Namath (Icons of the NFL)

Book Description

Boasting stunning, never before seen photographs and an NFL Network DVD, NAMATH is an autobiography befitting its author: brash, brazen and winning.

A rebellious and gutsy gunslinger out of Western Pennsylvania's Beaver Valley, Joe Namath redefined the meaning of underdog. After winning a NCAA National Championship for Paul "Bear" Bryant's Alabama Crimson Tide, he embarked on a professional football career unlike any before or since.

Known on and off the field for his astronomical contract, fur coats, Fu Manchu mustache and playboy lifestyle, "Broadway Joe" was one of the most gifted and cagey quarterbacks ever. The only quarterback to throw for over 4,000 yards in a 14-game season, he did it all with battered knees and unsurpassed charisma. While his Super Bowl III guarantee would make him a pop culture icon, it was Namath's battle-tested grit and courage that took him into the Hall of Fame.

Customer Reviews:

Entertaining.......2007-08-22

An entertaining book, very much a quick read, boasting fantastic photos of a true NFL legend.

I found the first half of the book to be the best as after that it seemed to descend into a discussion of Namath's business pursuits (restaurant chain, movies, advertising).

In a perfect world, I would have liked less publicity photos and more pictures of his football playing and more indepth on his playing.

This is not a biography of the man, but more of a coffeetable look at him, which is not to say that it is bad.

An enjoyable book.

Score This As a Touchdown!.......2007-01-28

Just like the author, this book is a winner! This makes a great gift for the book lovers and sports fans in your life. Readable and written as if a friend is telling you the stories, warm and casual without any airs. Joe Namath's appeal is timeless, his talent is revered by athletes and non-athletes, and his honesty is heartwarming. He is a good storyteller and his experiences are worth telling. Truly, an enjoyable read for anyone. This is a story of courage, pain, perseverance and commitment-to the game, to his family, and to himself. Reading about his injuries gives insight into the physical punishment and the steel discipline needed to play the game of football AND the game of life. The pictures are wonderful, too. Even the front and back inside covers of the book have pictures. It's like getting a photo album, a great story, and a bonus DVD, all in one book. Touchdown!!

MY HUSBAND LOVED IT........2007-01-20

I GAVE IT TO HIM FOR CHRISTMAS AND HE FINISHED WELL BEFORE NEW YEARS.

The Namath Biography.......2007-01-18

I was very pleased with this purchase. I have purchased things on Amazon previously, and can tell you that I have always admired the efficient handling of each transaction. This particular purchase was handled equally well.

The Namath book has a little more significance to me, as it was a last minute purchase before Christmas and I was surprised and pleased that I was able to get as quickly as I did and at a reasonable price.

Joseph DeJesus

A Storied History.......2007-01-10

This is a well-written exhaustive biography of one of the NFL's most colorful and exciting players. His tale is replete with history and fantasy and well-wishing fans.

Average customer rating:

Big Book About a Big Star
All About Joe Willie, Hustler Supreme
Joe Willie is the bomb
From Broadway to Hollywood to Daddy Joe
From Beaver to Llama Rugs - A throw back

Namath: A Biography
Mark Kriegel
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0670033294
Release Date: 2004-08-19

Book Description

In between Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan there was Joe Namath, one of the very few sports heroes who transcended their game. The son of a Hungarian immigrant, Namath left the steel country of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, for the Deep South, where he played quarterback for Bear Bryant at the University of Alabama. Almost four years later, he signed a $427,000 contract with the New York Jets that changed football forever, transforming a crude, violent game into show business. Namath became the most glamorous athlete in AmericaÂ-Â-his fame nurtured by the age of television, the point spread, and the sexual revolution. His hair, his draft deferment, and his white shoes became symbols for a generation. But it was his Â“guaranteeÂ” of victory in Super Bowl III that ensured his legend.

In the tradition of Richard Ben CramerÂ's Joe DiMaggio, David MaranissÂ's A Life of Vince Lombardi, and Nick ToschesÂ's Dino, Mark Kriegel details NamathÂ's journey from steeltown pool halls to the upper reaches of American celebrityÂ-Â-and beyond. He renders Namath as an athlete and a man, a brave champion and a wounded soul. Here are NamathÂ's complex relationships with pain and fame plus his appearances in pantyhose ads, on The Simpsons, and NixonÂ's Enemies List. Namath is not just for football fans, but for any reader interested in the central role of sports in American culture.

