that i was not running away from life by dedicating myself to being a part of figuring out a sane way to live, but i was indeed being a part of some of the most important work in "changing the world" that there is. this book is worth your time, even if you don't envision yourself as a "crazy hippie radical" *grin*
Rating: 
Summary: A beautiful book
Review: The problem with most novels is that they are devoid of intellectual content. The problem with most books on utopia is that they are boring. Walden Two, a novel about utopia, avoids both these traps. This book is probably the most exciting and captivating book ever written about utopia and communal living. If you want to read a compelling adventure story that really makes you think at the same time - for the love of Mike, buy this book.
Rating: 
Summary: An Insult!
Review: The title of this novel is an insult to the original "Walden", turning Thoreau's great work on it's head. Thoreau wrote about individualism and self reliance in "Walden" (which I recently reviewed). "Walden Two" is a novel about a socially engineered utopia, far from anything Thoreau would have ever advocated. I read both Walden Two and the now out of print "Beyond Freedom and Dignity" many years ago after Skinner spoke at the college I attended. I found "Walden Two" captivating (I wasn't bored as were some reviewers) but I was captivated by what, quite frankly, is nonsense. Such a Utopian community would curb ambition; after all, who would aspire to break from the pack and achieve great things such as advances in medical research, if we were made contented in such a "utopian" society? Skinner could induce certain behavior by behaviorist techniques. If you were talking to him, for example, and you were scratching your head from time to time, he could get you to scratch your head more by giving you verbal positive feedback every time you did it. Sort of like Pavlov's dog. However, just because behaviorists can successfully control behavior does not mean they should. After all, who is to decide the behavior society wants that behaviorists should then induce? I'm sorry, we cannot go beyond freedom and dignity because these are ever enduring values, not the values that a controlled society may decide is best for us.
Rating: 
Summary: Flawed, but bears comparison to other utopian works
Review: There is a lot of confusion about this book. Walden Two is one big dialogue on the possibilities of society design. Like Orwell's 1984 or Plato's Republic, it is about ideas. All that happens in it is a lot of gab about how we might or might not want to design a society, so it makes poor light reading. The book has little stylistic or rhetorical appeal, so if it became your favorite book it would probably be because you liked thinking about the things Skinner was thinking about. The concept at the heart of Walden Two is that of making our social institutions scientifically self-improving - matching up our needs and problems with any relevant solutions, and designing the institutions so that they will readily develop and take up scientific knowledge. The reader is invited to evaluate the feasibility and desirability of this via Skinner's sketch of one implementation and its consequences. That sketch dominates the book with little details, leading many readers (pro and con alike) to conclude that the details presented were Skinner's literal suggestions. I suggest sidestepping the issue by evaluating ideas rather than people, as Skinner provided us with no firm evidence of what he believed (in my opinion a definite, but not unrecoverable, flaw of the work). Walden Two was devised by the character Frazier, who has some rhetorical similarities to Skinner in his more rhetorical moods. On the other hand, the narrator shares a wealth of detail with Skinner, and particular is very distinct from Frazier. He
is named Burris (to Skinner's Burrhus), teaches unhappily at University, finds Frazier to be personally irritating and arrogant, and is interested in the possibilities of improving society and applying behavior, though often giving Frazier mild challenges. Of particular note, Burris admits quite explicitly that he does not understand the basis of the techniques that Frazier is using. They are wild future technology. All we see of them - via Burris - are a handful of brief sketches and a lot of results. Like the flying car or Newspeak, the implementation is not the point, but the consequences are. Once again, the book will be more interesting if you can separate out the overarching ideas. Walden Two is (by assumption, obviously not empirically) leaderless, policeless, and virtually free of any punishment, restraint, surveillance or coercion. The techniques do not involve any surgery or drugging. Anyone but Skinner, the steadfast determinist, would characterize them as minimal-impact, minimal-control, giving people as much choice as possible and using the same kind of incentives that now 'control' us, but in the pursuit of more leisurely, healthy, diverse, etc. lives. If Skinner had not been such a slave to his words, he could have conveyed this important nuance by simply using ordinary words. His utopia is really intended to be a utopia, explicitly different from the nasty controls that governments now use: surveillance and reporting to central authorities, beatings, war, etc. And this is really the point. After a couple of careful readings, the one thing I can noticeably identify Skinner embracing and defending is perhaps the one essentially utopian notion: that things now are being done in very wrong and ineffective ways (which they are), and that some mixture of technical knowhow and good-heartedness might under some conditions correct the problems and make things better for everyone. There is something deeply naive in this, in the age and perpetual lack of delivery of such things, that always arouses my cynicism. But in some ways it does get delivered - without anyone to act on this impulse, you and I would be working the dirt in fear, unhealthy and about as far from free as possible. Bottom line: Skinner's defense of essential utopian ideas is refreshing, and he presents a slightly different angle that bears useful comparison with other political utopian and dystopian novels like 1984, Brave New World, etc. However, the execution is poor on several counts, so Walden Two is a pass for anyone who really wants to get to the point or who is essentially uninterested in the topics described above. If you do read it, be patient and engage the topic on YOUR terms - not Chomsky's and not Skinner's, either!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting concept, with boring characters and no plot.
