B.F. Skinner
Paperback | Pages: 320 pages Rating: 3.49 | 5768 Users | 429 Reviews
Particularize Books Supposing Walden Two
| Original Title: | Walden Two |
| ISBN: | 0872207781 (ISBN13: 9780872207783) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Augustine Castle, Steve Jamnick, Mary Grove, Barbara Macklin, T.E. Frazier |
Narrative During Books Walden Two
I have to say that I find it funny how often the user reviews call Walden Two "boring." I get as bored reading a philosophical treatise as the next person, but Walden Two is actually easy and engaging to read. It's even funny in the little ways the narrator mocks the hero Fraser as well as the daft intellectual Castle. Skinner has this great way of describing when conversation is awkward, or when people misunderstand each other in little ways, or when a person's ego is showing. I mean, ok, it's not exactly a rollicking romp of a book - it's a conversational back -and-forth that celebrates living in a way that uses pragmatic and scientifically-grounded solutions to the problems of living in a society instead of adhering to a set of principles that are unlikely to result in a life that produces maximum happiness and satisfaction. Yes, Skinner's book advocates for behaviorist approaches to fixing society's problems, and it's got some air crib usage in it, if that's what you signed up for. I recommend it.And, you know, if you were bored reading it, it's too bad you don't live in Walden Two, where you could just say, "This is boring to me," and everyone would be totally cool with that.
Declare Out Of Books Walden Two
| Title | : | Walden Two |
| Author | : | B.F. Skinner |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 320 pages |
| Published | : | July 15th 2005 by Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. (first published 1948) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Psychology. Philosophy. Classics. Science Fiction. Utopia. Literature |
Rating Out Of Books Walden Two
Ratings: 3.49 From 5768 Users | 429 ReviewsCommentary Out Of Books Walden Two
When I think of stories about utopian societies -- Brave New World, 1984, The Time Machine, and Gattaca for example -- I really think of a genre that sends up a dystopia as a means of satire. It's like a subgenre of mystery, with a well-worn formula. The protagonist introduces us to an 'ideal' world whose darker implications are only later revealed (the mystery lies in the discovery of what these implications really are). In the end, the protagonist has either escaped, been co-opted or killed,It is a curse I know firsthand to be a lover of the arts and manage to only awkwardly produce it.Though my personal shall we say, preference, if not love for behavioral analysis and all the things it represents as the natural study of human behavior will no doubt render this review prejudiced, in terms of prose, if not lacking in lyricism and skill, it is to say the least indifferent. There is little diversity among the protagonists male and female- and the plot is not lead either by its
I have to say that I find it funny how often the user reviews call Walden Two "boring." I get as bored reading a philosophical treatise as the next person, but Walden Two is actually easy and engaging to read. It's even funny in the little ways the narrator mocks the hero Fraser as well as the daft intellectual Castle. Skinner has this great way of describing when conversation is awkward, or when people misunderstand each other in little ways, or when a person's ego is showing. I mean, ok, it's
This book was amazing. I was completely seduced by the idea of behavioral engineering and I was ready to move into Walden Two after finishing it! The discussion of free will at the end was fun. I learned lots afterwards reading critiques of skinner's ideas by chomsky and others.While I doubt the ideas would work in practice, the way of life presented in this story is what techonology SHOULD be used for: giving us more free time to pursue the things we want!
2.0 to 2.5 stars. Better as a review of Skinner's scientific theories than as an actual novel, this "utopian" novel deals with an experimental community based on solving problems via application of the scientific method. It has been a while since I read this and I may re-read this at some point to see if my opinion has changed.
Walden Two contains no plot, clumsy writing, and characters that serve as nothing more than mouthpieces for B.F. Skinner, our author. That being said, if you want an intellectual exploration of a Utopian world ruled by behaviorism, this book may be for you. Skinner proposes many thought-provoking questions in Walden Two: what if we strove to eliminate class differences so that everyone could work in equal measure? What if we used positive reinforcement to reward people for their good behaviors
I don't much like B.F. Skinner's radical behaviorism, but I enjoyed his novel, Walden Two, assigned by Professor Alan Jones for his seminar, "Utopia and Society", at Grinnell College. My appreciation may have been exaggerated by having just read More's Utopia and Zamyatin's We, neither of which were easy reading, More because of my ignorance of his times, Zamyatin because of the turgidity of the translation. Compared to them, Skinner was a breeze, his book a pleasure.Behaviorism began in Germany
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