Customer Reviews

Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel: Confessions of a Conservative College Professor

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sean W. wrote "(To the reviewer who said that American universities don't qualify as "higher learning," why have I heard of no Canadian schools that match the renown of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and the like?)"

The answer is simple, your ignorance is why you have never heard of McGill University or Queen's University, both of which provide much higher degrees of education than most universities in the world. You might try looking outside the borders and you'll realize there is a whole world there - but then if you read the likes of Dr. Adams, I won't hold my breath waiting for you to take a broad view!!

But I was disappointed by the fact that I had already read almost the entire thing on townhall.com. Had I known that the book was simply a collection of Dr. Adams' articles from his website, I definitely would have waited for the paperback.

For anyone who is not familiar with Dr. Adams, but finds the topic interesting, I would recommend the book.

If Mike Adams would spend less time making it obvious that he loves the sound of his own voice and the look of his own words in print more than he loves actually saying what needs to be said, this would be a better book. I give it 2 stars because it is readable and some parts did make me smile. He's almost funny in an amateurish-comedian sort of way.

What Mike is more interested in than "truth" is fame and some form of entertainment contract. He vies to be the next "Limbaugh" or "Coulter", but sadly, lacks the wit, charisma, or the insight to the issues that these others have, or had.

Which is why, of course, so few people have heard of or read his virtually "self-published" ego book.

Mike Adams is not very funny. Even if what he says is true. Mike Adams comes across as a parody of somebody smarter than he is. Too bad, Mike.

Though hardly definitive disections of university life, this book and Ben Shapiro's "Brainwashed" offer enlightening and entertaining glimpses of the experiences of a professor at UNC Wilmington (Adams) and student at UCLA (Shapiro). Of the two, Adams' book is better, but both are worthwhile.

"Ivory Tower" is limited primarily to Adams' own encounters with campus radicalism within the UNC system (mostly Wilmington and Chapel Hill) and doesn't provide the usual laundry list of anecdotes from other schools. This is the book's strong point, I think. Basing his argument on his personal experiences lends greater credibility to his case, and his sense of sarcasm makes the book a fun read along the way. If you're interested in the topic, I think you'll be satisfied.

As for that reviewer from Canada who slammed the book (or, more specifically, the author), once you've finished "Ivory Tower" you'll no doubt be easily able to imagine how Dr. Adams would respond, since this person's supposedly "liberal and open-minded" attitude towards those who think differently is precisely what this book is scrutinizing. Which makes me wonder, O Canada, did you actually read the book? And have you thought through the self-contradiction of claiming that liberals at universities should exclude conservatives because if conservatives are allowed in they will exclude non-conservatives? And what "fringe" ideas does Dr. Adams reveal in his book? Your review says more about you than it does "Ivory Tower," and what it says about you is what makes this book necessary.

I purchased this book together with Brainwashed. I pick this one to read first and when I sit down to read it I did not put it down till the last page. This book is a must read, its fun and funny, real life descriptions of life on modern day American University campus. This book shows the curious phenomenon that occurs when a group of people lose ideological contact with the majority of people. A person or group of people on the far left (or far right) cannot communicate with the vast majority of people that reside in the middle of society. It's like their minds never reach any understanding of the other. Today on the American University campus, most Professors have lost ideological contact with the American people that pay their wages and permit Professors to teach. What a sad day this is.

'Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel' is an insightful look into the sad state of our universities today. How did this happen? Who can we blame? Clearly, the state legislatures that fund our universities with taxpayer money make this corruption possible. But the real blame goes to an uninformed electorate. Hopefully, Dr. Adams' book will help enlighten the voting public. They sure won't hear this stuff on the CBS Evening News...

I am a true classical liberal. First about the book: This is a collection of observations of true to life happenings at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. Some of it truly seems stranger than fiction (such as the liberal black woman administrator who thinks the Wilmington police followed her to Hawaii just to put fecal matter on the sheets). It gives a vivid and often disturbing picture as to how the paranoid liberals in the university system are squelching dissenting opinion and using thug-like tactics to shut out any conservative voice. The worst of this is that in this environment, it is the student that suffers.

(...)

Dr. Mike Adams writes clearly, honestly and in today's educational and political context.

His premise regards the loss of Constitutional rights within the "higher learning" system of today's tax supported university system. His experience as a Criminal Justice Professor at University of North Carolina-Wilmington (UNCW) provides the background and dramatic insight into what is wrong in education today.

He has taken personal experiences, letters, emails, and other correspondence and woven them into a book that should have been published long ago by others involved in higher education.

The content of his book is drawn from his deeply personal experience with students, fellow faculty members and the UNCW administration.

His background, from liberal to conservative, is well and honestly documented.

Dr. Adams provides irrefutable, documented facts demonstrating that the liberal education establishment is actively engaged in promoting the liberal/left-wing agenda, and smothering free speech and open discourse for those who do not adhere to the liberal line. Those free speech rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America. That university students subjected to same are hearing and seeing only one side of their purported education, becomes obvious as one reads his carefully documented references.

Dr. Adams did not, in my opinion, write this book for self aggrandizement, but only to inform the public of what their children are subjected to at university, and how their tax dollars are spent at public institutions. He is sincere in his desire to see that open discourse is allowed for all students, professors and the campus organizations to which they belong. Open and free speech for all, as described in his book, is what I believe is the true meaning of "diversity".

All parents of current or prospective students of higher education and those whose taxes support public colleges and universities should read Dr. Adams book.

Adams. Thanks for saying what I have wanted to say for years. Hilarious and vicarious!

This guy is a scream. Can turn a phrase with the best of them