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The most overrated books of the year?
Here are some picks, including by yours truly, but mostly with a British slant. The top three "winners" are:
1
The God Delusion Richard Dawkins
2
The Blunkett Tapes David Blunkett
3
Everyman Philip Roth
You'll also find a list of underrated books...
Posted by Tyler Cowen on December 14, 2006 at 06:37 PM in Books | Permalink
Comments
Interesting lists. Some of the judgments are, on the face of it, a bit strange. For example, Pico Iyer, a writer I love, says:
"The most underrated book of the year is surely Alentejo Blues by Monica Ali (Doubleday). It is not a great novel, and it lacks most of the depth and almost uncanny wisdom of Ali’s debut Brick Lane."
Well, it must have been *really* badly reviewed if this faint praise makes it "the most underrated". Similarly, several reviewers nominated Roth's _Everyman_ as the most overrated book. I thought it was a good but not great book, and nothing like as good as, say, _The_Counterlife_. Again, "most overrated" != "bad".
Posted by: Bill Gardner at Dec 14, 2006 8:19:45 PM
Can books that hang out on the NY Times bestseller list (e.g., Stumbling On Happiness, State Of Denial) really be considered underrated? I suppose so, but most underrated? Shouldn't the recognition go to books that were panned or (worse) ignored?
That said, Stumbling On Happiness was my favorite book of the year. At the other end, I really liked Ian McEwan's Saturday. Far better than the Booker-winner Amsterdam.
Posted by: Trieu Truong at Dec 14, 2006 9:32:02 PM
I don't think THE GOD DELUSION has been "overrated" by religious readers. ;-) Actually, I thought it was pretty darn funny.
Posted by: Dan Cole at Dec 14, 2006 10:19:00 PM
The God Delusion is one of the best books I have read this year. I never saw it promoted enough to be considered “overrated” in the first place, so I am surprised to see it on this list. Maybe I live under a rock, but the only reason I really knew about it is because I am a Richard Dawkins fan. The bottom line is that The God Delusion is a great book on the subject matter. Whether it lives up to its billing by the critics and folks in charge of promoting it, I don’t know. However, that does not seem relevant to the book’s merits.
Posted by: Freemarket at Dec 14, 2006 10:39:54 PM
I'll go on record as saying that Sowell's Basic Economics and Applied Economics are highly _underrated_ in my opinion. The same for Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson. Can you imagine if every high school senior read them?
Posted by: Chris Meisenzahl at Dec 15, 2006 8:04:25 AM
Criticisms of Dawkins (and Dennett for that matter) often appear to wildly miss the mark to me. I have not read the god delusion, but I am not less likely to read because of Andrew Brown;s comments -- it was hard to get a beat on what he said about it, and although sympathetic, it appears, to agnostics there is something troubling me in his take.
For an extreme example of wildly missing the mark see Leon Wesseletier on Dennett.
Posted by: theCoach at Dec 15, 2006 8:54:24 AM
Chris,
Not only do I agree with you about the three books you mentioned, I'm working my way through Sowell's other books. Vision of the Anointed is another good example of his clear thinking and writing.
Posted by: Dale at Dec 18, 2006 9:44:51 PM
Fellow Readers,
I'm in the process of picking my first Richard Dawkins book, but I can't decide which one to read. Should I start with the Selfish Gene or the God Delusion or some other work?
Also, If I only had time to read one Thomas Schelling book, which one would you guys recommend?
1. The Strategy of Conflict
2. Micromotives and Microbehavior
3. Choice and Consequence
Thanks guys! (feel free to email me your response)
Posted by: Biomed Tim at Dec 19, 2006 9:03:55 PM
like, oh my gawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwd. that is feking stuopid. i love god of delusion. ya'll r stuopid.
i htinK:
1. breaking dawn
2. the host
3. i don't know
wtffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff?
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