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"The first major biography of the sports hero who embodied the fantasies of a generation In between Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan there was Joe Namath, one of the very few sports heroes who transcended their game. The son of a Hungarian immigrant, Namath left the steel country of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, for the Deep South, where he played quarterback for Bear Bryant at the University of Alabama. Almost four years later, he signed a $427,000 contract with the New York Jets that changed football forever, transforming a crude, violent game into show business. Namath became the most glamorous athlete in America--his fame nurtured by the age of television, the point spread, and the sexual revolution. His hair, his draft deferment, and his white shoes became symbols for a generation. But it was his "guarantee" of victory in Super Bowl III that ensured his legend. In the tradition of Richard Ben Cramer's Joe DiMaggio, David Maraniss's A Life of Vince Lombardi, and Nick Tosches's Dino, Mark Kriegel details Namath's journey from steeltown pool halls to the upper reaches of American celebrity--and beyond. He renders Namath as an athlete and a man, a brave champion and a wounded soul. Here are Namath's complex relationships with pain and fame plus his appearances in pantyhose ads, on The Simpsons, and Nixon's Enemies List. Namath is not just for football fans, but for any reader interested in the central role of sports in American culture."

Customer Reviews:

Big Book About a Big Star.......2007-08-11

Kriegel does a masterful job at covering Namath for the reader. That said, I found the book way too long for the subject matter. Definitely mainline skimming after Namath retires from the Jets. The author really covers Namath's flaws. He appears to have always been an industrial strength drinker with little regard for most of his teammates and others. Not an easy person to like. Consequently, I found myself asking why am I reading all of these words about such a person. The football parts are really good, especially I would think for old line Jets fans. However, other parts are less intriguing. I've noticed that authors who are also journalists tend to think we care as much about all the details as do they. I found Kriegel's book, Pistol, about Pete Maravich is a better read.

All About Joe Willie, Hustler Supreme.......2007-04-29

Namath, through his legal mouthpiece, refused to cooperate with the author of "Namath: A Biography." A terrific researcher and writer, Mark Kriegel didn't need him. Joe left enough bitter friends, teammates, and business partners who were willing to share the lowdown on Broadway Joe. Ain't a pretty picture, but neither is pro football.

This was one of the most talented and courageous players ever to step onto a football field. The author pays due homage to Joe Namath, QB. Plenty of fascinating stuff on Beaver Falls, Alabama, and Jets heroics. His athleticism was a great gift; his grit in making the most of it was unyielding. If you utterly idolized him as #12, leave that as your only memory.

What this book presents is Namath as man in full; which is to say, a user without peer, a smalltown pool hustler who brought that ethos to all that touched his life. There's me, and there are the suckers. When he was finished with you, you learned it this way: your phone calls were not returned. Out. Finis. A buddy for twenty years now dying? A teammate for a dozen years? Sorry. Your services in the lifelong promotion that remains Joe Willie "White Shoes" are no longer required. Perhaps the best example cited by the author of the crassness of Namath the man was when he wanted 60G to attend a charity golf tournament organized by his Jets teammates. Unfortunately that sum would drain the total funds earned by the event. So no Joe. Not that he wanted to go; that was the point of the exhorbitant fee--he didn't need them.

When the primetime hustle that was Broadway Joe finally petered out, Namath decided it was family that mattered. He had always tried to take care of his natural family, which was a broken one. But he had no practice at real life. He waited too long. He soon married a user half his age who hustled him: she left him because she wanted to be a "serious actress" and "find herself," as Kriegel painfully quotes her. This she did by ditching Broadway Joe for her own personal Beverly Hills plastic surgeon. She took the two Namath daughters with her, leaving her husband shellshocked as to how such a thing could happen to The Man Himself. He quickly returned to that which best sustained him through his desultory off-field existence: booze.

Kriegel throughout makes the point that the Namath con is all part of the Big Con: The Enteraintment and Sports Sell. The original power behind Namath as Broadway Joe was Sonny Werblin, New York TV superagent and hustler extraordinnaire when he became a minority Jets owner. At the time, pro football was bringing up the rear in the American sports pantheon. Its owners still labored under the delusion they were in the football business. Namath-Werblin changed that. It was the perfect marriage in Joe's life. Joe and Sonny, Football and Show Biz.

