Customer Reviews

Foucault For Beginners

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I picked up this book to help me prepare for a short presentation I had to give on Foucault. Since I had very little time to do reasearch (only 2 weeks), reading through a book such as Discipline and Punish or even the Foucault Reader was out of the question. This was a great introduction to Foucault's general theories, and it included brief synopses of specific works. The writing style is quick-to-the-point and full of light humor, and the comic book style added to this feeling. I especially enjoyed the way this book used certain stories and situations to put some of Foucault's points into "lamens terms". It also tells you which of Foucault's books make the best starting points, for anyone who wants to read "the real thing".

I will agree with some of the other reviewers that some of the explanations were a little TOO brief, but that's to be expected with such a short book. Despite this minor imperfection, I was able to walk away completely understanding the major points of Foucault's study. Not to be counted on as a single source, this book is best used as an introduction, or a companion, to the works of Foucault.

Beginners books sets out to simplify Foucaults work and essentially does so. Sometimes almost too simple. I enjoyed the material, as I had no clue what Foucault was about previous to reading, however, I also felt the writing was a little too sparse. The pictures are nice, which makes this series attractive, yet, they filled the page often with splash words and large fonts which sometimes seemed unnecessary or only to fill a page. Regardless, the text is good and informative and reccomended for anyone who is interested in reading Foucault for the first time but does not know where to begin.

Somehow in college you don't get around to studying all the things you want to. After you gradaute you can't seem to pick up a 60 pound volume of someone's intellectual achievement, sit down infront a warm fire and pour over every paragraph- let alone do you find the time to just sit! The answer to those still desiring to learn more than the required number of credits in college is the "for Beginners" series. Condensing a subject's concepts to a user-friendly, entertaining and thought-provoking illustrated book is not easy. But this is as good as it gets! Although Foucault would proably have not approved of the "simplified" commentary of this book, it sure helps everyone else understand his contribution to French intellectualism.

The current wave of French intellectuals being given to obscure language, these introductory volumes are welcome. I especially enjoyed Fillingham's explication of the way that power and knowledge are inseperable, for Foucault. Having waded through The History of Sexuality in grad school, I now wish I had had this book to give me an overview of the work before I had plunged into it. I have read DERRIDA FOR BEGINNERS, and would have enjoyed hearing from Fillingham how Foucault's thought differs from Derrida's.

Sometimes flamboyant, sometimes astute, this book tours the reader through the strange and gutsy world of Foucault and his ideas. I really enjoyed it.