The Assault on Reason - Al Gore

[DoctorP]

Anyone else read this book? I'm still working on it right now, and I have mixed feelings on it. Not really a fan of Gore, but it looked somewhat interesting so I picked it up to give it a try.

[123456]

I didn't read this book, but it is on my reading list. I read his first book in an envirnomental science class in college. I am a Gore fan, but the book wasn't screaming at me to be read....what are some of his main ideas?

[DoctorP]

Most of the book is a bash on the Bush administration, but there are some really good points raised in the book.

Gore attacks television, and laments the downfall of print media. He harps on the fact that television is a tool of the wealthy to put out their messages and how they can reach a large number of people.

He also mentions the lack of a "well informed citizenry"...he uses this term quite often in the book.

I enjoyed parts of the book, but I am not really a fan of Gore. I find that he doesn't let his words stand on their own and really throws out way too many quotes from other people in order to make himself sound well read. I don't mind quotes in general, but IMO he uses way too many of them.

All in all, not a bad read though. Took me a week to get through it.

[ryukyuboi]

I have not read this book. I do like speeches that I have heard Gore make in recent years. He comes across to me as informed and a problem solver.

[DoctorP]

Gore is extremely smart and I like a lot of the things he is doing. He just turned me off a bit with the excessive quotes in the book.

[123456]

There is a great book called AMERICAN THEOCRACY that touches on some of these ideas. Kevin Phillips doesn't harp on the media and television so much. He gives a very clear and forboding description about our dependence on foreign oil and gravitation towards fundamental christianity in politics (yeah, he does some Bush bashing, too, but the problem is much deeper as well). Basically, oil is going to run out, and we need to raise some smart and earth savvy scientists if we are to survive economically. At the same time, these religious conservatives are actually denying that global warming exists and working to get creationist curriculumn in the classroom. Where Gore can be a bit poetic, Phillip is quite blunt....the book was really eye-opening!

[DoctorP]

I'll have to check that one out. I just finished two other books today, so I need something new.

I did learn about Gore's connection with current.tv and I also didn't realize that Canada was the #1 supplier of oil to the US. I had probably heard that somewhere before, but it didn't stick.