Namath's latest promotion has been his autobiography, surprisingly titled, "Namath." This was the reason Joe risked an interview late last year with Sixty Minutes, notorious for slapping the self-satisfied smiles off its subjects. No problem: his attorney likely made sure he got what he wanted, a puff-piece where he charmingly skates Oprahesque across the wreckage of his life while walking a Florida beach. Trying to stay booze-free once again, moving on metal knees and arthritic hips, the man's hustle hasn't lost a step. And he may be alone, still devoted to his daughters, but he's certainly not lonely (wink, wink). Broadway Joe lives.

If you want a well-written take on Namath that is as gritty as the man and his world, read the Kriegel book. It's all about Joe William Namath, who remains one of the most extraordinary football players I ever watched. And wish I could pay good U.S. money to go back and watch again in the autumn dust of Shea Stadium, New York.

Joe Willie is the bomb.......2007-04-12

Great book. I feel sad for a man who peaked at 25.

J!E!T!S! Jets Jets Jets

From Broadway to Hollywood to Daddy Joe.......2007-04-05

Everybody knows Joe Namath (okay, most people have heard of him). Of our knowledge and recollections of Namath, most go back to about 40 years ago, when he was a young quarterback on fragile knees, had a shotgun arm, a team jelling around him that lead to The Guarantee, a Super Bowl win . . . and he was Joe Namath, The Swankiest Dude in NYC, ladies at his beck and call, llama rug, fur coat, bachelor lifestyle, etc. After that, it all kind of fades to memory: years of frustration, a year with the Rams and retirement. Once in a while you'd hear about him, starring in the theater of all places, but the memory goes back to when he was 26 and an American idol.

Kriegel wrote a heck of a book, cutting through the cobwebs of our collective memories to give us a much different portrait of a man than the hype had provided to us: one who cared about family, one who respected the father figures of his life, one who cared deeply and was loyal to his friends - but one who reinvented himself at various times of his life and left his old friends behind. His reinvention of his life led to marriage and a family, where he wanted a stable, loving family around him - but didn't quite achieve that. Now, the reinvention goes on - new relationships, new family relations as his children got older, but the old life he lived has never quite been shaken off.

This book was written without the direct help of Namath or through his lawyer, Jim Walsh. It appears that Namath's policy is that his personal life is nobody's business but his, and I respect that: he's had years in the spotlight and what he chooses to reveal to the world should be just that which he chooses. Walsh, a lawyer who has as his sole business that of Joe Namath, requested a huge sum of money for access to Namath and his story. That I have little respect for. I think that Kriegel's version without the help of Namath and Walsh give us a much better, more honest view of the man than if Namath had cooperated in the writing and editing. The result is a book that sheds a good deal of light on a much more complex man than we thought we knew.

From Beaver to Llama Rugs - A throw back .......2007-03-23

Time has a way of marching on. In every sport there are a certain amount of sport stars that made their mark not only in the history of their particular sport but upon society in general. Joe Willie Nemet (his real name)made that and more.

A larger than life character is brought to life in this wonderful read. From his roots in growinup up in a rough and tumble mill town of Beaver Falls to the bright lights of Broadway. Namath had the ability to overcome many demons with a unreal atheltic arm and mind. Today's professional athlete - football, baseball, basketball - should lay down and thank the Namath's of professional sport as the ones who made it possible for them to earn these out of sight salary figures kicked around today. Joe brought not only guts and grit to his game but a dertermination and intellegence to run an offense without all the help of modern coaching input seen in today's game. They just don't make em' like the Namaths', Title's, Unitas's, and Baugh's much anymore.

Rank this one up there with it's realistic approach to how it was. A fun ride.

Football's great quarterback, Joe Namath (The Allstars)

Average customer rating:

I thought it contained little of what Joe Namath was like.

Football's great quarterback, Joe Namath (The Allstars)
Patricia Mulrooney Eldred
Manufacturer: Creative Education Children Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Customer Reviews:

I thought it contained little of what Joe Namath was like........1999-05-21

The book was written poorly and if there were any rating lower than one star I would have given it. It contained farse information about Namath's life and is a disgrace to any book about any NFL player, coach, or team owner. The book was a waste of my time.

