In this hopscotch drive around MIDDLE- and UPPER-MIDDLE class America, Mr. Brooks concludes that "most Americans know very little for certain except that whatever works for me is valid, and whatever works for you is probably, too." (p.277) Do you agree? Consider "the periodic awakenings and moralistic crusades that recur throughout American history---the Great Awakenings, the abolitionist movement, the temperance movement, the civil rights, anti-abortion, even anti-smoking movenments." It seems that Brooks by saying "most" (as in "most Americans", above) may be true if he means 51% of them, but I'm not sure I'd agree with him even then. That's the benefit to me of writing this review, as I have to address that myself; and the benefit of a book such as this one which encourages such contemplative thought. Americans are, generally speaking, the hardest working, most optimistic & materialistic, risk-taking people on earth. We work longer hours than any other people (within the developed world), and we have the fewest vacation days. Even with leisurely pursuits we "work" at our backhands, our golf game, our tans, figures, etc. Everything middle-class suburbanites do seems to be goal oriented or---in the author's view---toward the pursuit and (hopefully) "achievement of par"; to utilize a golfing metaphor. Mr. Brooks ascribes such sterotypical behavior to Americans' obsession with "future-mindednesss". That's what these 288 pages are all about---the idea that "beneath the seeming flatness of American life, there is an imaginative fire that animates us and propels us to work so hard, move so much, invent so much, and leap into so much that is new and different." We are, almost, prisoners of expectations, or rather prisoners of the anxiety of not living up to certain expectations. And this anxiety propels us, collectively, to reform perpetually, thus making America so strong. Sounds logical, doesn't it? But what about the fact that one-third of (credit addicted) Americans lease cars, for instance, or that so many who buy them do so with little money down; like most mortgages where only a small percentage of the price is needed up front. Does this classify as future-mindedness? I'd be inclined to posit that Americans are not living FOR the future as much as living without fear OF the future; and, in fact, willing to pay a premium to bring the future foward; to live the future NOW. Born in abundance, we are not, consequently, a patient people; and it is this abundance which instills in us middle- and upper-middle-class Americans a proclivity toward taking risks. And because government in America doesn't unduly discourage such risk-taking "it is easier to get rich here." Its negative corollary that it's also more miserable to be poor in America than in other parts of the developed world does not, in Mr. Brook's view, make American society inherently unjust---a view which is apparent in the words of "Publishers Weekly", the first editorial review above. Hence their criticism of this book by Mr. Brooks. That Mr. Brooks, moreover, is a conservative is not especially relevant herein anyway. He is simply trying to describe what motivates Americans & what makes them different than other peoples; that the words of Mr. Brooks are---in the words of Publishers Weekly---"less likely to spark change or even a desire for change" is completely irrelevent to the scope of this book. America = ENERGY: Mr. Brooks offers us his view as to what accounts for this, and I have added some sceptical and/or critical thoughts of my own regarding his thesis. Agree or disagree (and give me negative feedback if you want to support what Publishers weekly thinks this book is about), but if you want to consider what makes "American life an obstacle course demanding relentless energy and work," then you could do far worse than having a gander at this expository essay by Mr. Brooks. It's a fast read, and a contemplative one at that. Thanks for reading my opinion. Cheers!

Don't know why I never finished this book. It's witty, truthful, insightful, and an easy read.

The book seems to be just one long witty article that simply goes on for pages. I will finish the book eventually, but there are too many others that seem to grab my attention and pull me away from this one...

I must start out with my first observation that any reasonably articulate comment to the Michael Moores, Dan Rathers and Peter Jennings along the lines of the great showtune, "It ain't necessarily so" will be met with gasps and then pummled like a French Middleweight.

My second observation I really arrived at as a child and little has ocurred to change it over any number of decades. It is: Bad stuff sells!!! Good stuff . . . . "put it on page 17 Charley, next to the power tool ads."

So David Brooks is a loser from the outset. Imagine a concept that things are pretty good? The guile of him. Where did he get the guts to publish such tripe? Who the heck is he to tell us that America is a pretty cool and funny place to grow up in?

I have to believe that every one in America at sometime in the next couple of weeks ought to get down on their knees and thank the Lord, the Higher Power, Ra the Sun God, the Number 22 bus in Chicago, whomever, for having been born or having emigrated to America. To take a shower every morning. To pay too much at the gas pump but have great highways to use the SUV on. To have 78 channels. To watch the Yankees and The Red Sox. To go to Temple-Mosque-Church on the weekend. To be able to have therapy and diets. To have TV commercials that walk the tightrope between being wildly funny and wildly stupid and nearly half the time offensive (incontinence before dinner is not something I want to consider).

I like David Brooks. And I love America. Even with Michael Moore and those funny colored states on the left and the right. Thank you David. 5 stars. Larry Scantlebury

Humor hardly seems conguent with the overriding backrop of the unprovoked invasion of Iraq, and clever talk of American exceptionalism is so much prattle. Conjure up fear and we're just as prone to blind obedience as another people who felt the righteous obligation to avenge Poland's treacherous 1939 attacks on its border stations.

In Bobos, he went into the psyches of yuppies, which I didn't really find that interesting.

But I'll tell you what, the minute he started ripping on those punks at Trader Joe's, he earned his $13.99.

The most entertaining book I've read in awhile. His observations are spot-on, esp. since he lives not far from me in Bethesda, MD, and even talks about my hometown in Gwinnett County, GA. Very cool.