Review: Walden Two is a book that could have been great but suffers from one flaw: it's boring!! The book reads like a lecture with occasional debate. Skinner definately intrigues me with his thoughts on behavioral engineering, and the concept of a utopian society in the midst of present day society is very intriguing. However, there is basically no plot and very little character development in this book and thus it suffers. 1984 doesn't read like a blue print discussing the society instead it's a story about Winston and Julia through which we learn about the society. I wish Walden Two was less of lecture and more of a story.
Rating:
Summary: A Modern Utopia?
Review: Walden Two is a work of fiction that gives us an outline for a modern utopia. In the book, six people - two college professors, a former student and his friend from the army, and the girlfriends of the two young men - visited a commune out in the country. The commune had been created by an old school mate of one of the two professors. When Professor Burris received a visit from his former student, Rogers, and Rogers' friend Jamnik, about T. E. Frazier, who had set out to create a modern utopia, Burris discovered that his old friend Frazier had indeed succeeded at creating his utopia. But even more interesting was that when Burris sent a letter to Frazier, a return letter invited Burris and some friends to visit and see Frazier's utopia, Walden Two. Rogers and Jamnik were delighted to accompany him and brought their girlfriends along. Burris also brought along another professor, Castle, who was intrigued by the creation of a utopia, a feat he had believed impossible. Together, the six traveled into the countryside to find the utopia of which Frazier had boasted. The visitors found that the members of the utopia worked short days, on average four-hour work days, had a great appreciation for art and science, used a hybrid economic system combining Marxism and capitalism that worked for the benefit of all members, and enjoyed happiness all the time. Frazier had thought the entire utopia through, and did many things very differently than the rest of the United States of America, from the communal raising of children, to new systems of education, and even to new ways of raising farm animals. He even used new ways of carrying food from the food lines of the communal mess halls to nooks in the "Ladder," a long stairway that doubled as a communal gathering place. Frazier had created an efficient utopia in a corrupt world. Though they see it before their eyes, some of them don't believe it, and they try to look for problems in the system. Professor Castle is always on Frazier's heels, trying to find contradictions in the system and failures to achieve true fairness and equality; he even accuses Frazier of being the despotic dictator of Walden Two. But Frazier is always ready for any attack with a defense, and even an attack of his own at times. From the "Ladder" to the "Walk", Frazier's Walden Two Utopia was truly something to be admired. And how had he managed it? He had used a science called "Behavioral Engineering". In this system, adults signed contracts to abide by the rules of Walden Two and reinforced one another's behavior through their common acceptance of these rules. Children were raised to absorb and live by the values of this modern utopia, including the values of sharing, working their fair share for the benefit of the whole community, and maintaining impartiality. The adults used positive reinforcement to encourage appropriate behavior by the children. It seemed like a viable system, but I think an all too well known cynical writer, George Orwell, would have a field day with how this might go wrong if even one person failed to absorb the communal values and found a way to use the system for his own personal gain. Despite how good this community sounds, we must remember that this is a work of fiction. Though creating a "Walden Two" type of community could be a good start towards forming a fair society, I am not convinced that this model could work in a large society. In the small community, where everyone knows each other and trusts each other, there is a sense of loyalty that keeps the members subscribing to the ideals of the fair society. In a large society, nobody knows everyone and therefore cannot trust everyone, and this undermines trust in the system itself. Walden Two is worth reading if you're trying to find a way to create a modern utopia. But, if you are going to read this book, I also suggest reading "The Case Against B. F. Skinner", by Noam Chomsky. The essay discusses why Skinner is wrong about the malleability of human nature, and why this society would fail to attract enough members to be viable. Walden Two and "The Case Against B.F. Skinner" are very "hard reads," and take a lot of time to fully understand the points that are being made. Take a month or two so you can read it slowly and understand the concepts that are being presented. If you do not understand anything, that is okay. The ideas are pretty hard to understand. I recommend talking it over with a political science teacher. Still, despite the difficulty, this book is a great read for an intellectual mind, and the essay is as well.
Rating:
Summary: A Modern Utopia?
