This is a book about freedom, and above all about the idea that there is often no greater obstacle to freedom than the assumption that it has already been fully attained. While in the West few individuals today suffer physical restraint by the state, we are still constrained by powerful psychological chains which are in many ways far more effective, if only because they are so difficult to perceive. Influential writers such as Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman have shown that the corporately controlled mass media of Western democracies serve as a giant filter system favouring powerful state and business interests: what we receive as objective news about domestic politics, human rights and environmental issues, is in fact an extremely partial and biased view of the world. Free to be Human shows how the same filter system distorts our understanding of many personal, ethical and spiritual issues, ensuring that we remain passive, conformist, confused and uninformed and willing to accept the irrational values of corporate consumerism. David Edwards argues that, in order to counter this continual process of disinformation and disempowerment, we need to master the arts of intellectual self-defence and so become able to challenge the deceptions of a system that subordinates people and planet to the drive for profit.
Free to be Human
and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.55
Trade in Free to Be Human: Intellectual Self-defence in an Age of Illusions for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.55, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Learn more
|
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Review
"This is Namaste's book of the year. Why? Because this is a book that urges the reader to look at the world from a wider perspective. Although written in 1993, everything about which the author has written is so relevant today. It is full of wisdom that does not rely on other people's research. . . . This book shows all of us ways in which we can change, by questioning how we live and think." --Namaste Magazine<br /><br />"Often raw and uncompromising, but it is precisely this quality that lifts it above the familiar blend of green bland and blather." --Jonathon Porritt
"Often raw and uncompromising, but it is precisely this quality that lifts it above the familiar blend of green bland and blather." --Jonathon Porritt
"Often raw and uncompromising, but it is precisely this quality that lifts it above the familiar blend of green bland and blather." --Jonathon Porritt
About the Author
David Edwards was born in Maidstone in 1962., After taking a degree in Politics at the University of Leicester, he worked in sales and marketing management for several large corporations. In 1991 he left the business world to concentrate on writing and teaching. He has had articles published on human rights and environmental issues in many magazines in journals. Fre to be Human is his first book; he is also the author of The Compassionate Revolution: Radical Politics and Buddhism.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
A powerful book that blows apart the myth that we are 'free' societies. It brings a clarity and insight to the way we are manipulated by a captive media working to a self-policing paradigm. We make a Faustian compact - get on the consuming bandwagon and find power and status but at the price of losing our sanity. We are missing the information that is 'filtered out' by a system of mass communication that only tells us what is necessary to keep us in buying mode.
In many ways we are worse informed than we were 50 years ago. I feel this myself in my own field of nutritional anthropology. Common wisdom about how we should be feeding ourselves has been obliterated and replaced by a modern dysfunctional paradigm that only serves to seduce people into eating ever more processed and inappropriate foods - because that is what "shifts product" and builds short-term profits.
This book gives one the arguments and strength to resist the blandishments of corporate driven advertising. Much more, it makes it clear that we will only find a true harmony and peace in life if we actually DO something about this situation. We have to take control of our own destiny - no one will do it for us. And we must do it leaving ourselves open to doubt. False certainties that are at odds with reality are a great source of psychological stress in modern society.
I have a couple of niggles. For example, in the author's rush to condemn corporate driven profit motives he derides perfectly understandable fears (in human evolutionary terms) of mass immigration. It is perfectly normal for the baby wrens, turfed out of the nest by a newly hatched cuckoo, to be upset by it. Indeed, it is the brushing aside of these fears by well meaning authorities that lead to the psychological distress of multiculturalism. Nothing to do with corporate profits.
In his enthusiasm for attacking shibboleths the author lashes out unfairly at some vulnerable targets. For example, he manages to drill down very deep into Darwin's writings to find an excuse for calling Darwin a 'racist'. The author had to drill past all the other matter that demonstrates Darwin's humanity. (Darwin was immensely upset by the slavery of Brazil). This is one case where the term 'racist' has become just a six-letter term of abuse that can be made to mean whatever the user wishes it to mean.
These are just a couple of minor points which demonstrate that even the author is not exempt from false certainties! Still a great book - thought provoking and an escape route for people trapped in the despair of modern Western society.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
following some of the advice here in daily life could be very beneficial to yourself
11 Dec 2008
By Swampy
Format:Paperback
This is the book for anyone who's worried in a very down to earth way about the world and wondering what he might be able to do help make it better practically. It also helpful to people who feel a loss of meaning in life, depressed, bored or not convinced that "having fun" is really the main aim in life - I'm speaking from my own experience. It has been very helpful especially as a young person trying to make decisions about what jobs/families/what I want out of life as it provides in my opinion a very accurate picture of how the world and what is really iportant in life as it contains information on politics, social studies and psychology. The bibliography has also been very valuable in pointing me towards other amazing authors specifically Erich Fromm, Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn. It's one of the most inspiring books I've ever read and I'd recommend it to anyone :)
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Tom Jam
Format:Paperback
This book really opened my eyes and mind to a clearer understanding of the workings of government, the media, and business in the western world. The information presented is excellent and echoes the work of Chomsky and other such people who struggle for a more fair world without the government, media and business so easily pulling the wool over peoples' eyes. I think its clarity is brilliant. I really cannot recommend this great book highly enough.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see the review
5.0 out of 5 stars
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Read it
i haven't finished the book yet because i always stop and start again (my problem) but what i read definently illuminated me on certain things. Read more
Published 19 months ago by sia
5.0 out of 5 stars
good book
excellent book, i picked it up in a charity shop as the title looked interesting having never heard of it before. recomended
Published on 28 Dec 2010 by just..
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent guide to realizing our potential as 'homo sapiens'
Have you ever felt like Truman, the eponymous hero of 'The Truman Show', trapped in a meticulously simulated fantasy world which gradually stops making sense? Read more
Published on 8 Nov 2010 by Dave Watton
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truly remarkable
This is the most wonderful book I've ever read. Read it. Make up your own mind.
Published on 8 Dec 2009 by Chris Booth
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Freedom Endeavour
This book offers a clear and concise re-thinking of the ordering of our society and will have a profound impact on the way you think and see the world about you, if you can keep an... Read more
Published on 21 Mar 2008 by Graminaceous
1.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting ideas but a lack of rigour.
I found this book in a secondhand shop and was fascinated by the cover blurb. Sadly it failed to live up to its early promise. Read more
Published on 15 Aug 2007 by Stuart Jessup
5.0 out of 5 stars
A brilliant and incisive book.
I first read this book in 1996 when it was published in England. I think I must have re-read it at least five or six times since, returning to favourite passages when life around... Read more
Published on 6 Jun 2003 by Matthew Randall
1.0 out of 5 stars
Whats this? The angry Buddhist?
I was expecting a lot from this book. Judging from the reviews and what it was supposed to contain, the only thing that I thought would be its weakness was its Buddhistic... Read more
Published on 11 Dec 2002
5.0 out of 5 stars
Post-Chomski revelations: a self help book to freedom
Fed up of books fannying around with the meaning of life, existence of God etc. Not really telling it how it is. Then dare to read this. Read more
Published on 30 Dec 1999
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Business, Finance & Law
- Books > Science & Nature > Environment & Ecology > Conservation
- Books > Science & Nature > Environment & Ecology > Ecology
- Books > Science & Nature > Environment & Ecology > Environmental Philosophy
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Government & Politics > Political Science & Ideology > Democracy
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Communication Studies > Media & Communication Industries
- Shops > Amazon Green
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
