Customer Reviews

An Incomplete Education: 3,684 Things You Should Have Learned but Probably Didn't

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Have you longed to be able to pick up a reference book for an instant, uncomplicated answer to that vexing question Do you shrink from discussing such topics as why all of Shakespeare's comedies are not "thigh slappers"? Or maybe you caught yourself referring to Evelyn Waugh as "she".

An Incomplete Education is just the sort of book that provides a framework in twelve areas of knowledge including the Arts, Philosophy, Political Science, World History, Music and much more. The original edition was published in 1987; the third updated and expanded edition came out in 2006. It's a book of knowledge that is also very well paced and entertaining. For example, in the literature section, they identify "twelve fictional characters with whom you should have at least a nodding acquaintance"; in political science: "What you need to know before answering a personals ad in the International Herald Tribune".
According to authors Judy Jones and William Wilson, "In a world of bits and bytes, of reruns and fast forwards, of information overloads , . . it feels good to be grounded."
Clearly, this is not a COMPLETE Education. To wit: the title. After all, how would anyone define what might be a COMPLETE education. Rather, the book is a useful volume which helped me to organize my thinking. It is a companion that sits on my bookshelf "at the ready" when questions arise, (what do I really understand about the difference between Shiites and Sunnis) or when a Lexicon is needed to settle the question of whether continual or continuous is the appropriate word. It is a great addition to anyone's library, or a gift for someone who asks a lot of questions. I found myself savoring--and chuckling over-- each section.

I found this book to be entirely unlike what I expected. I was hoping for a book that gives snippets of information that adults could use in everyday life but are missing, regarding issues such as grammar, etiquette, law, and so forth. That is not what this book deals with.
Laid forth are the histories of various fields, with respect to the creators, movers, and shakers of the classics and masterpieces. While there is some trivia as such, what you learn from this book is not only how things such as economics, popular music, literature, etc., got started, but the major courses they traversed, i.e., WHY THINGS ARE THE WAY THEY ARE TODAY.
This book won't give you much to boast about at a cocktail party, but will give you an overall understanding of the state of the arts, politics, and the rest of the world in general, which may be of more use than what I had intended on buying in the first place.

I had given this book 4 stars in an earlier review, but AFTER READING OTHER REVIEWER'S COMMENTS (below) I am upgrading my rating to 5 STARS !!

I think that people need to read the book's introduction to see what the book is SUPPOSED to do before they slam it.

No, the book isn't going to be exhaustive or complete. How can it be? It's only one book and it's not even that thick!

The idea is just to learn enough of someone else's subject so you can navigate and know what they are talking about. You will need to read about it in more detail elsewhere, but at least this book will help you get started.

I did not find any SIGNIFICANT factual errors in the book. Perhaps in a book that attempts to cover all knowledge of the known (and unknown) world there might be an itty bitty error here or there, but I did not notice any. One assumes the authors used appropriate consultants for certain subjects. In the subjects that I am trained in, there were no errors.

Also, I did not find the authors to be condescending, nor did the humor interfere with my learning. In fact, my enjoyment and learning were increased.

That said, I would have to agree that completely serious, humorless people will not be happy with this book.

People who pan this book can't seem to grasp the fact that a reference book doesn't have to be dry and boring to be informative. Not only does this book provide a wealth of information about everything from chemistry to classical music, it is also laugh-out-loud funny!

I bought the first edition of this book years ago, and I still refer back to it often for the simple joy of reading it. I learn something new every time I pick it up.

Highly recommended!

This is my favorite book. I am so looking forward to the update. The best way to read this book is to know just a little bit about a subject then use it to fill the gap. It is not detailed but just enough that you get the "gist" of things.

american studies, art history, economics, film, literature, music, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, science and world history. quite a menu for the brain to bang up against. obviously you're not going to consume this in a day or two, but don't worry: it's all here to dip into anytime you want. the writing is lively and enjoyable (and opinionated in more than one spot), and the organization is fine. a great bedside book, coffee-table book, or gift. this is a fun book that i highly recommend to anyone who wishes to swell up the brain with a lot of knowledge.

