Customer Reviews

The Culture of the Copy: Striking Likenesses, Unreasonable Facsimiles

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This is an excellent book that could have been much much more. Our current ability to create a world of likenesses and copies has changed the way we look at the world. And this well written work discusses just how many issues, from twins, to copied documents, to ethnolographic film, are informed by our search for the "real" in a world of "copies." Yet this work never becomes anything more than a well written, entertaining series of well-selected anecdotes. The philosophical issues, the absurdity of any idea of "identity" or metaphysical "difference," in a world in which identities are fabricated, is never touched upon. This work could have been a philosophical tome, changing the way I thought; unfortunately it only made me chuckle at how people have been confused by twins

This book covers so many varieties of imitation types that you can't go wrong in reading it. It is particularly useful if you are interested in the imitation aspect involved in some subject, such as camouflage or doppelgangers, that won't have this idea covered well enough under its own title. The book is a cultural/ historical chronicle with enough research done by the author to make it stand out on the shelves.

A travesty. Schwartz, in this book, does nothing but reformulate older theories and water them down in a text that should be titled "The Idiot's Guide to the Copy."
Although passing himself off as a scholar, Schwartz has never been able to receive tenure at any college or university. Simplisitic accounts of what could otherwise be a fascinating philosophical study do little to further his reputation.