My Allergic to Crazy: Quick Thoughts on Politics, Education, and Culture, Rightly Understood is now available as a reasonably priced (very low cost per word) paperback. It contains many of my mini-essays from my Big Think period (when I was the token conservative contributing to a very prominent techno-enthusiast, semi-transhumanist site). There’s lots else besides. Don’t worry, I was funnier and more engaging back then, and apparently my interests and passions were more diverse. It’s perfect reading for the bathroom, stoplights, and academic meetings of all kinds. I would add that it’s perfect reading for bedtime, but it shouldn’t put you to sleep. (That’s the job of all my other books.)
Self-promotion can only be so shameless. So let me ask a random young person on the street what he thinks of the book:
Warning: This book is not for everyone! Nutty ideologues will be put off by the calm common sense in these pages, and highbrow snoots won’t tolerate hearing that pop culture isn’t intolerably debased. But for the rest of us, this unpretentious and conversational book will make clear why Peter Lawler is a beloved teacher. Nobody does a better job than Lawler of revealing the ideas alive in politics and everyday life. Allergic to Crazy zips from Obama to Gaga, from Walmart to Waffle House, from movies to music, from science to celebrities. This collection of bite-sized readings is a delight.
—Adam Keiper, editor, The New Atlantis