The physical book is wonderful and I recommend it. My rating specifically applies to the Kindle version, which has many mismatched photos and captions. For example, the caption "Washington Irving's house" appears beneath a picture of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Ridiculous.

Although it is very uneven, it is never dull. This irreverent review of everything we thought we knew, but didn't, is worth the plunge. However, a word of warning is in order: Better to enter with questions in mind than to read it from cover to cover as I did. The first section, which is mostly an outline with snide commentary, I found rather worthless. Not so for many of the other sections which tended to lend themselves better to being summarized in outline form: For instance economics, which I continue to try to learn enough to stick to my brain. The authors here gave it to us in the proper dosage; not too much, not too little, and not force fed - although it is incomplete, as many common economic terms are missing.

The section on film was a bit too eclectic to be of much use to me. It lacked rhyme or reason (not that other section has any either). Art History is good as is philosophy, but owning to the earlier edict that they too appear more robust in summary and outline form.

Political science is just plain weird, as it takes a country-by-country approach. Or is it a region-by-region approach? Or is it just a pick any area and any topic approach? After a few paragraphs, on this section, I simply gave up on it all together. Psychology is just okay, as it hews closest to the Freudian tradition as viewed by "American Freudians."

The section on religion is excellent if you are either a "balanced religionists (Is there such a thing?), or a non-theist as I am. It gives a completely disinterested and dispassionate equal opportunity treatment of the tenets and the foibles of the various religions doctrines, but at times bleeds over into philosophy, which I suppose is as it should be. However, had I written the book I would have put some of the topics that appeared here under philosophy.

Science again is kind of a grab bag, biased in the direction of the exotic topics, which is just fine with me. Although a great deal of the more mundane stuff makes up the foundation and is needed for the exotic stuff to stick to the brain. World History too is a no brainer and could be good even if it were a dog's breakfast of a collection (as this collection is). It is avowedly Eurocentric, more about personalities than about events, or military conquests, and includes other oddities such as a discussion of Richard Hofstadter and Michel Foucault. Why here? (Go figure?) .

Anyway, on balance, it's a worthy read but mostly as a reference source. For instance on the first section, as well as on the section on literature, I got out my old cliff notes and read them in tandem. That was a much better experience than simply relying on the author's often very cute but also very sketchy entries. When you finish this book, as advertised, you will then truly have an incomplete education. A true three star effort.

Like a handbook that lets you fake having gone to college, even if you did. Jones and Wilson (and a stable of guest experts) review literature, art, economics, philosophy, science (political and actual), religion, psychology, and history - in short, all those topics you might be feeling you should know something about, especially if you spent $100,000 getting a degree. All of the major intellectual players make an appearance, however brief, plus there is the occasional weirdness detour (e.g., a comparison of horse carriages appearing in 19th-century literature, the chairs of important historical Louis, a list of aphorisms from Boswell's Life of Johnson) to keep things saucy. Dense with facts, highly opinionated, and written with a sly sense of style. Never again be ignorant of the purpose of the international monetary fund, or the difference between pathetic fallacy and intentional fallacy, or that there exists not only a Chicago School of Architecture, but also a Chicago School of Criticism and a Chicago School of Economics.

Well, I was really looking forward to it, and read a fair portion of the Religion section, but found the tone of it really annoying, not enough depth on the subject, and the author makes too many inside jokes. If you get the jokes, you already know the information and you don't need to read it. If you don't get the jokes, it is leaves you as an outsider and learn nothing.
I'll keep reading it, and amend the review if I have to.

My advice:
Go to Barnes & Noble and take a look (and just to be fair to our host, consider ordering it from here). If you read a section, and enjoy it, buy it. If it is offputting like it was to me, don't.