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Rating: 
Summary: Very important and well-documented book
Review: Science of Coercion is an excellent study of how ideas can be shaped by powerful groups. Most revealing is the way in which the researchers themselves allowed this to happen. Many of them were mildly progressive politically, yet they seemed to have no reservations about being involved in military-sponsored projects. Simpson argues that the most important factor in helping the academic researchers to accept the military connection was insulation from the effects of psychological warfare, especially the use of violence.Simpson provides extensive documentation for his argument: there are only 115 pages of text and more than 60 pages of notes. Given that it is strictly about the US experience, it would be nice to have a comparison with experiences in other countries. His study provides a worrying reminder about the extent to which standard ideas in many fields of research may be shaped to serve the interests of powerful interest groups and elite academics.
Rating: 
Summary: Too Dumbed Down to get it.
Review: The main point I took from this book was that a handful
of specialist military mindbenders from WWII ended up in powerful civilian positions from which they plumped up or slenderized everyone else's
schemas on a subtle basis , in near total obscurity. The book does not sensationalize as much as it's title
suggests. However the point is made that mass
public cooperation is required to make big things happen. Smart
nobodys will readily grasp the power/vulnerability states which our leaders navigate everyday. When enough people say no, it matters. Most of the time stupidity works.In this case it works against
this book. Such is the state of our collective schema that most people will find the book is boring, the points too obliquely drawn. I sure the author, careful to preserve his scholarly rigor, never expected this book to be a million seller, and found the title a little lurid.
Rating:
Summary: Too Dumbed Down to get it.
Review: The main point I took from this book was that a handful
of specialist military mindbenders from WWII ended up in powerful civilian positions from which they plumped up or slenderized everyone else's
schemas on a subtle basis , in near total obscurity. The book does not sensationalize as much as it's title
suggests. However the point is made that mass
public cooperation is required to make big things happen. Smart
nobodys will readily grasp the power/vulnerability states which our leaders navigate everyday. When enough people say no, it matters. Most of the time stupidity works.In this case it works against
this book. Such is the state of our collective schema that most people will find the book is boring, the points too obliquely drawn. I sure the author, careful to preserve his scholarly rigor, never expected this book to be a million seller, and found the title a little lurid.
Rating: 
Summary: Not what you might think
Review: This book is primarily a documentation of the extensive influence of government and corporate agendas on the development of communications science. The title is misleading in two ways: the actual book is neither about the science itself nor is it about coercion, which generally involves the use of force. A more accurate title would have been "Propaganda and the Development of Communication Science" or something like that. Buy this book if you really want to know the details of every government grant that supported the foundation of communication science. Do not buy this book if you want to understand what those grants--or those foundations--actually were all about.
Rating:
Summary: Not what you might think
Review: This book is primarily a documentation of the extensive influence of government and corporate agendas on the development of communications science. The title is misleading in two ways: the actual book is neither about the science itself nor is it about coercion, which generally involves the use of force. A more accurate title would have been "Propaganda and the Development of Communication Science" or something like that. Buy this book if you really want to know the details of every government grant that supported the foundation of communication science. Do not buy this book if you want to understand what those grants--or those foundations--actually were all about.
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