Just got this book from Amazon today and I’m chomping at the bit to read through it. It’s a collection of essays on cultural studies and BSG, its major philosophical themes and its impact on popular culture. Just thought I’d share.
$60 is a bit steap… Any chance of waiting for a paperback?
— Dismal the cheap bastard
$60? I just got it on paperback from Amazon for $16.24 (the list price on the paperback is $24.95). I didn’t even realize this book had a hardcover edition!
What am I doing wrong?
Click on your original link and scroll down until you see What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing Items Like This?,
or just click on the here below.
In the words of his holiness Reverend Sean, “SaWHEAT!!”
I’ve read through the first four or five chapters already. So far it’s pretty heady stuff exploring the many ways BSG addresses contemporary politics and is essentially a critique of the Bush administration. I think a couple of the authors are a little more prone to find that kind of critique than others, though, and while I know RDM is no fan of the current White House, I also gather that he doesn’t see the show as a specific political platform. Still, some interesting takes and arguments in there. I read an essay titled “The Cain Mutiny” last night dealing with issues of power and unilateralism contrasting the leadership styles of Adama, Roslin and Admiral Cain and reading them as a metaphor for contemporary geo-politics. Heady stuff!
Politics makes my head hurt. This seems more my speed: Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy: Knowledge Here Begins Out There. Has anyone read this one?
ooh, I like the pop culture and philosophy books. I saw that there is a Lost and Philosphy but didn’t know there is a BSG one now too.
This could explain why my abstract got shot down. I tried to get something in this volume. Oh well.
I’m waiting for that one too. It doesn’t come out till the 29th, though. The Pop Culture and Philosophy series is pretty cool. I’ve only picked up the one on Star Wars, but have read through a number of them at bookstores and enjoyed and learned from them a great deal (I’m amazed that bookstore staff members don’t kick me out at times, since I seem to treat their stores as browsing libraries so often. One of these days, though, I promise to pick up “Seinfeld and Philosophy” and “The Simpsons and Philosophy.” I should also pick up the one on The Beatles, especially since I’m teaching a class on them this semester, but not right now).
By the way, Cylons in America doesn’t just treat politics. The first four essays covered more political themes (and I’d be surprised if Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy shies away from such topics) but the fifth, which I just finished, had to do with Baltar and scifi stereotypes of scientists as individuals (the mad scientist trope) and science as a discipline (essentially, Baltar represents the traditional mad scientist archetype while at the same time negating/moving away from it through the course of his character arc over three seasons).
Sounds interesting. Man, I love this stuff.
:eek:
Any Pictures ??
Nope. All words. Big ones too. Like “Constantinople” and “Timbuktu.”
Me too. I just finished the essay on “Pyramid, Boxing and Sex” which deals with the nature of play in the Galactica universe and what it says about the nature of play in American society (basically play in BSG is all about competition and challenge, rather than community building and fun. The only character who ever engages in play for fun, Lee, gets his ass handed to him every time).
As the editor of ‘Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy’ I’m very happy to see it mentioned here and would love to see the discussion continue of the show’s philosophical themes. For those who haven’t picked up the book, yet, here’s the table of contents:
Erik D. Baldwin How to be Happy after the End of the World
Robert Sharp When Machines Get Souls: Nietzsche on the Cylon Uprising
J. Robert Loftis “What a Strange Little Man”: Baltar the Tyrant?
Jason P. Blahuta The Politics of Crisis: Machiavelli in the Colonial Fleet
Robert Arp “And They Have a Plan”: Cylons as Persons
Tracie Mahaffey
Amy Kind “I’m Sharon, but I’m a Different Sharon”: The Identity of Cylons
Jerold J. Abrams Embracing the “Children of Humanity”: How to Prevent the Next Cylon War
Brian Willems When the Non-Human Knows Its Own Death
Randall M. Jensen The Search for Starbuck: The Needs of the Many vs. the Few
Andrew Terjesen Resistance vs. Collaboration on New Caprica: What Would You Do?
George A. Dunn Being Boomer: Identity, Alienation, and Evil
David Roden Cylons in the Original Position: Limits of Posthuman Justice
Jason T. Eberl “I Am an Instrument of God”: Religious Belief, Atheism, and Meaning
Jennifer A. Vines
Taneli Kukkonen God against the Gods: Faith and the Exodus of the Twelve Colonies
David Kyle Johnson “A Story That Is Told Again, and Again, and Again”: Recurrence, Providence, and Freedom
Eric J. Silverman Adama’s True Lie: Earth and the Problem of Knowledge
James McRae Zen and the Art of Cylon Maintenance
Elizabeth F. Cooke “Let It Be Earth”: The Pragmatic Virtue of Hope
Sarah Conly Is Starbuck a Woman?
David Koepsell Gaius Baltar and the Transhuman Temptation
I know who you are, then, PhilospherJedi! Of course, so does anyone with a search engine now, but hey. Let me just say how much I’ve enjoyed the pop culture and philosophy series, particularly the volume on Star Wars. I’m very much looking forward to picking up the BSG volume soon. Thanks for posting this. I feel like I’ve had a celebrity encounter (hey, I’m an academic too. This IS a celebrity encounter, as far as I’m concerned)!
I’m in the middle of Cylons in America, which raises similar questions, judging from the table of contents above, as your boook. One of the essays I read most recently deals with the cingularity (the advent of advanced A.I. capable of replicating itself, rendering humanity obsolete as the dominant species on the planet) and was struck today by news that scientists have succeeded in creating the first artificial molecule. Could real cylons be far behind?
Thanks, Armando. I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the ‘Star Wars’ volume and other pop culture and philosophy books.
I’ve been doing radio interviews this past week promoting the ‘BSG’ volume, so I do feel a little like a celebrity – quite a new experience for me (especially as a philosopher)!!
You mentioned you’re an academic, too – in what discipline?
I’ve thumbed through ‘Cylons in America’ in the bookstore, but haven’t picked it up yet. I’ll probably do so in the near future as I get psyched up for Season Four.
I smell a GWC guest episode!