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Product Description
How to Travel with a Salmon is a highly engaging collection of what Umberto Eco calls his diario minimo - minimal diaries - after the magazine column in which he began "pursuing the pathways of parody." These essays, written in the late eighties and early nineties, are his playful but unfailingly accurate takes on militarism, computer jargon, Westerns, art criticism, librarians, bureaucrats, meals on airplanes, Amtrak trains, bad coffee, maniacal taxi drivers, express mail, 33-function watches, fax machines and cellular phones, pornography, soccer fans, academia, and - last but definitely not least - the author's own self. How to Travel with a Salmon gives us Umberto Eco's acute vision of the absurdities of modern life.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"How to Travel With A Salmon" is ideal for those who want to get a glimpse of Eco's erudition and unfailing wit without having to tackle the sheer -and sometimes overwhelming - intellectual density of his novelistic work. The manner in which these essays portray everyday situations and absurdities, ruthlessly undermine academia, and mercilessly demolish the merits of modernity, is subversive humour at its very best. When I read it in the park I was laughing so hard, I had about 20 pairs of eyes on me, and what's best: I didn't even care.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Umberto Eco is possibly one of the greatest minds of our time. He has the enviable ability to be both a popularist (and popular) author as well as a highly respected academic - something which he seems to be able to achieve this with consumate ease.
In response to other reviewers opinions, it should be said that Eco has never stated a desire to be a stand-up comedian or to be thought of as such (if nothing else, he is far too subtle for that).
Furthermore, this book is merely a compilation of articles previously published in Italian newspapers and journals so the lack of an overall theme or repetition of ideas is inevitable - it is far less coherent for example than some of his earlier works such as 'Travels In Hyperreality'.
The articles included in this volume should be seen for what they are: lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek contemplations on contemporary culture: if anything, Eco is satirising the academic establishment in which he normally operates. From the Kafkaesque scenario played out in the titular essay, through his almost obsessively analytical attempt at defining pornography, to the 'death-by-logic' found in his writing on maps, Eco's sublimely dry sense of humour and irreverence for academia makes this both an insightful and entertaining read.
If you want something more substantial by this author, I recommend reading some of his works on semiotics (which if anything show the power of his intellect). However if you just want something that will make you smile and think in equal measure, then I highly recommend you read this book: Eco might not be stand-up material, but if this book is anything to go by, he's someone I'd happily spend an evening with...
In response to other reviewers opinions, it should be said that Eco has never stated a desire to be a stand-up comedian or to be thought of as such (if nothing else, he is far too subtle for that).
Furthermore, this book is merely a compilation of articles previously published in Italian newspapers and journals so the lack of an overall theme or repetition of ideas is inevitable - it is far less coherent for example than some of his earlier works such as 'Travels In Hyperreality'.
The articles included in this volume should be seen for what they are: lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek contemplations on contemporary culture: if anything, Eco is satirising the academic establishment in which he normally operates. From the Kafkaesque scenario played out in the titular essay, through his almost obsessively analytical attempt at defining pornography, to the 'death-by-logic' found in his writing on maps, Eco's sublimely dry sense of humour and irreverence for academia makes this both an insightful and entertaining read.
If you want something more substantial by this author, I recommend reading some of his works on semiotics (which if anything show the power of his intellect). However if you just want something that will make you smile and think in equal measure, then I highly recommend you read this book: Eco might not be stand-up material, but if this book is anything to go by, he's someone I'd happily spend an evening with...
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Ok, first of all this review refers to other reviews, it is, in a way, an answer to some mis-statements...
Now yes, this book is absolutely and delightfully hilarious, but no, it's not really a book.
This is a collection of articles Eco wrote in various magazines and newspapers. So it is to be judged as a selection of works...
So do not judge the lack of an over-riding theme, because this is just a collection of essays, but it's the best collection I've ever come across in my life.
So read it, laugh with it, and love it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
hmmm
Eco is self-important- much of the book consists of him showing off, or just sounding off smugly. The piece about the private library is particularly irritating. Read more
Published on 25 Sep 2008 by Nt Deregowski
Sharp, but not as sharp as he thinks
Eco has obviuosly been highly praised for his wit and observation, and this is born out by the self assured style of delivery in this collection of small pieces. Read more
Published on 7 Aug 2001 by K. Chase-Rahman
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