Friday, July 02, 2004
 
Book Review: Bobos in Paradise by David Brooks (2000)

I have been a bad dog. I actually finished this book several weeks ago, and I planned to write a longer piece summing up insights I had into it. However, the book got buried on my desk, and I'm not in the mood to write a longer piece on it, so allow me to sum up:
  • Book deals with the rise of an educated upper class (and upper middle class) and how these new members of society alter the culture. It seeks to explain why so many people wear Birkenstocks and shop at Whole Foods and REI.

  • The Bobos (Bourgeoius Bohemians) of which Brooks speaks tends to conmingle the baby boomers with geek culture. It's an interesting mix, and maybe he's onto something, but I think his generalization might be too hasty.

  • The bit about intellectual life, wherein he describes how a person can become a public intellectual, was quite amusing.

  • Book seems dated, particularly in political area, especially when one thinks of foreign policy questions that none of us really speculated in 2000.
I understand that it's chic to savage David Brooks in some literary circles these days, but I found this book accessible and thought provoking in a good way. It encourages musing about social trends, with all the anthropological and philosophical currents that go with it. I want to compare this book to Make Room For TV, but that sells this book short. Both deal with a sweeping orchestra of human experience above the more personal accounts I usually read. So it's a good book, and a good change.

Oh, yeah, I paid $12.50 for it, but I wanted to read it when it came out, so I waited four years and got it for half price. It's good that it's remained relevant enough to be worth the price.


- posted by Brian J. @ 11:25 PM
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