A review by fdterritory
How to Become an Intellectual by Nick Kolakowski

5.0

As a reader who personifies a lot of the features mentioned in this book, a lot of the things that Kolakowski mentions hit awfully close to home...to the point where I'm not quite sure at times whether the author is seriously recommending that I do these things, or that he's parodying these features as things that intellectuals are SUPPOSED to do. But I think that very truth is what makes this book so effective. It's able to be serious but not TOO serious, exacting but not overbearing, intelligent but not haughty. There are a lot of good ideas in here, and anyone who has made a point in life to read big books and think about them way too much will find a lot of themselves here. At the same time, those who would like to be a bit more brainy will find easy-to-follow tips that can be applied gradually as a sort of self-help book.

Either way, there's a ton of value here. Highly recommended.