The Gamemakers: Pro Football's Great Quarterbacks--From Baugh to Namath.

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The Gamemakers: Pro Football's Great Quarterbacks--From Baugh to Namath.
George, Sullivan
Manufacturer: Putnam Pub Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0399103309

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Joe Namath by JohnDevaney

Joe Namath
John Devaney
Manufacturer: Scholastic Book Services
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B0006WNM02

Customer Reviews:

Joe Namath by JohnDevaney.......2004-09-05

I have followed Joe's career since his college days and have met him personally and this book shows him as he really is. I throughly enjoyed it.

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Joe Namath
James Olson
Manufacturer: Creative Co (Sd)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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Joe Namath (Football Legends)
Bruce Chadwick
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 0791024547

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Joe Namath (Sports Immortals)
William R. Sanford , and Carl R. Green
Manufacturer: Crestwood House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 089686782X

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Joe Willie
Jim Burke
Manufacturer: Belmont Tower Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00071UHZ0

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Larger than life, Joe Namath
Val K Albrecht
Manufacturer: distributed by Childrens Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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The Birth of the Modern World, 1780-1914: Global Connections and Comparisons (Blackwell History of the World)
Average customer rating:

Brilliant study of the long 19th century

Ho-hum, History is complex.

Superb

As good as history gets

The Birth of the Modern World, 1780-1914: Global Connections and Comparisons (Blackwell History of the World)
C. A. Bayly
Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishing Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0631236163

Book Description

Covering the period 1780 -1914, The Birth of the Modern World shows how events in Asia, Africa, and South America - from the decline of the eighteenth-century Islamic empires to the anti-European Boxer rebellion of 1900 in China - had a direct impact on European and American history. And conversely, how the "ripple effects " of crises such as the European revolutions and the American Civil War worked their way through to the rest of the world. None of the great themes of the nineteenth-century world - the rise of the modern state, industrialisation, liberalism, imperialism, and the progress of world religions - is untouched by the novel perspectives of this compelling new history.

Customer Reviews:

Brilliant study of the long 19th century.......2007-06-06

In this outstanding book, Professor Bayly studies the world crises of 1776-1820 and 1848-65, and the great acceleration of 1890-1914, when imperial rivalries, industrialisation and urbanisation really took off.

He allows, "Lenin's view that what we are calling here the great acceleration after 1890 was rooted in the uneven development of capitalism at a global level still has something to recommend it."

He accepts that empires were based on the drive for profits: "Classic Marxist and liberal theories of economic change have emphasised the rationality of expanding capitalism. On this theory, the aim of Western expansion was to seize resources and subordinate labour. This is true in great measure."

He shows how empires benefited the ruling classes of the imperial powers by exploiting the labour power of the world's workers and peasants. "The argument that European growth helped hold down living standards elsewhere works well for many areas of the incipient poor colonized `south' which became raw material exporters to the rich `north'. This is clear if one examines the figures for the distribution of profits from some of the great nineteenth-century cash crops, such as raw cotton, hides, jute, cocoa, and palm oil. In all these cases, it was the overseas shippers, insurers, carriers and vendors in Europe and North America who took the vast proportion of `value added' to a quantity of produce in world trade. Local African, Asian, or South American merchants, let alone the peasant-producers, got only a very small percentage of the profits. On the other side, developing economies were forced to buy in at high cost the machinery for processing these agricultural raw materials. Thus the terms of trade were very much to the disadvantage of the `south' throughout the nineteenth-century, and actually deteriorated as more relatively poor areas became producers of basic export crops."

Ruling classes gained, by impoverishing the masses. "Indeed, it can be suggested that the stasis in Europe was in part the product of the annexation to itself of a huge extra-European hinterland which could only be governed by force and conservatism. At the beginning of the nineteenth-century, empire-builders had argued that their brutal conquest paved the way for the rise of civilisation, trade, and humane government in erstwhile barbarous states. Asia and Africa would be transformed by Christianity, utilitarian government, the doctrine of the rights of man, and perhaps by American freedoms. The situation in 1900 hardly seemed to bear out these predictions. The urban population throughout the British and French empires in Asia and North Africa remained stubbornly stuck at about 10 percent of the total, barely changed from the precolonial figure, and standards of living may even have fallen over the previous century. Anecdotal evidence collected by the first generation of Asian and African nationalists asserted that many once-prosperous bodies of peasants and artisans were actually worse off and more dependent on magnates than they had been in 1800."