Review: Walden Two is a work of fiction that gives us an outline for a modern utopia. In the book, six people - two college professors, a former student and his friend from the army, and the girlfriends of the two young men - visited a commune out in the country. The commune had been created by an old school mate of one of the two professors. When Professor Burris received a visit from his former student, Rogers, and Rogers' friend Jamnik, about T. E. Frazier, who had set out to create a modern utopia, Burris discovered that his old friend Frazier had indeed succeeded at creating his utopia. But even more interesting was that when Burris sent a letter to Frazier, a return letter invited Burris and some friends to visit and see Frazier's utopia, Walden Two. Rogers and Jamnik were delighted to accompany him and brought their girlfriends along. Burris also brought along another professor, Castle, who was intrigued by the creation of a utopia, a feat he had believed impossible. Together, the six traveled into the countryside to find the utopia of which Frazier had boasted. The visitors found that the members of the utopia worked short days, on average four-hour work days, had a great appreciation for art and science, used a hybrid economic system combining Marxism and capitalism that worked for the benefit of all members, and enjoyed happiness all the time. Frazier had thought the entire utopia through, and did many things very differently than the rest of the United States of America, from the communal raising of children, to new systems of education, and even to new ways of raising farm animals. He even used new ways of carrying food from the food lines of the communal mess halls to nooks in the "Ladder," a long stairway that doubled as a communal gathering place. Frazier had created an efficient utopia in a corrupt world. Though they see it before their eyes, some of them don't believe it, and they try to look for problems in the system. Professor Castle is always on Frazier's heels, trying to find contradictions in the system and failures to achieve true fairness and equality; he even accuses Frazier of being the despotic dictator of Walden Two. But Frazier is always ready for any attack with a defense, and even an attack of his own at times. From the "Ladder" to the "Walk", Frazier's Walden Two Utopia was truly something to be admired. And how had he managed it? He had used a science called "Behavioral Engineering". In this system, adults signed contracts to abide by the rules of Walden Two and reinforced one another's behavior through their common acceptance of these rules. Children were raised to absorb and live by the values of this modern utopia, including the values of sharing, working their fair share for the benefit of the whole community, and maintaining impartiality. The adults used positive reinforcement to encourage appropriate behavior by the children. It seemed like a viable system, but I think an all too well known cynical writer, George Orwell, would have a field day with how this might go wrong if even one person failed to absorb the communal values and found a way to use the system for his own personal gain. Despite how good this community sounds, we must remember that this is a work of fiction. Though creating a "Walden Two" type of community could be a good start towards forming a fair society, I am not convinced that this model could work in a large society. In the small community, where everyone knows each other and trusts each other, there is a sense of loyalty that keeps the members subscribing to the ideals of the fair society. In a large society, nobody knows everyone and therefore cannot trust everyone, and this undermines trust in the system itself. Walden Two is worth reading if you're trying to find a way to create a modern utopia. But, if you are going to read this book, I also suggest reading "The Case Against B. F. Skinner", by Noam Chomsky. The essay discusses why Skinner is wrong about the malleability of human nature, and why this society would fail to attract enough members to be viable. Walden Two and "The Case Against B.F. Skinner" are very "hard reads," and take a lot of time to fully understand the points that are being made. Take a month or two so you can read it slowly and understand the concepts that are being presented. If you do not understand anything, that is okay. The ideas are pretty hard to understand. I recommend talking it over with a political science teacher. Still, despite the difficulty, this book is a great read for an intellectual mind, and the essay is as well.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book for the mind
Review: Walden Two is an excellent portrayal of a working utopian society contrasted with the relatively gloomy style of life as we know it. A Brave New World and 1984 portray attempted utopian societies which fail or appear to be failing, but Walden Two works, according to its author. All throughout this novel, readers wonder if they would really like to live in a society like this by weighing the costs and benefits. Written in more of a philosophical type of dialogue between the protaganists and the antagonists, the novel at first presents to be dull, but persistence proves to be worthwhile. This is a must read for any student or professor, as it is for anyone interested in the psychology or philosophy of the book. Try to make your decision to live in the society before the last few chapters and debate it with your friends! Good luck!
Rating:
Summary: Taken for what it is.
Review: Walden Two is not a story so much as it is Skinner's idea that by using the psycological techniques of a behaviorist a utopian society can be built (it can even be considered propaganda promoting the school of behaviorism). The book lacks story, there is little charactor development or anything thing of the sort. It is essentially a grocery list of items that should be in a perfect society. With that said I justify my rating.
Walden Two is a the model of a utopia, set in the United States just after World War Two. Skinner illustrates what needs to be done for the happiness of humans, but not the bliss the few ruling class or even the bliss of the majority(as presented loosely in democracy) but the bliss of everyone. The main idea behind behaviorism is that humans are born with nothing and we are the product of our histories, everything that ever happened to the indivisual will affect that person's choices in whatever endevour the indivisual is faced with. All the problems within people are learned, they can therefor be unlearned. Within Walden Two those who were born into the society never learn these bad behaviors and those who have come into the society, by following 'The Walden Code' simply unlearn them. None of the problems of modern society linger within Walden Two because of the technology of behavioral engineering. Negative emotions like jelousy or greed or hate are not present in Walden Two because the circumstances from which they arise are not preseant. There are no pressures from society itself to corrupt man, he has no reason to be corrupted if all his needs are accounted for. While this exact model of a utopia may not apply to the modern world, it's basic ideas certanly do, all that would need to be updated is the technology. Humanity will not remain static, amoung its potential directions is one towards the utopian society another, the distopian society. I'd sooner be living the life of T.E. Frazier than that of Winston Smith.
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