Customer Reviews

The Experience of Nothingness

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you are interested in considering meaning, the lack of meaning, what makes something meaningful or not, self-identity, the nature of reality and other trivial topics like these, this is a wonderful book and a small one, that will none-the-less take much time to read because of its density. By "density" I don't mean Novak is hard to understand... exactly the opposite. Many of his insights are so filled with meaning and implication that I, for one, can go but a few pages at a time.... writing notes all the while. Highly recommended, if you are a "thinker".

A very good little book that is rather tarnished by the fact that the author went on to become a right wing shill. Quite how someone who could confront the "void" with such clarity and seeming courage could end up falling for the most vapid conservative twaddle is quite beyond me. Perhaps he was exhausted by living life standing straight up and felt the need to just throw in the towel? As someone said of Huysmans after such a book one either falls at the foot of a cross or the takes a revolver in the mouth...Novak hit the foot of the cross and apparently left his intelligence behind...Still this is an essential read. And for once an American patrolling these waters and not say Camus or even Celine.

I'm interested in the topic of nihilism, and for a while, it seems that Novak has something to say about the topic. Unfortunately, the book is just one logical fallacy after another. At first, it was still an interesting book, because it showed what a flawed view on the topic would look like, but you can only take so many pages of non-sequiturs, bald assertions and stolen concepts before moving on to better books.

I give the book two stars instead of one because he does have some interesting things to say. If you're reading in the sense of having a nice conversation on the topic, the content of which is to be largely forgotten at the end, it might be worth a run-through. But if you're looking to gain knowledge about nihilism, it's not very useful, not very well-integrated, and not at all well-argued. A careful reading yields disappointment after a few dozen pages.