He concludes, "intensified rivalry between the great, technologically armed European powers was a critical reason for the great leap forward of European empires after 1870. ... The `great acceleration' - the dramatic speeding up of global social, intellectual, and economic change after about 1890 - set loose a series of conflicts across the world which quite suddenly, and not necessarily predictably, became unmanageable in 1913-14. This was undoubtedly a European Great War. Yet it was also a world war and, in particular, a worldwide confrontation between Britain and Germany. As many contemporaries acknowledged, this was a war which had its roots in Mesopotamia and Algeria, Tanganyika and the Caucasus, as well as on the Franco-German and German-Russian frontiers. In one sense, Lenin was right when he argued that the First World War was an `imperialist war'. Economic, political, and cultural rivalries in the Balkans, Asia, and Africa were central causes of a conflict which was international in character."

All good historians are indebted to Marxism, even if they can't always bring themselves to admit it.

Ho-hum, History is complex. .......2005-12-10

Why would you like this book? If you already knew a ton about history and were looking for new comparative methods of evaluating the modern world. There's certainly an interesting argument set forth by Bayly, but I remain unconvinced that his methods of documentation (reliance on secondary sources and a self-avowed lack of references) and his choice of material (severe neglect of certain portions of the world) should permit this book to be the academic blockbuster it has been claimed.

Why would you hate this book? If you were anyone else, especially a layperson (which I can't claim that I am), trying to get a good sense of why things are the way they are today. It's dense, scattered persepctive will ultimately leave you more confused than enlightened. If you're looking for a "postmodern" history text this should not be your first choice (or perhaps any choice at all).

Superb.......2004-11-10

This is the best book I have read on the history of globalization. It is superb. It is well written. It is sweeping in its vision. And the scholarship that undergirds the book is remarkable. Bayly has read widely in disparate fields like African, Chinese, Mughal, and British history, nationalism, economic development, the state, military history, and globalization.

Bayly appeals to the professional historian, interested in historiographical debates over nationalism, colonialism, economic development, and many other matters. He brings these debates into his narration in a judicious manner. But historiography does not overwhelm the narrative. This is a book that can be savored by the professional historian and educated layperson alike.

As good as history gets.......2004-08-25

This book is going to revolutionize how we think about the history of globalization. To the traditional gaze from the West Eastword, it gives equal relevance to how the East influenced the West. For instance, it makes the important argument that nationalism was not just a western concept but arose relatively independently in many non-western countries. By looking at exchanges in both directions, with a masterful understanding of recent historical scholarship, it provides an authoritative corrective to existing understandings of imperialism, colonialism, trade, development and other globalizing phenomena. Besides being an important, even profound, work of history, it is also characterized by Bayly's encyclopedic knowledge of social and economic theory. As Nial Ferguson says in his blurb - this is a masterpiece.

History writ large.(The Birth of the Modern World, 1780-1914: Global Connections and Comparisons)(Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History)(Cultures ... Australian Journal of Politics and History

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History writ large.(The Birth of the Modern World, 1780-1914: Global Connections and Comparisons)(Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History)(Cultures ... Australian Journal of Politics and History
Nicholas Doumanis
Manufacturer: University of Queensland Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Australian Journal of Politics and History, published by University of Queensland Press on March 1, 2005. The length of the article is 6754 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: History writ large.(The Birth of the Modern World, 1780-1914: Global Connections and Comparisons)(Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History)(Cultures in Contact: Worm Migrations in the Second Millennium)(The Three Waves of Globalization: A History of a Developing Global Consciousness)(Book Review)
Author: Nicholas Doumanis
Publication: The Australian Journal of Politics and History (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 2005
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Volume: 51 Issue: 1 Page: 114(11)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

The Birth of the Modern World, 1780-1914: Global Connections and Comparisons (Blackwell History of the World)

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The Birth of the Modern World, 1780-1914: Global Connections and Comparisons (Blackwell History of the World)
C. A. Bayly
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MUH39O

