Let’s talk about taste
So admittedly, this book is not very new, but damn it’s good…..
As you can probably guess, I read many of the wonderfully enlightening 33 1/3 titles. Have even talked about some of them here.
What makes Let’s Talk About Love so special? It was both educational and honestly written. The author, Canadian uber-brain Carl Wilson, tracks both his own relationship as well as that of the worlds’ with media Godzilla, Celine Dion.
The Celine backstory bits are mildly entertaining and the author’s own revelations are engaging and terrific*, but the theoretical discussions of taste as a social construct are mesmerizing. Ever heard Bourdieu theories on social capital and cultural capital? How about Komar and Melamid’s art/research on the elements the masses find most desirable in a painting? Did you know Kant was writing about aesthetic judgement back in 1790?
This was the meat and potatoes of this book for me. I can’t stress enough if you want a readable few chapters on how tastes work and how some of the things mentioned above can be applied the animal of hipster to a scientific tee, look no further. (Or take a couple of college classes, but trust me, the book is much more entertaining.)
*My actual favorite part of the book occurs on page 134, when the author recounts his ex-wife singing along to “Oh Boy” by Buddy Holly, and how truth and beauty can align perfectly in little blasts along the way…
View the original article on Total Echo.
About the Author
Marc Calhoun Marc Calhoun is a freelance writer/blogger/musician living in Providence RI. He currently presides over Total Echo (http://totalecho.wordpress.com/) and Micro/Macro Album Coverz (http://micro-macro-album.tumblr.com/). Feel free to check out his past radio shows (http://www.bsrlive.com/shows/same-old-song) or his own musical mishaps (https://soundcloud.com/roboticdeathhawk).