Better Living Through Criticism, A.O. Scott
Better Living Through Criticism, A.O. Scott
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Better Living Through Criticism
How to Think about Art, Pleasure, Beauty, and Truth

Author: A.O. Scott

Narrator: Jonathan Todd Ross

Unabridged: 7 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 02/09/2016

Synopsis

Few could explain, let alone seek out, a career in criticism. Yet what A.O. Scott shows in Better Living Through Criticism is that we are, in fact, all critics: because critical thinking informs almost every aspect of artistic creation, of civil action, of interpersonal life. With penetrating insight and warm humor, Scott shows that while individual critics--himself included--can make mistakes and find flaws where they shouldn't, criticism as a discipline is one of the noblest, most creative, and urgent activities of modern existence. Using his own film criticism as a starting point--everything from his infamous dismissal of the international blockbuster The Avengers to his intense affection for Pixar's animinated Ratatouille--Scott expands outward, easily guiding readers through the complexities of Rilke and Shelley, the origins of Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones, the power of Marina Abramovich and 'Ode on a Grecian Urn.' Drawing on the long tradition of criticism from Aristotle to Susan Sontag, Scott shows that real criticism was and always will be the breath of fresh air that allows true creativity to thrive. "The time for criticism is always now," Scott explains, "because the imperative to think clearly, to insist on the necessary balance of reason and passion, never goes away."

Reviews

Goodreads review by Lark on January 30, 2019

Reading Better Living Through Criticism gave me exactly the same cramped and unpleasant feeling that I got from reading Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion: I wanted serious inquiry and instead felt pummeled and bullied into a corner by poorly argued dogma. At times Scott begins his argument about the......more

Goodreads review by Stephanie on October 08, 2017

I am predisposed to like any book that references Teju Cole's Open City, Philip Larkin, All About Eve, and the snark vs. smarm debate with intelligence and insight, but the delight of this book is that Scott takes both his voice and argument to places that I didn't expect. Even while retreading, a g......more

Goodreads review by Allen on February 17, 2016

[URL not allowed] The nature of the critic is to unpack the underpinnings of artistic endeavor. Love them or hate them, critics perform a vital service in the creative continuum, deconstructing movies/albums/books/plays down to their requisite pieces and casting the bones in an......more

Goodreads review by David on April 02, 2020

A.O. Scott is kind of a big deal. He's a film critic for the New York Times and has been at it long enough to be a recognizable name in the business. And so I assumed something along the lines of Stephen King's On Writing, a practical guide of sorts framed by personal anecdotes and a lifetime of exp......more

Goodreads review by Fredrik on May 12, 2022

As someone who is not quite a critic, I’m going to invoke my prerogative to write something that’s not quite a review, inspired by A.O. Scott’s recent book Better Living Through Criticism. And maybe I can suss out my issue with A.O. Scott. Scott’s brief book is, I guess, a long conversation between S......more

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