The Political Mind: Why You Can't Understand 21st-Century American Politics with an 18th-Century Brain (edit title)

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Liked It Rated 5 stars “The Political Mind is about conceptual frames and their importance in thought and communication, including brain-science supported explanations that are accessible to the layperson. The information is delivered in a compelling progressive context, but I think the core information would be quite...” see full review » see other reviews »

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  • Rated 5 stars

  “The Political Mind is about conceptual frames and their importance in thought and communication, including brain-science supported explanations that are accessible to the layperson. The information is delivered in a compelling progressive context, but I think the core information would be quite interesting to open-minded readers of any political persuasion. Indeed, I think there is useful information here for all kinds of communication, including non-political messages. As a software engineer, this book had me thinking about how conceptual frames are relevant to my communications at work, UI design, and AI topics such as natural language processing.”

  Max C wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No

  
  
  • Rated 4 stars

  “I really enjoyed this book when it used modern political thought to illustrate how framing, metaphors and cognitive thinking works. It was a little hard to follow the theoretic arguments of the various linguistics approaches and although the author attempted to give each a fair reading, his stronger arguments for his own makes it necessary to do further reading and research before forming a personal preference. All in all this book helps the reader understand why political thought is in its present state and how it could be fixed.”

  James M wrote this review Sunday, September 6 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No

  
  
  • Rated 5 stars

  “My highest accolade for this book appears in this salute: Lakoff has made a significant contribution to our cultural, logical and human understanding in his book, The Political Mind--reading it will put you on the vanguard. He suggests nothing less than the disinheritance of the Enlightenment and all of its tradition of rationality. No, he is not an anarchist. Rather, Reason does not go far enough in explaining our strengths. The latest brain research indicates that we think with the added complexity of emotion. Not to include emotion into the decision-making process means the difference in watching film at the theater and watching a 3D film.
  
  Those Progressives that continue to use Reason only limit the scope of their capacities. The Conservatives have figured out ahead of us that framing the argument in emotionally-laden metaphors, symbols, and tag-word expressions can carry the momentum much further. Lakoff has presented chapter after chapter of valuable research studies, keen insights, and practical suggestions for living and thinking in the 21st Century.
  
  Lakoff counsels that Progressive argue in vain if they use the Conservative terminology. For example, he notes how the phrase "tax relief" carries values-laden, emotionally-charged significance that is completely inaccurate to how taxes work, but this fits into the long-range Conservative goals and then round and round that goes. Progressives must stress how taxes help the services of America. Period. America was predicated on the belief of the strength of the community and taxes sustain that; to erode that into privatizing, marginalizing language that Conservatives use about how they have been victimized is disingenuous. How someone who pays a percentage of wealth in order to sustain Police, Fire Dept., Courts, Schools, etc., and complains about it smacks of rampant greed and individualistic hedonism.
  
  Lakoff has a plan. He is not merely a theorist. I highly recommend this to any of you who have been frustrated by the Conservative hegemony of late because Lakoff knows what he is talking about, he has the evidence, he has the help we need. ”

  Mark V wrote this review Saturday, April 18 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No

  
  
  • Rated 0 stars

  “I did not end up liking this. It had an intriguing thesis but boiled down to a formulaic approach basedf on the notion that logic does not dictate political decisions and that our perceptual approach depends on the conceptual framework we use to interpret events.”

  Mary M wrote this review Monday, June 2 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No