tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8310450667755637519.post127901841709408815..comments2023-10-14T09:40:06.690-05:00Comments on Jean Kazez: I Said What?Jean Kazezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00592593002719828153noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8310450667755637519.post-73942581036389535632010-08-10T18:03:13.051-05:002010-08-10T18:03:13.051-05:00You would have been even more outraged if it had b...You would have been even more outraged if it had been Noam Chomsky doing the review; he was rather famous for strawmanning his opponents.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8310450667755637519.post-24331154165169561002010-08-09T16:20:07.648-05:002010-08-09T16:20:07.648-05:00Don't know what happened to Adam's comment...Don't know what happened to Adam's comment--it was good.<br /><br />Amos, My point is that it really is reasonable to expect fairness from book reviewers. It is not too much to ask for and not unrealistic. There is no connection to what we can expect from a major oil company. I read book reviews all the time, and write them myself (for TPM), so I do have a sense of what the normal Jean Kazezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00592593002719828153noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8310450667755637519.post-6943847197450652282010-08-09T16:06:21.642-05:002010-08-09T16:06:21.642-05:00I don't necessarily associate incompetence and...I don't necessarily associate incompetence and ill will with the profit motive. If they were merely the product of the profit motive, the history of the Soviet Union would have been very different. <br /><br /><br />As Adam says, it's easy to dump on what is perceived as a fringe issue. From observing the Mooney wars, I've learned that people with many years of higher s. wallersteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17448905469871566228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8310450667755637519.post-41717635445685083952010-08-09T13:28:49.232-05:002010-08-09T13:28:49.232-05:00I don't think book reviews are the nefarious, ...I don't think book reviews are the nefarious, money-driven things that big corporations are. Most book reviewers are conscientious about it, partly because they know their own reputations are on the line. I just don't often see hatchet jobs in places like the NYT book review, and I figure the TLS is the UK equivalent.Jean Kazezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00592593002719828153noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8310450667755637519.post-54680542406709652622010-08-09T12:17:32.682-05:002010-08-09T12:17:32.682-05:00People who work in big corporations or in any bure...People who work in big corporations or in any bureaucracy, for instance, the military, have developed a whole series of laws and principles, Murphy's Law, the Peter Principle, etc., basically with the idea if something can go wrong, it will go wrong. Maybe the academic world needs to develop its own set of laws and principles, based on the prevalence of stupidity and bad will.s. wallersteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17448905469871566228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8310450667755637519.post-49928223245706126412010-08-09T10:58:02.499-05:002010-08-09T10:58:02.499-05:00I don't agree that she even did the sort of sk...I don't agree that she even did the sort of skimming you'd have to do for your "first type of review." She didn't just overlook details, she had no understanding of the book's main claims and arguments. I'm certainly shocked to read something so careless in the TLS.Jean Kazeznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8310450667755637519.post-56409206334429532752010-08-09T09:48:00.047-05:002010-08-09T09:48:00.047-05:00I'm not shocked by the carelessness of the rev...I'm not shocked by the carelessness of the review. <br /><br />There are basically two types of book reviews. <br /><br />The first type is when a general book reviewer has to review a book on, say, the fall of the Roman Empire. The general book reviewer knows what the average educated reader knows about the end of the Roman Empire, that is, very little, and reviews the book from s. wallersteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17448905469871566228noreply@blogger.com