Review by gabrielletiemi -- Winners and Losers in words ...
Posted: 17 Jun 2020, 15:14
[Following is a volunteer review of "Winners and Losers in words and cartoons" by Arthur Hartz.]
Winners and Losers in words and cartoons is a book that shows the culture of valuing victory and disliking defeat. Arthur Hartz does this ingeniously, using creative images with proverbs and short dialogues. He begins the book by showing us what makes a person a winner and how society treats such individuals. Then, he develops the book's premise showing the treatment of those who are considered losers.
In the world where what matters is winning, Hartz demonstrates that many people see victory as the appearance of success, fame, wealth. But nothing matters if others don't feel jealous about their possessions. People overestimate the winners' external characteristics and underestimate their defects. While the losers, in society's perspective, lack the beautiful appearance, even if they have kindness or character, it doesn't matter.
What I liked most about the book were the aphorisms. Hartz does these short sayings guiding us through the illustrations and creating order in our reading. The cartoons are fun to pass the time, and to reflect, but some of them are more tragic. We see what the culture of being victorious has done to society: people don't care about others unless they are praised or benefited by it. Losers are seen as paths to achieve victory, through the exploitation of their work, and their goodwill.
An illustration that caught my attention was the first of the chapter “What makes a winner?”. It shows two stores that sell features, on the sign in front of one building we see fidelity, honesty, and compassion as cheap traits. While in the most expensive, there are beauty, intelligence, energy, and talent. Finally, to strengthen the statement, the phrase that the author puts next to this picture tells us that “Beauty and intelligence are considered essence, not ornament.”
There's nothing I didn't like about the book, and its execution was impeccable. The development of the theme through illustrations and short comments makes reading dynamic and fast. But it's at the same time profound if we reflect on the stories. Also, I found no grammatical errors, and the book was exceptionally well-edited.
Therefore, I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. The author criticizes the need to be a winner humorously and philosophically at the same time. Besides, the small comments help us to understand the thoughts behind each frame. It's a book that I recommend to everyone, but especially for those who want to reflect on why we like to win and hate losing. But it's also for those who just want to be distracted with funny comics.
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Winners and Losers in words and cartoons
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Winners and Losers in words and cartoons is a book that shows the culture of valuing victory and disliking defeat. Arthur Hartz does this ingeniously, using creative images with proverbs and short dialogues. He begins the book by showing us what makes a person a winner and how society treats such individuals. Then, he develops the book's premise showing the treatment of those who are considered losers.
In the world where what matters is winning, Hartz demonstrates that many people see victory as the appearance of success, fame, wealth. But nothing matters if others don't feel jealous about their possessions. People overestimate the winners' external characteristics and underestimate their defects. While the losers, in society's perspective, lack the beautiful appearance, even if they have kindness or character, it doesn't matter.
What I liked most about the book were the aphorisms. Hartz does these short sayings guiding us through the illustrations and creating order in our reading. The cartoons are fun to pass the time, and to reflect, but some of them are more tragic. We see what the culture of being victorious has done to society: people don't care about others unless they are praised or benefited by it. Losers are seen as paths to achieve victory, through the exploitation of their work, and their goodwill.
An illustration that caught my attention was the first of the chapter “What makes a winner?”. It shows two stores that sell features, on the sign in front of one building we see fidelity, honesty, and compassion as cheap traits. While in the most expensive, there are beauty, intelligence, energy, and talent. Finally, to strengthen the statement, the phrase that the author puts next to this picture tells us that “Beauty and intelligence are considered essence, not ornament.”
There's nothing I didn't like about the book, and its execution was impeccable. The development of the theme through illustrations and short comments makes reading dynamic and fast. But it's at the same time profound if we reflect on the stories. Also, I found no grammatical errors, and the book was exceptionally well-edited.
Therefore, I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. The author criticizes the need to be a winner humorously and philosophically at the same time. Besides, the small comments help us to understand the thoughts behind each frame. It's a book that I recommend to everyone, but especially for those who want to reflect on why we like to win and hate losing. But it's also for those who just want to be distracted with funny comics.
******
Winners and Losers in words and cartoons
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
For a second I thought that the author was actually being serious without 'in between the lines' 
