reasonpassion's review against another edition
5.0
Intensely hilarious, brutally analytical, Pierce doesn't shy away from acknowledging the political leanings of his message and nor does he ever consider his reader the kind of "idiot" he's talking about. The title is evocative, but the message is much more than a simplistic polemic, it's a call to arms for placing the crank back in his useful social sphere. This is what becomes most surprising and important, not that bad ideas and the people who espouse them are horrible people, quite the opposite, Pierce loves every last crazy one of them. No, what he's attempting to point out is not that the crank needs to be set aside, rather they should be seen as the goads to exploration. Every crazy idea may not contain much truth, but what it does contain is a fervent desire to know more than what the intellectual status quo declares is legitimate. It is when the crazy becomes mainstream, when the crank is replaced with the charlatan, that we as a society lose out.
gavalady's review against another edition
4.0
This is a book that appeals to a certain segment of the American public, while others will find it very offensive. I am among the former. I have argued many of the points he takes in his book with my friends, family, colleagues, and anyone who will listen (even if they do roll their eyes). We no longer believe the experts, but whoever can yell the loudest. I would have given it 5 stars except it was a bit disjointed. He did say this was based on a series of articles, and it comes off that way (I felt that before I knew it wasn't written at one whole piece). I feel that those who really need to know and understand this will not accept it.
joebuuz's review against another edition
4.0
A scathing examination of how the personality that Pierce dubs "The American Crank", those con men, false prophets, and grifters always on the fringes of society, have abandon the score in favor of something more, validation.
librarylapin's review against another edition
3.0
This book has an interesting perspective about how the U.S. no longer respects actual information but only relishes the argument. An argument that is not real in many cases. At times it is a bit condescending and judgmental but it also has interesting stories and background on stories I already half knew.
amyiw's review against another edition
4.0
3 1/2
Well, I wanted to like this so much more than [b:The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters|26720949|The Death of Expertise The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters|Tom Nichols|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1465583375s/26720949.jpg|46750905], but only the beginning was better. Really they are quite similar in what they say about who we listen to and the emotions, not the realities, behind it. This had a little too much politics in the end. I'm a liberal so I should be agreeing with all of it right? Well, not that I didn't agree, just it was very one sided political rant and not all on stupidity in general. He starts off with some really fun, funny, historical idiot America and then goes to today, and it was pretty great. But it got so politically oriented at the end, Iraq war, election Obama, etc... that I was bored. Only a little was pointing to true "idiot" America here. With the Death of Expertise, the main failing was the author was full of himself, here the author gets lost in his agenda. I wonder what he would think of the Democratic primary of 2016. Either way, both books make me depressed as neither have any future or answers to have a more informed populace with real unsensationalized information. I'm ready to go back to 1 hour of news that is boring with the days events just spoken, no interview, no "expert" that is not an expert, no predictions. Before the slide into the agenda, there were some really interesting idiot stories and I did learn a few interesting things about Madison and might read more there. So, in the end parts were really good and some was just alright to good. Definitely worth the read.
Well, I wanted to like this so much more than [b:The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters|26720949|The Death of Expertise The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters|Tom Nichols|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1465583375s/26720949.jpg|46750905], but only the beginning was better. Really they are quite similar in what they say about who we listen to and the emotions, not the realities, behind it. This had a little too much politics in the end. I'm a liberal so I should be agreeing with all of it right? Well, not that I didn't agree, just it was very one sided political rant and not all on stupidity in general. He starts off with some really fun, funny, historical idiot America and then goes to today, and it was pretty great. But it got so politically oriented at the end, Iraq war, election Obama, etc... that I was bored. Only a little was pointing to true "idiot" America here. With the Death of Expertise, the main failing was the author was full of himself, here the author gets lost in his agenda. I wonder what he would think of the Democratic primary of 2016. Either way, both books make me depressed as neither have any future or answers to have a more informed populace with real unsensationalized information. I'm ready to go back to 1 hour of news that is boring with the days events just spoken, no interview, no "expert" that is not an expert, no predictions. Before the slide into the agenda, there were some really interesting idiot stories and I did learn a few interesting things about Madison and might read more there. So, in the end parts were really good and some was just alright to good. Definitely worth the read.
midlifehedgewitch's review against another edition
4.0
Saddles on dinosaurs who co- habited the Earth with humans? So glad I'm not an American. C'mon America, you're smarter than this.
larsinio's review against another edition
3.0
Well written humorous yet factual book that takes a long view on mass consumption of false information and manages to use james madison as a framing component (foremost proponent of a well-educated populace being necessary to preserve democracy). I learned alot about the inner workings of the schiavo case, ingatius donnelly.
