Travis Langley

I generally enjoy psychological deep dives into various fictional characters. I've already read similar books for Batman, for House...and have generally gotten some interesting insights into the characters by doing so. The title of this particular treatment promised a sociological exploration, as well. Comic books always manage to capture where we are as a culture, and make a unique commentary on that moment. I went into this expecting a gripping analysis of that social commentary.

That was where I found this book disappointing, because there's actually no social commentary at all. That said, the psychological analyses of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers is mostly interesting. I particularly enjoyed examining both through the lens of post-traumatic stress disorder, given their life experiences, and how that influences their heroic actions and the turmoil of their personal lives. There are several really great chapters on this and similar inspections, and then the writing slips into several Freudian analyses, for which I have little interest or patience.

If you're a fan of the characters, then this is an interesting book, and a fairly quick read. I recommend going into it without the expectations that I held, though. Otherwise, you will almost certainly feel let down.… (mere)

For what this is, it's quite good, but that begs the question. What IS it?

It's primarily a method to give real examples of modern psychology in a truly eclectic fashion especially for the fans of Westworld. Each of these essays, complete with examples, aside-blurbs in textbook-fashion, variously dive deep into ways of thinking, be it cognitive behavioral therapy to existentialism to PTSD and lots else, besides.

It comes with plenty of examples from the first two seasons of the show.

Who is this for?

It's for people who want to learn more about psychology and would love to see Westworld broken down to quite a few (but not all) psychological components. Of course, most of it focuses on coping mechanisms and issues like consciousness, uncanny valleys, and a nice heavy focus on how to be well adjusted rather than spelling out what's wrong with us (or the hosts). :)

What kind of surprised me was the rather huge reference bibliography at the end. :) In this respect, it's a rather more scholarly work than a popular one but a number of the essays still fit the popular bill nicely. Do I recommend?

Well, yeah, I for one rather enjoyed it because I have a psychology background so it served as a nice refresher. And since I'm a huge Westworld fan, they both dovetailed nicely. I makes me hunger for a nice Westworld PHILOSOPHY book, next.

Some of the essays might have been slightly dry but I didn't mind so much. I'm rather a geek.… (mere)