Amazon.com

Consciousness is notoriously difficult to explain. On one hand, there are facts about conscious experience--the way clarinets sound, the way lemonade tastes--that we know subjectively, from the inside. On the other hand, such facts are not readily accommodated in the objective world described by science. How, after all, could the reediness of clarinets or the tartness of lemonade be predicted in advance? Central to Daniel C. Dennett's attempt to resolve this dilemma is the "heterophenomenological" method, which treats reports of introspection nontraditionally--not as evidence to be used in explaining consciousness, but as data to be explained. Using this method, Dennett argues against the myth of the Cartesian theater--the idea that consciousness can be precisely located in space or in time. To replace the Cartesian theater, he introduces his own multiple drafts model of consciousness, in which the mind is a bubbling congeries of unsupervised parallel processing. Finally, Dennett tackles the conventional philosophical questions about consciousness, taking issue not only with the traditional answers but also with the traditional methodology by which they were reached.

Dennett's writing, while always serious, is never solemn; who would have thought that combining philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience could be such fun? Not every reader will be convinced that Dennett has succeeded in explaining consciousness; many will feel that his account fails to capture essential features of conscious experience. But none will want to deny that the attempt was well worth making. --Glenn Branch

Book Description

Customer Reviews:

Baffling........2007-08-04

It's absolutely baffling to me how Dennett's theory has been completely misunderstood and mis-characterized by his critics and some of his readers.

Consciousness is an emergent phenomenon that results from us being able, not only to see things and notice things, but to notice we notice. And we notice that too. We notice we see red, and this "noticing" is what we confuse as qualia. Of course, it's much, much more complex than this, and this is why he has devoted an entire book to it. Thus, people who complain that this book is too "long" or "wordy" also appear ridiculous under scrutiny. Does one really expect to properly lay the foundations of a consciousness theory in something shorter? It should also be emphasized that this is the foundations, not the explicit and detailed explanation of every inner working that gives rise to emotions. Thus, people who were looking for this impossible feat will also be disappointed.

My only criticism is that sometimes his treatment of qualia seems to dwell too much on the ineffable quality of it: no, I don't think we could ever describe red to someone who hadn't seen it before, but this isn't a proper problem for physicalism, if treated properly. Additionally, his Chinese room response is a bit more baffling than helpful.

A nice itnroduction to the scientific issue of consciousness........2007-05-19

Though it is a bit long, Consciousness Explained really does explain quite a bit about consciousness, putting forth a new theory of what, exactly, it is. Another book I highly recommend.

The Best Book on Consciousness I've Seen So Far.......2007-04-15

This book's great drawback is that it is probably overly long. I'm sure the basic ideas could have been laid out more succinctly with much greater verbal economy. That said, however, it is probably the case that there are few books out there which do a better job of deconstructing the idea of consciousness. This is a big debate, particularly among some philosophers, no doubt reflecting the tendency to want to believe in the specialness of consciousness. But it's Dennett's contention that consciousness is not so special after all, that it is a natural result of evolutionary forces and that it can be adequately explained in mechanistic terms, thus discarding the misleading "ghost in the machine" notion which seems to infect our thinking about mind at every turn.

Dennett's major antagonist in this debate has been John Searle whose Chinese Room argument has been deployed again and again to deny the possibility which Dennett is here asserting, that consciousness is basically a natural phenomenon (Searle agrees, by the way that consciousness is natural, while arguing against a genuinely naturalistic description). Dennett spends a lot of time exploring side paths and building alternative models for understanding consciousness as he works to get his reader to jettison old notions about the mind as an entity uniquely set apart from the things it attends to, what he calls the "central meaner" or the audience in the Cartesian theater (alluding to Descarte's insight that our mental life is qualitatively different from the physical world we encounter). Dennet builds his case by exploring recent research on brains and human behavior as well as by sketching out an evolutionary picture about how consciousness may have come to be. But he does not get around to dealing with Searle's Chinese Room argument until the book's end and then it is almost as though it were an afterthought.

