Reviews and Comments

Although there have been updates to modernize the book, it feels dated, like it was written for 1930s salesmen. Recommending using peoples names often, coaxing their birthday out of them, referring to dog training as a way to think about how to act around people you want to influence. It briefly mentions the importance of going into conversations with an open mind and willing to have your opinion changed, but mostly starts with the presumption that what the reader wants and needs is to convince others to their own opinion.

I enjoyed Universal Harvester and was looking forward to this book, but it didn't do anything for me. I found it unengaging, wordy and vague.

If you're into this sort of thing, this book should be considered canon.

I knew nothing about Susan Sontag before reading this. It is meticulous in its research and takes a neutral view. I found it worthwhile and very interesting.

I thought this was a bad book because of the writing. There are some interesting facts, but it is mostly the author romanticizing trees and pontificating on personal theories. There are some references to scientific studies, but mostly is just conjecture.

Some good insight but I didn't get much out of this book. The subtitle is "How philosophy can help us find our way" but I didn't think there was much in way of this. Quote: "Love justifies grief, therefore unhappiness is part of living well"

Definitely has flaws when thinking of it in terms of the traditional novel structure. But I think one of the reasons I enjoyed it was for it being untraditional. Would recommend and would read again.

The story has themes reminiscent of The Dispossessed and of folk stories of the "fool". A character in 1920/30s New York that goes against society by being a life long bohemian. He does not want to own things for fear they will own him, feels more at peace with no money than with, and he goes out of his way to disrupt the norm. However, where stories of the fool tend to have a lesson in morals, Joe Gould's antics seem random. And where the philosophy of The Dispossessed in based on community, his lifestyle is self serving and in the end alienating. It is ultimately a portrait of selfishness.