To my surprise, this book is not dry or academic, but instead teeming with humor and wit. It’s readability feels modern in the way few books of philosophy ever do. Barthes also articulates so many complicated ideas in ways both clear and compelling. I highly suggest this book to those interested in philosophy, but frequently bored by its common stylings.

An incisive and entertaining collection of essays published in 1957 on semiology and the creation of modern myths. From the 2012 Kirkus Review: "It’s remarkable that essays written more than a half-century ago, on another continent, should seem not merely pertinent but prescient in regard to the course of contemporary American culture." Highlight to the essays "Soap-powders and Detergents," which I read while surrounded by antibacterial foams at a clinic, "The Nautilus and the Drunken Boat,"and "Novels and Children."

All power is mythological; hence its reality.

Ugh. I mean it's cool that he wrote about margarine, soap, plastic, steak, and stuff but really. I don't really care all that much. I appreciate that this way of thinking about pop culture and advertisting was part of a larger shift in the 40s/50s in which criticism took up these sites of everyday and 'low' culture as objects of study. I just don't know if Barthes really takes up these objects in a way that acknowledges more than his white male privileged position. Did learn, though, that he died by getting hit by a laundry delivery truck...

First read, May 2, 2008: "Barthes is funny! And that's in addition to being really important, influential, interesting,and all that other stuff..."

Published as magazine articles/essays between 1956 and 1957, these essays are a slice of life in mid-century French culture, ideaology, and politics. Barthes topics range from popular material culture, wrestling, advertising, wine, tourism, astrology and many other things in these 56 essays. Some topics may be lost on modern readers (they certainly were on me as I don't know much about this era) but at three or four pages in length, the reader can easily marvel at his writing and the translation, even if not fully aware of what he is discussing or criticizing.

Considering the historical context of what was happening in France in the 1950s, Barthes is capturing a moment in critical theory and political discourse surrounding the crumbling empire and the rise of mass media. And doing all of this in a very entertaining way.

I didn't get it all, but what I did "catch", I liked, and I am intrigued to read more.

Quite a lot of this went over my head