I got bored at the re-tread of the iraq war, but his humor and his extensive vocabulary make this overall a fun read.
I got bored at the re-tread of the iraq war, but his humor and his extensive vocabulary make this overall a fun read.
stanwj's review
4.0
Idiot America is a book filled with little that will surprise anyone who has been watching the devolution of U.S. politics, debate and public thought over the last forty (or more) years.
Pierce uses a series of events--the war in Iraq, the Terry Schiavo life-support battle, efforts to give "intelligent design" (creationism) equal footing in public schools--and couples them with observations and actions regarding the necessity of intelligent government and an informed, educated populace from the founders of America to paint a bleak picture of the current state for what passes for discussion (he argues there is little to no actual debate) in the current U.S. landscape. It is a relentlessly bleak picture, punctuated by the occasional triumph that shines like a diamond in a bin of coal.
Pierce presents his premise as such: intellect and expertise have somehow become regarded as undesirable qualities, things to be mistrusted or rejected outright. It is more important to have a president you're comfortable having a beer with than one who can make nuance, evidence-based decisions on matters of foreign and domestic policy. The soundbite is better than the essay, hair is more important than the brain that resides beneath it.
Pierce argues that the gut (or Gut, as he calls it) has come to dominate thinking, with emotion displacing rationality and logic, where cranks who once had an audience no larger than the people passing by listening to them exhort their conspiracy theories on a street corner now have the wide reach of cable television and the instant access of the Internet to project their lunacy. At times caustically funny and by turns surprisingly lyrical, painting scenes with the care of a novelist, Pierce offers example after example of how idiocy has become ascendant.
As I read the book I found myself alternating between a sense of frustration and outright anger. The length to which people--who should be intelligent adults--fully and completely reject intelligent thought for ridiculous, easily-debunked hokum, is at times astonishing. If some fabrication is repeated often enough, Pierce says, it takes on the patina of truth. If enough people believe and believe fervently enough, it becomes indisputable fact. Actual facts no longer have any effect on these believers. People simply stop listening. There is no debate, there is no reaching out, there are only sides yelling at each other over who is right.
This is a depressing but important book. As I said at the beginning, there are no real surprises here, but Pierce catalogs the problems and hammers his points home. Given the circus that is the current group running for the Republican nomination for president, and given the wholesale manufacture of fiction in the guise of endless reality TV shows, it's hard to believe that the situation is improving, but perhaps we can draw some hope that it can hardly get worse.
Pierce uses a series of events--the war in Iraq, the Terry Schiavo life-support battle, efforts to give "intelligent design" (creationism) equal footing in public schools--and couples them with observations and actions regarding the necessity of intelligent government and an informed, educated populace from the founders of America to paint a bleak picture of the current state for what passes for discussion (he argues there is little to no actual debate) in the current U.S. landscape. It is a relentlessly bleak picture, punctuated by the occasional triumph that shines like a diamond in a bin of coal.
Pierce presents his premise as such: intellect and expertise have somehow become regarded as undesirable qualities, things to be mistrusted or rejected outright. It is more important to have a president you're comfortable having a beer with than one who can make nuance, evidence-based decisions on matters of foreign and domestic policy. The soundbite is better than the essay, hair is more important than the brain that resides beneath it.
Pierce argues that the gut (or Gut, as he calls it) has come to dominate thinking, with emotion displacing rationality and logic, where cranks who once had an audience no larger than the people passing by listening to them exhort their conspiracy theories on a street corner now have the wide reach of cable television and the instant access of the Internet to project their lunacy. At times caustically funny and by turns surprisingly lyrical, painting scenes with the care of a novelist, Pierce offers example after example of how idiocy has become ascendant.
As I read the book I found myself alternating between a sense of frustration and outright anger. The length to which people--who should be intelligent adults--fully and completely reject intelligent thought for ridiculous, easily-debunked hokum, is at times astonishing. If some fabrication is repeated often enough, Pierce says, it takes on the patina of truth. If enough people believe and believe fervently enough, it becomes indisputable fact. Actual facts no longer have any effect on these believers. People simply stop listening. There is no debate, there is no reaching out, there are only sides yelling at each other over who is right.
This is a depressing but important book. As I said at the beginning, there are no real surprises here, but Pierce catalogs the problems and hammers his points home. Given the circus that is the current group running for the Republican nomination for president, and given the wholesale manufacture of fiction in the guise of endless reality TV shows, it's hard to believe that the situation is improving, but perhaps we can draw some hope that it can hardly get worse.