Customer Reviews
Fascinating - By: Mrs. K. A. Wheatley, 28 Oct 2007 
This book is a strange beast, but never fails to interest whether you dip into a section or read it from cover to cover as I did. Warhol didn't actually write the book, just as he didn't actually paint most of his works himself. He had a tape recorder into which he poured his thoughts, & an assistant with whom he worked to transcribe & edit what he chose to publish. The book is made up of sections rather than chapters, as it has no real narrative thread. Each section is given a title such as money or art, & Warhol simply reels forth his ideology, thoughts & musings on the subject. Luckily he was an extremely odd man with an unusual way of looking at the world, which is what makes the book so entertaining. He had a fascinating relationship with his art & the people around him & enough wit & humour to take the edge of what might otherwise come across as highly pretentious musings. If you want to know about Warhol & what his art means, this is as good a place as any to start.
Pop Philosophy - By: calmly, 25 Oct 2007 Andy's response to an excess of abstract art was Pop Art.
Andy's response to an excess of abstract philosophy was Pop Philosophy.
This book is not so much about Andy Warhol as it is about Warhol making philosophy pop. To make philosophy pop, Andy shared his observations & values, just as to make art pop, Andy shared the Campbell soup he enjoyed so often.
Philosophy has been abstract for so long, we had forgotten it could be anything else. It had belonged to academicians for so long, we had forgotten it could belong to anyone else.
Andy worked with the topics of abstract philosophy, such as love, beauty, time, death, economics & art ... but he rendered them pop by talking about them the way ordinary people talk about them. Not that Andy seemed ordinary but what do you call concerns of pimples (in "Beauty"), not being able to shop on Sunday (in "Economics"), or waitingin line for movies (in "Time"). Views of Andy's but also acts of making topics previously owned by abstract philosophy into instances of pop philosophy.
Pop philosophy can also move beyond the limitations of stuffy abstract philosophy. Andy offers a chapter on something not to be foundin academic philosophy: not "Power" but "Underwear Power". The same commercialism foundin pop art can be found herein pop philosophy: "Buying is much more American than thinking..."
So philosophy needn't be just about thinking, it can be about our everyday lives: loving, working & buying underwear. Andy liked having loud music on when doing art so he wouldn't think too much. Perhaps thinking too much getsin the way of good philosophy. If your underwear fits well, there may be no need to work out a lengthy critique of dialectical reasoning. But can you accuse Andy of living an unexamined life?
Warhol should not be underestimated. His contributions & challenges to society are not limited to areas he is well known for such as painting, movies, interviewing but extend even to philosophy & the spiritin which we live each day. Warhol lives. If we practice pop philosophyin the manner he suggestsin this book, we may find our lives worth living a good deal more than academic philosophers have shown. Forget the doctorate, go to your own school of Warhol.
Witty, clever, intelligent musings by a cultural icon - By: Classics fiend, 26 Feb 2007 
Whatever you think of Andy Warhol, 20 years after his death & 3+ decades after this little book was written, he remains an inescapable figurein the arts scene. This witty book is difficult not to like, full of clever musings about life & art. You'll want to keep turning back to it & pass it on to friends to enjoy.
Warhol is witty and, against his better judgment, profound. - By: , 29 Mar 2002 This book reveals interesting & paradoxically profound aspects of Warhol, a man whose reputation for shallowness & whose self-confessedly mercenary approach to art can be offputting.
His philosophy is to question the nature of art & of beauty itself.He does thatin print here as he does elsewherein paint & film. He neatly highlights & passes back to the reader for re-examination the differentiations commonly made between art & artefact, between intimate & public, between personal & mass-produced.
There speaks a naked & entertaining truthfulness from the page & there is a refusal to dealin the euphemism & pretention which pervade much art criticism. It's also very funny.
Excellent, but with faults.... - By: , 16 May 1999 This is an excellent book to take a look into the life & mind of the author himself, Andy Warhol. Chapter after chapter, Andy provides relevant stories that directly relate to the title of the chapterin one way or another, it's a very interesting book, but it has it's faults....First of all, how does he remember some of those conversations, was he recording them. Second, some of the materialin the book was just stupid & ignorant, third, he contradicts himselfin the book several times by saying one thing & then saying another thing that contradicts the first statement. Although some chapters are very funny, others are not! For the best example, chapter 14!!!! I want to know who that woman is, obviously she liked Andy, but gee whiz! Finally, I didn't like Truman Capote's review of the book, this book does not display amazing candor by Andy,in fact, I believein many places this book displays Andy as a cold hearted, emotionless lizard. Some people who don't know Andy well, see him as some kind of a cult figure, well, if you don't know a whole lot about Andy Warhol himself, I reccomend reading this book & you may never look at him the same way again, especially not as a cult figure or anything like that....
