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Big Babies: Or: Why Can't We Just Grow Up?
 
 

Big Babies: Or: Why Can't We Just Grow Up? (Hardcover)

by Michael Bywater (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
RRP: £14.99
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 262 pages
  • Publisher: Granta Books (2 Nov 2006)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1862078831
  • ISBN-13: 978-1862078833
  • Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 130,350 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Product Description

Review

I suspect [this book] might change our world... it details, in shocking and visceral and wincingly recognisable fashion the way in which we are treated, by government and advertising and people who write signs and, well, everyone really, as if we are all mewling infants who have to be told, essentially, look look shiny shiny coin coin every forlorn second of every babyish day. --The Observer

Sharp, very funny and slightly disturbing...it is hard to know which group should be more despised: that which bosses and patronises with its imprudent warnings or that which feebly acquiesces. But one thing is certain: neither is likely to read Big Babies, for it is far too intelligent, witty and original to appeal to any of these infantile minds...Bywater must be our leader, Big Babies our bible. --The Telegraph

Michael Bywater [is] a wonderfully sharp and witty writer, whose sentences sing and dance, whose fluffiest paragraphs are held up by a steal core of thought. --The Scotsman


Christopher Fowler

"Raises serious social issues while cracking plenty of willy
jokes"

Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars good cultural criticism, 14 Nov 2006
By Mr. M. J. Bowen "middle name : NR" (some NOT RANDOM room) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I was a little put off this book by little irritants (something about it suggested it was going to be smug!) but was quickly engaged and I now reckon it to be the best of the recent slew of state-of-the-nation books.

Bywater's perspective on our malaise is that it can be attributed to the "infantilization" of the population, a trend he relates to the attempts by corporate advertising to be "matey" while (really) robbing us blind. We are big babies because we are happy to suckle these teets, zone out on ipods and walk around oblivious to others in a kind of "oceanic disconnection". Growing up would result from chucking out the air guitar, dressing better and enjoying a more substantial diet - culturally and culinary.

There is an excellent part on the prevalence of holding things in abeyence through bracketting - through concepts such as "liberal democracy" or "random people". When you write like this, Bywater says, you are recognising the ambiguity of the terms you are applying. This ammounts to, in effect, adding "so-called" to the front of every concept you utilise. One effect of this "living life as in brackets" is to live in a perpetual abstraction. I found this to be reminiscent of passages from Marcuse' One-Dimensional Man where he goes on about concepts (like "beauty") which exceed what you can say about them. This is probably not revolutionary stuff and I suspect Derrida is (was?) on to something simular but I found it to be well presented in here.

An interesting artivle in the Humanist magazine saw Bywater expand on his thesis a bit. He considered the twin fundamentalisms of Dawkins and the Islamists as being equally crude babyish desires to have "clear dogmatic meaning or none at all!" - a perspective to be trumped by "ambiguity, nuance and subtlty". It is towards cultivating these low-key virtues that maturity lies.
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18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A rallying cry, set to music by wit, 19 Nov 2006
Not to be mistaken for a grumpy old man rant, nor the affable malignity of light weight attacks on our culture, this is a serious but beautifully observed lament for the loss of our autonomy, hilarious in its dire examples of how we are diminished by the plethora of warnings, notices, inducements that litter our daily lives. With Bywater's help we can stay alert to the seductive charmlessness of remaining forever in a child like state of obedience, silliness, and acceptance of presciptive behaviour and can avoid the folly of lifelong immaturity and irresponsibility.
For all those adventurers who have never worn their baseball caps backwards, nor thought of remaining on the escalator once it has reached the next floor and will risk buying Christmas crackers without fear of 'explosive content'.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A well argued piece, 27 Feb 2007
By Jack Downey (Ireland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Michael Bywater hit the nail on the head by opening this book with the statement: "Something has gone wrong". I've felt the same way for years now, but could never articulate exactly what it is, unlike Mr. Bywater. It seems that all our woes can be traced back to the Baby Boomer generation refusing to grow up and both behaving and treating others like big babies.

I found this a much better read than his 2004 offering, "Lost Worlds". Instead of being a collection of snippets, the entire book develops the Big Baby thesis in Michael Bywater's unique style. It's thought-provoking and entertaining - what more do you want!

Be a (wo)man and buy the thing!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Must read but not perfect
Interesting writing style, a must read if you had enough of being treated like an idiot by the nanny state. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Dingo666

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant book - just buy it
This man knows what he is talking about.

His writing is articulate, enthralling and funny. Read more
Published 5 months ago by A. WARD

2.0 out of 5 stars Editorial stretched to book length
Had Big Babies been an editorial piece in a newspaper it would have been a thought provoking and funny piece. Read more
Published 9 months ago by J. Duducu

3.0 out of 5 stars Some good ideas, but not enough for a full-length book
I greatly enjoyed Bywater's "Lost Worlds", his collection of little elegaic pieces on things that have vanished from the UK (ranging from 'Adolescents, Envy of', and 'Bakelite' to... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Jeremy Walton

1.0 out of 5 stars What a disappointing book!
What a pity that Michael Bywater seems to have so much to say and have many valid arguments, yet his cumbersome writing style gets in the way which renders much of this work... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mr S. SMITH

5.0 out of 5 stars Sense in a nonsensical world
A healthy dose of uncommon sense wrapped up and delivered in a hilarious diatribe. Read it, I urge you. In fact, do more than read it, absorb it. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Tried N Tested

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