Doubleday, which published this book, appears to have seen an opportunity to move some units by wrapping the book in a dust jacket that makes it look like a humor book on the order of, say, Justin Halpern's amusing Sh*t My Dad Says. As several disappointed reviewers in this forum have pointed out, A**holes: A Theory (please forgive the asterisks; I have a G-rated gravatar), isn't that kind of book. It's author, Aaron James, holds a doctorate in philosophy from Harvard; he is on the faculty of the University of California at Irvine. So, this is, in fact, a relatively serious work of philosophy. I use the qualifier relatively, because I imagine Mr. James' colleagues in the academy, at least some of them, would find it difficult to take seriously a philosophical treatise whose title is a barnyard epithet. That said, Mr. James is very clear that this is a work of "pop philosophy," similar to Harry Frankfort's On Bullsh*t (Mr. James cites On Bullsh*t a few times in his text). I rather doubt that either of these scholars shopped these manuscripts around for peer review and journal publication. They're very clear with their readers what these books are and are about.

In any case, I assume for everyone reading this, life has afforded them plenty of opportunity to deal with the personality type this tome's title defines. Chances are good, moreover, that readers of this book have on more than one occasion used this, uh, term of art, either in casual conversation or in abject frustration, to designate an offensive person in their midst.

Mr. James' philosophical project in this book--and he has his tongue at least partially in his cheek as he carries this out--is to determine the fundamental characteristics of a**holes. That accomplished, he continues in a discursive analysis about why the a**hole is so offensive that we find it necessary to, well, freight him or her with such an unfortunately evocative noun.

Needless to say, the book's title makes appearances as many if not most of the parts of speech, sometimes with suffixes--e.g. "a**holish," an adjective I favor in moments of irritation. In some respects, the repetition of the word distracts from, but doesn't attenuate, the force of Mr. James' argument. I did find myself wondering if the book would convey more gravitas if a different term, something perhaps more clinical or scholarly, were used to describe this type of challenging personality.

However, to reiterate, this is a work of pop philosophy (interestingly, if you search the term on the internet, one of the first things to pop up is the Wikipedia entry on "pseudophilosophy"). So the title is probably apt. I don't mean, in emphasizing this relatively new genre--since I don't think professional philosophers would like hearing it called a "new scholarly field"--to diminish this book. There is serious analysis as work here, and Mr. James is a fine stylist who conveys complicated ideas without trivializing them. Anyone who deals with difficult people (as Mr. James points out several times, a**holes are everywhere) will probably find salubrious the stoic approach Mr. James counsels in dealing with them.

Dry and philosophical read, not funny. I trudged through the first chapter and got no further. ( )

This book gives one a lot to think about.

A reader with at least a passing knowledge is philosophy will get more out of the book than if one has never read Descartes, Kant or Neitchze. The author refers to these and other more obscure philosophers throughout the book. ( )

Very enjoyable. While the author states that it is less rigorous that a standard philosophical text, it is more rigorous than a typical book aimed at a lay audience. At times, repetitively so, but as you proceed through his arguments and development, that repetition mattered less and helped connect ideas. Copies of this book should be sent to leaders across the range of social institutions in an effort to galvanize pro-social leaders and maybe also serve as an asshole dampening mechanism. ( )

I'm glad I went into this with eyes wide opened as to the widespread prevalence and ubiquitous presence of assholes.

I mean, honestly, we all know one, or two, or sometimes a full office full of them. And even if we don't have many real life line-cutters, traffic-weavers, or conversation killers in our lives, at least we have Trump. And high-level bankers. And Rush. And practically the entire existing vocal portion of the political process in America. We have lots and lots and lots of good examples.

What didn't really have was a comprehensive attempt to define and refine all the aspects about what truly makes up an Asshole. Enter this book. The extremely nerdy logical equivalent of a loud fart. Not humorous in the way most of us like fart jokes, mind you. It's just so nerdy it still had me chuckling the entire time.

Assholes are people with entrenched senses of entitlement.

Pretty easy. They will sometimes give you long winded reasons why they do asshole things, giving lip service to the basic moral equivalency of cooperation and knowing that we're all in the same boat, but they still go ahead and pull an asshole move anyway. Assholes can be that person who always complains to the management when his McD fries aren't fresh enough. They're also the people who perpetuate the idea of the Noblese, making sure you know that you deserve so much more while taking the lion's share of everything. They are the people that we wish we could curtail with laws and restrictions and sanctions, but because the things they're doing are socially reprehensible, and not precisely unlawful, we all just look on in disgust as they get away with it.

Fun stuff.

I most appreciated the sociological ramifications and possible means to put assholes in their place. :)

Totally recommend, dude. Especially for surfers. ( )