Pentapod reviewed How pleasure works by Paul Bloom
Review of 'How pleasure works' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Bloom is an entertaining writer and in this book he promises to explain why we take pleasure in the things we take pleasure from. He does this by explaining his theory of essentialism: how we impart essences to things, whether we realize it or not. He offers good arguments and explanations to support his view, but ultimately the book seems lacking. He doesn't really provide anything more than his essentialist view of the world, restated in various contexts. And while it's possible his view may be correct, it doesn't feel like enough to base an entire book on.
I would have liked a more detailed, critical examination of specific cases, and more practical examples. There seems to be a lot still untouched by the fairly superficial chapters and I think more explanation would be needed if he looked at the more inconvenient details instead of skimming over the surface as …
Bloom is an entertaining writer and in this book he promises to explain why we take pleasure in the things we take pleasure from. He does this by explaining his theory of essentialism: how we impart essences to things, whether we realize it or not. He offers good arguments and explanations to support his view, but ultimately the book seems lacking. He doesn't really provide anything more than his essentialist view of the world, restated in various contexts. And while it's possible his view may be correct, it doesn't feel like enough to base an entire book on.
I would have liked a more detailed, critical examination of specific cases, and more practical examples. There seems to be a lot still untouched by the fairly superficial chapters and I think more explanation would be needed if he looked at the more inconvenient details instead of skimming over the surface as he does. Apart from gaining an essentialist perspective from which to view human pleasure, I don't really feel as if I was much enlightened by this book. Interesting read, but I had hoped for more.