The Assault on Reason Audiobook By Al Gore cover art

The Assault on Reason

 Preview
Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Unlimited access to our all-you-can listen catalog of 150K+ audiobooks and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Assault on Reason

By: Al Gore
Narrated by: Will Patton
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $18.00

Buy for $18.00

A visionary analysis of how the politics of fear, secrecy, cronyism, and blind faith has combined with the degration of the public sphere to create an environment dangerously hostile to reason

At the time George W. Bush ordered American forces to invade Iraq, 70 percent of Americans believed Saddam Hussein was linked to 9/11. Voters in Ohio, when asked by pollsters to list what stuck in their minds about the campaign, most frequently named two Bush television ads that played to fears of terrorism.

We live in an age when the thirty-second television spot is the most powerful force shaping the electorate's thinking, and America is in the hands of an administration less interested than any previous administration in sharing the truth with the citizenry. Related to this and of even greater concern is this administration's disinterest in the process by which the truth is ascertained, the tenets of fact-based reasoning-first among them an embrace of open inquiry in which unexpected and even inconvenient facts can lead to unexpected conclusions.

How did we get here? How much damage has been done to the functioning of our democracy and its role as steward of our security? Never has there been a worse time for us to lose the capacity to face the reality of our long-term challenges, from national security to the economy, from issues of health and social welfare to the environment. As The Assault on Reason shows us, we have precious little time to waste.

Gore's larger goal in this book is to explain how the public sphere itself has evolved into a place hospitable to reason's enemies, to make us more aware of the forces at work on our own minds, and to lead us to an understanding of what we can do, individually and collectively, to restore the rule of reason and safeguard our future. Drawing on a life's work in politics as well as on the work of experts across a broad range of disciplines, Al Gore has written a farsighted and powerful manifesto for clear thinking. Diplomacy International Relations Politics & Government Thought-Provoking Iran Socialism Russia Capitalism Information Systems

Critic reviews

“This book shows a fiery, throw-caution-to-the winds Al Gore, who . . . has decided to lay it all on the line with a blistering assessment of the Bush administration and the state of public discourse in America.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

“Gore’s faith in human nature is braver and sharper than (the cynics). . . . This book isn’t about him; it’s about the republic whose freedoms depend on increasing reasoned debate and reducing intimidating noise.” —The Boston Globe
Well-researched Content • Insightful Political Analysis • Wonderful Reader • Thoughtful Solutions • Clear Reasoning

Highly rated for:

All stars
Most relevant
I had listened to this before, soon after its release, on CD. It's disconcerting at first hearing a familiar actor's voice reading Al Gore's words but the actor comes accross as believing the words he reads. Though I never really got used to it I soon learned to tune out the oddness. The book itself is extremely well reasoned, and well presented. I will probably listen to it again in a year or two,

Worth repeating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Al Gore, who certainly is not a fan of the Bush Administration, provides facts and sources of the conclusions he draws. This is not a hard book to understand, but reader should be open minded and willing to absorb -- although he/she may not like the material being presented. Then again -- just because we don't like what is being presented does not that it's not the truth. Sometimes the truth is very difficult to swallow.

Book based on facts

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The prologue and epilogue (so to speak) speak directly to the 2016 election and much about how we arrived at this point. An excellent read (listen) and I will listen a couple more times too!
So if you are perplexed as to how the heck all of this craziness is even allowed to happen, then you must read this!

VERY timely! Even though was originally © 2007

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book was a great way to get into Gore's head....and to better understand not only where he is on the key issues, but what his guiding philosophies are.
Although he has an ax to grind, it's a pretty clear and straight on treatise on where his head is at versus Dubya.
My only disappointment was that Gore did not narrate the book.

inside his head

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
An extraordinarily articulate and sensible book. The World needs a man like this. A President who believes in Natural Selection? Think of the possibilities!

The book makes an excellent analysis of the effects of fear and TV upon reason, clouding judgment.

Seriously, maybe it's a good thing he wasn't President in 2000. If he had been, he couldn't run today, when we need him more than ever.

Why can't this man be President?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews