Travels In Hyperreality (Harvest Book)

It's Eco. Brilliant.

Yesterday is mostly 70 years ago, when most of the essays were written. A lucid author like Eco reads in the signals of his time the seed for these our strange times. The first essay, ¨Travels in Hyperreality,¨ is a sort of short thesis. Umberto Eco travels, reads and posits theories, around the topic of an aspect of U.S. culture: the creation of a reality more real than reality itself. He goes to such lengths as to experience a thematic visit to a hyperreal constructo of the Mississippi river with alligators in its shores always in view; and next day he goes to the Mississippi river with its raw reality where alligators could or could not appear, as it is so with nature. There are so many ideas, I think some are intellectual, i.e. almost just opinions, and many are his sharp observations. Umberto Eco writes with the energy and enthusiasm of a child, the skill of a masterful writer, and the knowledge of an erudite. There are so many things as a layman I didn't know, as what is a degenerate utopia. The rest of the essays are shorter and some are IMHO successful while others are definitively outdated."Dreaming of the Middle Ages" speaks a bit of literature set in the Middle Ages, and to not commit an anachronism Eco doesn't mention his novel "The Name of the Rose" written some years after this essay. In"Living in the New Middle Ages" is quite interesting for the description of the different Middle Ages in culture. There are quite illuminating observations of modern cities that have just worsened or going to higher extremes in our times. Some things have changed like the trend in overpopulation, but the essay for the most part is quite good."The Sacred is Not Just a Fashion" is entertaining, although it seems the political leanings towards left and right had different meanings than the ones that exist today."The Suicides of the Temple" is very honest about the nature of violence and even suicide by religious groups."Striking at the Heart of the State" is a very lucid analysis of a text by what I think is the manifesto of a terrorist group. While others apply censorship he simply reads and objectively indicates the logical conclusions. It educates better than just censoring."Why Are They Laughing At Those Cages" is outdated, I don't know most of the news and references, the political definitions have changed and the mentioned parties are maybe only memories. It is a good intellectual exercise though, to do an uchronia."Towards a Semiological Guerrilla" is very educative about semiotics and the futility of dictators and the secret agenda of organizations to use propaganda to control de population."The Multiplication of the Media" is outdated. Umberto Eco feels tired about "2001 a Space Odyssey" and things new movies will accentuate that difference... except that the story matters more, not CGI nor the spectacle of miniatures posing a spaceships, as Eco seems to believe."Culture as Show Business," "Sports Chatter," "The World Cup and Its Pomps" and "Lumbar Thought" although well written I felt them just uninteresting due to the topics of soccer."Falsification and Consensus" is about how big organisms tolerate and even need revolutionaries from time to time."Casablanca: Cult Movies and..." was not good to read, too many references to a movie I should but I haven't watched yet so I cannot say if the analysis is good."Cogito Interruptus" is a critic of two different authors about the medium and the message. For moments feels like a repetition, or a multiplication, of "The Multiplication of the Media."""Language, Power and Force" is quite amazing, probably my second favorite essay. Umberto Eco reads and criticizes to famous names as Barthes and Foucault about the nature of power, there are some surprises in its conclusions."In Praise of St. Thomas" it starts a bit slow but then improves afterwards."The Comic and the Rule" was not good. Umberto Eco doesn't notice that some comedy is hindered by the use of bad translators. Our Age of Memes prove that comedy can be universal."De Interpretatione" is a bit funny in its tragedy. About an Italian documental of the Chinese country, but then expelled from playing his film and then the director being universally disliked."A Theory of Expositions" is the worst essay and Umberto Eco appears to be ignorant about the nature of architecture as the creation of spaces, to mainly criticize it as a collection of walls . Umberto Eco classifies as architecture a chair (furniture), or an Egyptian pyramid, (engineering) he has not looked for a proper definition of architecture and as a result what he writes has totally wrong conclusions. Umberto Eco likes an utilitarian presentation of architecture, but in reality there is no justification for that.The edition requires a few revisions. Rondom appears instead of Random, a couple of other mistakes. X-Ray would do marvels for all the references in the essays. The footnotes, considering this is a great intellectual work, are few. I recommend this book as an intriguing reading that elucidates why our times today are in the way they are.

This book is so witty! I love this author. He does such a great job at poking fun at people and their strange societal norms. Love it!

Very enlightening but have to read in the context of the time it was written

A great read. Very thorough and eye-open examination of society in the USA. What I would have liked to read more about however, is the merging of cultures which is unique to the United States and which makes it the only country in the world which is purely made up of "immigrants" and their descendants. It is a subject to study in itself. I haven't finished reading, so I'm hoping we come across it at some point, if not, it still answers a lot of questions about this young and mysterious country no one can make sense of, at least from one view-point. Definitely an intellectually enriching book to read, toys with a lot of references to contemporary and classic names in art, history and literature, some of them not quite as well known, I had to look up a lot of them. If you want to read something that takes time to get through, teaches you something and makes you research, this is the right choice. There is nothing quite like it on the market.

Beautiful book.

Different cover design but it’s cool

A classic of social commentary.

Great condition and arrived on time

Umberto Eco delivers highly enjoyable and readable insights into how the sports chatter works. This is one of the best essays i have read on the sports media.