Customer Reviews

U2 and Philosophy: How to Decipher an Atomic Band (Popular Culture and Philosophy)

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As a writer with background in philosophy & religion who has been deeply into music since his early childhood, I find thinking about music on a par with listening to it and experiencing it, with body and mind fully engaged. This book is a great blend of listening, thinking and experiencing that draws on U2's own words and aims, the public's perception of the band, and finally the reflection of critical thinkers who have -- for the most part, for most of them, I gather -- listened and experienced U2 themselves for some time.

The articles in this volume deal with issues such as transcendence and the ability of music to take us to transcendent places, Bono's public personas and his struggle with ego and humility, the place of death and mortality in a responsible and awakened person's self-consciousness, the importance of place in the spiritual life, what you can and cannot 'know' on the basis of listening to a band like U2; what can be gleaned from their music -- and many more topics, including specifically religious ones, such as 'eschatology' (i.e., the discipline of theolgy that is supposed to be critical thinking about the 'end of the world').

Having been a fan of U2 since "War," I found a great deal to chew on in this book; many things that resonated with my own responses to the band's music, lyrics and political activism, as well as some surprising new ideas that I will grapple with as I continue on my journey with U2. I would recommend this book to any thoughtful person interested in the relationship between music and life.

This is probably the best book in the entire "X and Philosophy" series. (The Matrix and Philosophy is excellent too.) Indeed, it has so many major Heidegger scholars in it that it could have been called "U2 and Heidegger." If you like U2 and want to read some real philosophy (not the watered down stuff typical of most of these volumes), this is the book for you!

U2 AND PHILOSOPHY: HOW TO DECIPHER AN ATOMIC BAND is a top pick for fans of the group, introducing philosophy in the context of a popular music venue review to make it more understandable to modern audiences. What does U2 have to do with Plato, existentialism, and Nietzsche, among others? This is the perfect pick for a high school collection wishing to introduce students to philosophy without appearing dry or dull in the process!

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This could've been a great collection, but many of the pieces just aren't very well written. The writers use very few actual examples from U2's songs, and most of the chapters jump all over the place, with subtitles seemingly inserted at random. There are stylistic and spelling inconsistencies, as well as some factual errors (it lists The Unforgettable Fire as released in 1990, when in fact it came out in 1984, for example). While it's not a bad introduction to some key philosophical ideas, students would be better off seeking out a textbook or the original texts, and I don't think the scant references to U2 made any of the essays better. In fact, most of them felt convoluted because they didn't provide enough proof to back up what they were trying to argue.

That said, the chapter on the Joshua Tree and place was fantastic. If the whole book had been that way, I'd be writing a much different review. As it is, though, that chapter just made the others in the book look bad.

Good for those somewhat interested in philosophy, but U2 fans will be disappointed. Those interested in learning more about U2 would be better off searching out U2 at the End of the World or U2 By U2, or simply just listening to U2's music and thinking about it on their own.

This book is too abstract and is incomprehensible. Save your money unless you LOVE philosophy.