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The critic as the handmaiden of Google
What are critics good for anyway?
I look for one main piece of information from a review: is the name of the product or artist worth Googling? Yes or no. That is a binary decision.
Once I have the answer to that question I usually stop reading the review.
I look for one main piece of information from Google: is the product worth buying, on Amazon or elsewhere?
Once I have the answer to that question I usually stop pawing through Google. That's another binary decision.
Imagine that. The critic as the handmaiden of Google, and Google as the handmaiden of Amazon.
To me, the most valuable critics are those who can be disposed of most quickly. Is it any wonder that so many critics do not like the Internet and bloggers?
Sometimes I think it is enough to simply list how many of the book's pages I bothered to read.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on July 17, 2007 at 06:07 AM in The Arts | Permalink
Comments
Your approach is internally consistent, but it reflects your approach to life as a taster's buffet, and the relatively low importance you place on, e.g., finishing the books you start. It is not necessarily indicative of a larger trend.
Posted by: sammler at Jul 17, 2007 6:23:37 AM
As a film critic, I've never thought my opinion of the movie was terribly important. The majority of my readers aren't going to see any particular film in the theatre, so Thumbs Up-Thumbs Down pronouncements from me aren't very relevant. Rather than compliment or denounce, I try to complement the film by answering questions such as What patterns is it representative of and why are those patterns common? What issues does it raise? How does it distort reality?
Posted by: Steve Sailer at Jul 17, 2007 6:44:06 AM
Mr. Sailer: aren't those features, not of film critics in general, but of politically-inclined film critics writing for political publications?
Posted by: sammler at Jul 17, 2007 7:21:38 AM
Sometimes reading a good book review is a substitute for reading the book. But when it does lead to more interest, why bother to google? Why not go directly to amazon.com and check the additional reprints of professional reviews and the reader comments? Maybe also the sales rank. Yes,some readers who post are biased, foolish, or self-advertisers -- but there's also a lot of good info there. Google would be the second choice, if the book is too new to have an amazon track.
Posted by: mae at Jul 17, 2007 8:16:47 AM
Do you read the New York Review of Books, or similar review-as-a-platform-for-essay type venues? I do because I find they often provide a very time-efficient way to come up to speed on a cluster of related books, when I am unlikely to read the underlying books.
Posted by: David Robinson at Jul 17, 2007 10:47:33 AM
I like to see obscure movies of the "indie" or art house variety.
Very often, they receive fewer reviews than mainstream films.
I visit the Rotten Tomatoes website and use their "tomatometer." (For those not in the know, every review is characterized as a binary choice, good or bad--fresh or rotten, in their terms.)
Only once have I seen a "fresh" movie and been disappointed.
The wisdom of crowds: it really works!
Posted by: puzzer at Jul 17, 2007 10:57:34 AM
This wasn't clear in my previous post: Rotten Tomatoes aggregates all the reviews for a single movies, classifies them as good or bad, and comes in with a freshness rating.
Posted by: puzzer at Jul 17, 2007 11:00:23 AM
There's a kind of critic who thinks that "doing criticism" is of itself a valuable thing. I can't get on board with that. I mean, it may well be to them. But why should the rest of us care? (Unless they give us a reason to, of course.)
That said, there's a stage in the enjoyment-of-art process that deserves recognition, which is the "comparing notes with friends, finding out about stuff, seeing things through different eyes" stage. In other words, people are more or less rewarding to yak over an art experience with. I've learned a lot from friends, acquaintances, and even critics, not just so far as facts go but so far as how-to-enjoy goes, and what's-going-on-here that's-worth-paying-attention-to goes. I don't think the art experience is complete until you've finished it off that way. Dining alone may be efficient, and occasionally may be fun, but nearly all food nuts that I know love doing it with other people.
Which leaves me thinking: Well, maybe a role critics can serve in the future (now that they aren't any longer the only people able to publish their opinions and reactions) is as "people it's especially rewarding to compare notes with."
Incidentally, I think Steve Sailer is doing the most original movie criticism out there, in large part because he does think in terms of adding value. You don't have to agree with him to respect his determination to deliver more than just an opinion and some wisecracks in his reviews.
Posted by: MIchael Blowhard at Jul 17, 2007 11:11:58 AM
"I look for one main piece of information from a review: is the name of the product or artist worth Googling? Yes or no. That is a binary decision.
Once I have the answer to that question I usually stop reading the review."
Stick it to the man my libertarian brotha! Tyler, you know this is insane, right? Why waste your time looking at reviews at all when you can bypass those who might know something about the issue at hand and figure it all out by yourself on the internets...wisdom of the crowd and all that. Tell me again why I am going to graduate school in economics? Google is sooo much easier...
Posted by: james at Jul 17, 2007 11:54:39 AM
Apart from harry Potter bokks like this are the ten best sellers,( no 8) 21 Pounds in 21 Days: The Martha's Vineyard Diet Detox
by Roni DeLuz (Author), James Hester (Author). Anyone really thinks this is better than :
A House for Mr.Biswas (Paperback)
by V.S. Naipaul(84,244)
Or Doctor Faustus: Christopher Marlowe (609,233)
Doctor Faustus and Other Plays by Christopher Marlowe(195,671)
Lost Illusions
by Honoré de Balzac(229,539)
Posted by: JEAN at Jul 17, 2007 12:44:59 PM
I would absolutely love to see your how-many-pages-I-actually-read-o-meter posted on your website. That one simple fact would convey so much information about your assessment. And for books you finished, you could note the number of days it took to finish the book.
Posted by: Gretchen Rubin at Jul 17, 2007 2:05:28 PM
I look for one main piece of information from Google: is the product worth buying, on Amazon or elsewhere?
But, how exactly is this determined, particularly from a subjective (artistic) viewpoint?
Do you go for the straight popularity of an item, or do you read what people might say about it, thereby substituting lots of amateur critics for a few professional ones?
Nothing wrong with this approach, but it doesn't really undermine the value of criticism, just the relative value of any particular individual critic, right?
Posted by: Brad L at Jul 17, 2007 6:42:18 PM
Jean: perhaps everyone already owns Doctor Faustus, and so has no need to purchase it.
Posted by: sammler at Jul 20, 2007 3:51:47 AM
Posted by: 鑽石 at Apr 2, 2008 9:17:22 PM
