The World Who Wants It?

by Ben Nicholson and Ben Nicholas

This volume concerns political satire on current events. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1904772021
• ISBN13: 9781904772026
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Black Dog Publishing
• Length: 205 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

a thoughtful work of speculative fiction

This book is really a work of speculative fiction which depicts a close parallel universe, branching off from 9/11, where the Bush administration really actively begins the business of world-building in the most conscious, constructive and peaceable way imaginable. While this is of course a fantasy it is certainly explored with such good intentions that we are drawn in from the start. Some of the chapters are a little disconnected and the overall writing is kind of dry but the author's breezily optimistic approach to global re-engineering pretty much wins you over.

The Force of Imagination

The 9/11 commission blamed the terrorist attacks on our "Failure of Imagination." The kind of imagination that they were referring to was one which could anticipate horrific acts against Americans. The dismal results of our recent election indicate that we have successfully learned to imagine the worst, and expect leaders who will exploit that fear in the most cynical possible ways. Ben Nicholson has no failure of imagination. But his imagination is positive, constructive and frequently brilliant. His training as an architect allows him to evaluate a broad array of International issues, and to generate creative and usually unexpected insights into ways of re-imagining solutions. If you despair over America's response to the world since 9/11, this book will serve as a useful antidote, showing what is possible with a healthy imagination.

Something Very Different

This book takes a fresh and zany look at the world's all-to-familiar, intractable problems. The author goes after these problems by proposing detailed solutions that range from the clever to the bizarre. Though none of these solutions is practical, many are insightful and thought provoking, while others are just deliciously sarcastic. The author leads the reader down a serpentine, quasilogical path, that is a delight to follow. I thought the book was thoroughly enjoyable.

The Whole Truth

It takes a keen and courageous observer to lay bare the hypocracy of the sole world superpower, and to do so with enough irony and humor to keep a twinkle in a reader's eye. Ben Nicholson is such a writer, and this book gives hope that not everyone is being made subservient to a conservative agenda. In fact, the importance of this book is that it really takes no specific political stance, because really it is outlining a broad critique of quite fundamental American stupidities - not reserved to either Republicans or Democrats. This book is important because its extreme suppositions and speculations are only implausible within a momentary context - America shows again and again it's ability to go beyond, (for good and for evil), everything we can imagine at this present moment.But mostly, this is just a good read, building momentum and constructing linkages and scenarios that would make Raymond Roussel proud - had he ever written a political novel.