A Very Interesting Analysis…just a tad overdone


Kurt Andersen presents a very interesting series of arguments. Human being are not the rational, fact-loving cerebral primates we all know. But rather a species of beings that lives in a fantasy world, constantly surrounding themselves with some unproveable, and fictional, folklore that often becomes “indistinguishable” from fact.

A caution- if you are the type to be offended at criticism of religious dogma, just skip the book- and this review. Your cardiologist will thank you.


=== The Good Stuff ===

* Andersen weaves a path through history, beginning roughly with the Pilgrims and the Salem Witch Trials and ending with Donald Trump and the anti-vaccination crowd. He draws parallels between the religious beliefs that allowed the Puritans to stone and banish their critics, and the modern “everyone gets to decide their own truth” culture we live in.

* The author draws some interesting conclusions. Americans seem particularly susceptible to fantasy worlds. We are, as reported to pollsters, one of the most religious nations on earth when it comes to the percentage of “believers”, and have one of the larger percentages of creationists in the world. We are also the country that was home to the great gold rushes, Beat poets and any number of unconventional lifestyle choices.

* While I don’t quite accept all of Andersen’s connections, he does point out a few things that are obvious in retrospective. How many of our television series and even cartoons represent a great escape from reality? The author points out The Jetsons, The Flintstones, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie and others. There is also a glut of video games, movies, books, and role-playing games and conventions that all serve to allow man to detach himself from reality.


=== The Not-So-Good Stuff ===

* Andersen drives his point home long after I understood it and was willing to give it serious consideration. Toward the end of the book, the arguments and examples became repetitive and tedious to read.

* The author also doesn’t consider other possibilities. In the era of the 24/7 workday, constant electronic connection with the office, and multitasking to the nth degree, perhaps reality television is nothing more than a harmless diversion, designed to give our mind a rest from reality rather than escape it. Similarly, he ignores “group” effects. At least some percentage of the attendees at Comic-Con are there more to see and be seen rather than to escape into a alternate reality world of alien princesses.

* There are very few footnotes and references. For the most part, Andersen’s facts seem based on reasonable sources, but much of the book is opinion and supposition, and is more of an essay than a historical work.



=== Summary ===

This book is not for everybody. Anyone who takes their religion seriously will no doubt be offended by it, and should probably avoid it. For everyone else, Andersen provides an interesting analysis and set of thoughts on how man copes with reality, and the surprising amount of time he spends in worlds that specifically exclude reality and provable fact.