Remember Get Smart, the TV spook farce in which the good guys of Control battled the bad guys of Chaos? Well, according to Leary (Flashbacks, 1983, etc.), Chaos is good and Control is bad. Chaos is the life force, and Control, usually manifest in police helmets and American flags, is the Big Bummer that wants to stem it. In a cheerfully manic series of essays and rants, Leary, aware that the modem has replaced Maxwell Smart's shoe phone, addresses the central question regarding the relationship of information technology and culture: Do all our wonder toys help Big Brother and the forces of Control, or will they lead to an electronic realization of ideal democracy, in which the ability to order and produce information (read broadcast) is decentralized? Leary, ever the optimistic anarchist, sees cyberspace as a realm of freedom. The book itself is proudly designed for people who don't like books. With replicas of computer screens tuned into the internet as well as pull-quotes and sidebars, it reaches for the look not just of a magazine, but of a zine (electronic magazine). Like cyberspace itself, this is a poor place to loiter when searching for sustained thought but a terrific place to gather diverting ideas and notions.
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-917171-77-1
Page Count: 292
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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