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Growing Up Absurd
 
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Growing Up Absurd (Paperback)

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4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Product Details

  • Paperback: 296 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage (August 12, 1962)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0394700325
  • ISBN-13: 978-0394700328
  • Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #546,625 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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More About the Author

Paul Goodman
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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars This ain't dated. And that's tragic., February 3, 2006
What a great and wonderful book! Bunches of insight about the natural disaffection of the modern citizen. Truly a book about one of society's big questions.

Oh... wait... this was written in 1959? But there's all that government-business collusion? And the outrageous pharmaceutical industry and media monopolization scandals? And the hope for the near-future?

1959?! How stinkin' depressing! Great book. Read it; maybe the world is ripe for change.

Okay, the part about Russia is dated.
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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Goodman Simply Nailed the 1950s, March 1, 2005
By Larry Rochelle (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Paul Goodman knew the 1950s, its bland neighborhoods, its schools so like prisons, its emphasis on athletics and prom queens. His book, "Growing Up Absurd," told every high school graduate and fresh-faced frosh in college exactly what they already knew.

High school was and is a waste of time and energy. How much better to just skip it entirely. High school students grew up deformed and degenerated, skipping classes, taunting teachers and each other, not doing homework and still making the honor roll.

Just having an adult say these things, recognizing just how absurd high school continues to be is so freeing, and so affirming. And about time, too.

However, nothing notable has been done to improve it since the 1950s, and no matter how that boring school day is arranged, it still feels like prison.
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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Paul Goodman -- "Conservative Anarchist", October 6, 2003
By Chris Planer (Columbus, OH) - See all my reviews
This is the first title by Paul Goodman that I have read. He had an interesting critique of modern society (c. 1960). If one can get around many of his assumptions (i.e, everyone is in the rat race, man!) and his sometimes facile diagnostics (progressive education is the panacea!) the book has a lot to say to a modern reader. Many of the reasons he points out for the discontent of youth (both affluent and otherwise) are still with us. His section on "Beat Economics" is pretty interesting as well. Well worth a read.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Goodman's "Cri de Coeur," almost 50 years on...
As another reviewer, Dylan Miller, stated, "this ain't dated." If anything, his analysis of the woes of society is even truer today than when he wrote the book at the beginning of... Read more
Published 10 months ago by John P. Jones III

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing New Under The Sun--Goodman was a seer!
The words are still important to ingest and ruminate, if not meditate, upon. All educators with any soul left must read this book. Read more
Published 22 months ago by John-David Hughes

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