The Last Dinosaur Book: The Life and Times of a Cultural Icon

Rating:
Summary: powerfully frames a discussion about our culture
Review: THE LAST DINOSAUR BOOK elucidates the value of cultural studies. It powerfully frames a discussion about what we are as a culture while bypassing all the standard cliches. In the "totem" of the dinosaur, Mitchell is able to see a kaleidoscope of ambivalent pulls upon the fibers of our motivations. Utilizing various cultural phenomena, Mitchell makes clear in a comprehensive fashion why the dinosaur so well speaks for our cultural unconscious and the changes it is going through in the way of "sex, money, politics, and nature." The dinosaur does this in many ways because it is a category (if not actual phenomena) that we as moderns created and as post-moderns recreated. In a sense, the "dinosaur" itself, as a category, is a powerful "over-reading." How odd then that Mitchell should be accused of over-interpretation, when he is merely being a responsible critic who refuses to deny that which is of interest in our culture and quite undogmatically offers us some tools to begin to engage some of the dominant yet contradictory symbols of our culture. This is a vital book that cuts across disciplines and makes us realize what cultural studies is for.

Rating:
Summary: powerfully frames a discussion about our culture
Review: THE LAST DINOSAUR BOOK elucidates the value of cultural studies. It powerfully frames a discussion about what we are as a culture while bypassing all the standard cliches. In the "totem" of the dinosaur, Mitchell is able to see a kaleidoscope of ambivalent pulls upon the fibers of our motivations. Utilizing various cultural phenomena, Mitchell makes clear in a comprehensive fashion why the dinosaur so well speaks for our cultural unconscious and the changes it is going through in the way of "sex, money, politics, and nature." The dinosaur does this in many ways because it is a category (if not actual phenomena) that we as moderns created and as post-moderns recreated. In a sense, the "dinosaur" itself, as a category, is a powerful "over-reading." How odd then that Mitchell should be accused of over-interpretation, when he is merely being a responsible critic who refuses to deny that which is of interest in our culture and quite undogmatically offers us some tools to begin to engage some of the dominant yet contradictory symbols of our culture. This is a vital book that cuts across disciplines and makes us realize what cultural studies is for.

Rating:
Summary: powerfully frames a discussion about our culture
Review: THE LAST DINOSAUR BOOK elucidates the value of cultural studies. It powerfully frames a discussion about what we are as a culture while bypassing all the standard cliches. In the "totem" of the dinosaur, Mitchell is able to see a kaleidoscope of ambivalent pulls upon the fibers of our motivations. Utilizing various cultural phenomena, Mitchell makes clear in a comprehensive fashion why the dinosaur so well speaks for our cultural unconscious and the changes it is going through in the way of "sex, money, politics, and nature." The dinosaur does this in many ways because it is a category (if not actual phenomena) that we as moderns created and as post-moderns recreated. In a sense, the "dinosaur" itself, as a category, is a powerful "over-reading." How odd then that Mitchell should be accused of over-interpretation, when he is merely being a responsible critic who refuses to deny that which is of interest in our culture and quite undogmatically offers us some tools to begin to engage some of the dominant yet contradictory symbols of our culture. This is a vital book that cuts across disciplines and makes us realize what cultural studies is for.

Rating:
Summary: Last Dinosaur Book selected as one of the year's top 100
Review: The Last Dinosaur Book was selected by the Toronto Globe and Mail as one of the top 100 books of 1999.

Rating:
Summary: Loathsome
Review: This book is the worst of postmodern popular criticism--well, not the worst. The author is fairly comprehensible, unlike many of his colleagues. However, he is so full of his own cleverness and so enmeshed in a really tired critical pomo framework that this book becomes incredibly annoying to read. What a lost opportunity. This could have been a useful analysis of a cultural phenomenon--buy it for the nice design and photos if you must have every dinosaur book in print, but don't bother reading it.

Rating:
Summary: Loathsome
Review: This gorgeous book is like a coffee-table book you can actually read! It's fun, engaging, and even silly at times, yet the overall experience is even more satisfying than watching Jurassic Park.