It's the great strength of Dennett's book that, in fact, Searle's argument seems, by the time he comes to it, to be worth no more than that. Dennett rightly shows that Searle's argument fails because Searle insufficiently depicts the level of computer functionality required to generate and sustain a conscious mind. Where Searle, in his argument, notes that the simple mechanism of a look up table could not possibly constitute a program capable of creating mental life, Dennett rightly points out that this fails to address the problem since it is not a simple look up table that is at the heart of the claim of the AI people. If Searle's Chinese Room argument, constituted as Searle constitutes it, is inadequate for the purpose, this is yet to say nothing about the sort of system that would be required and is theoretically available. It is not a Chinese Room on the Searlean model that must be considered but, perhaps, using the same metaphor, a Chinese Building or a Chinese City. The capacity for sustaining consciousness would necessarily require a vast complex of systems and, as Dennett notes, it is this complex of systems itself, the full system, that would have to do the trick. Searle's argument says nothing about THAT model and so misses the point.

Dennett patiently explains how the systems would need to overlay one another and how this accords with the evolutionary evidence in the biological world as well as with the model of programs on computers which he likens to virtual machines on a platform of real machines. He carefully lays out the the way computers developed, as serial machines and proposes that since the brain is not a serial machine but a parallel processor, there would probably be the need to use the new parallel computing technologies coming on line as the platform, with virtual serial machines (their programs) running on them.

This is not a popular view in some quarters since the notion that we are merely machines is troubling to many. But Dennett does his best to defuse the notion while pointing out how the philosophical ideas of zombiehood and qualia really carry no water. He doesn't offer arguments so much as a debunking of these quaint notions with an eye toward opening us up toward the mechanistic model, dispelling our natural fear of embracing such a view. In the end he tells us there are no souls and no afterlife but that there's no reason this need scare us. And he gives us a basis for retaining a belief in a moral point of view despite this loss.

In all, this is a longish but excellent exposition of his profoundly materialistic ideas. One thing did strike me though and that was his overly clever swipes at political conservatism and the Reagan administration (he was writing this book during that era). At one point relatively early on he makes a somewhat snide backhand strike at what he obviously thinks is the low level of intellect to be found in the administration of that era, and punctures their seemingly foolish notion that cutting taxes will increase revenue. The Laffer Curve, which predicts just this result, is a hunk of hooey he suggests. Only one problem. The empirical evidence since those years is against his view. In fact government revenues did surge because the economy improved as a result of the Reagan tax cuts and they surged again when Bush II cut taxes early in his first term and again in 2003. Combined with the evidence of tax revenue jumps after the tax cuts of the JFK years, we are now 3 for 3 in terms of this argument. It just goes to show you that even smart guys like Dennett, who clearly has a strong handle on the idea of consciousness, are driven at times by their own biases and pre-existing beliefs.

SWM

Kick a rock!.......2007-02-26

The problem is that if you take a simple animal or machine, it won't be conscious. Make it slightly more complicated and it still won't be conscious. But as you make it more and more complicated there comes a point when it becomes conscious. This idea is very unsatisfactory. What actually causes this self-awareness?

Dennett overcomes the problem by arguing there is no mystery - we are simply not as conscious as we think! As the machine becomes more complicated it merely appears to be conscious, but consciousness doesn't actually mean anything. To prove this fantastic idea, he describes scientific experiments which show that consciousness is more mysterious than a layman would think. The book is worth reading for these insights, but he doesn't prove his case.

I was reminded of Dr Johnson's reply when asked about the theory of solipsism (the idea that nothing exists except your own thoughts). He kicked a rock and said "I refute it thus."

Only a very clever man could believe Dennett's theory.

The Introduction to Consciousness.......2007-02-25

"Consciousness Explained" is the best place to start if you want to begin the venture into this perplexing area. Dennett's books is well organized, well thought out, and does a wonderful job of explaining difficult concepts in a way that is interesting and relatively easy to understand.

Another reviewer titles his review "Consciousness Denied." That is a fair comment. Many people think that Dennett explains away consciousness, rather than explaining it. In fact, I agree with that critism myself -- I think. I tend to agree with John Searle (again -- think). The one star rating, however, is grossly unfair. Consciousness is a very hard problem, to put it mildly, and Dennett's reasoning and opinions are crucial for two reasons. First, they are very well thought out, and well expressed. Moreover, Dennett is one of the key writers in the area, and if you read anything else about consciousness, you will find references and responses to Dennett.

Other authors worth reading in this area include John Searle (no friend of Dennett), Susan Blackmore, Steven Pinker, David Chalmers, V. S. Ramachandran and Antonio Damasio.

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