I think his USSR criticisms are the best part of the book. I agree that "fun" is a good way to describe him - his books aren't serious academic tracts but are easy and pleasant to read. But I think in left spaces like here there's a pretty significant dearth of good-faith criticism of previous and current socialist regimes, and it leads to some serious :brainworms: or at least leaves us open for not being able to sound serious about communism. Like you have to spend your whole life campaigning for communism like :parenti: before we'll accept criticism of the USSR in good faith, so we definitely need those voices. He does force issues in that chapter that a lot of comrades like to shrug off, but serious leftists need to take seriously - especially the part about cautioning against idealized notions of human nature around page 65.
I think his USSR criticisms are the best part of the book. I agree that "fun" is a good way to describe him - his books aren't serious academic tracts but are easy and pleasant to read. But I think in left spaces like here there's a pretty significant dearth of good-faith criticism of previous and current socialist regimes, and it leads to some serious :brainworms: or at least leaves us open for not being able to sound serious about communism. Like you have to spend your whole life campaigning for communism like :parenti: before we'll accept criticism of the USSR in good faith, so we definitely need those voices. He does force issues in that chapter that a lot of comrades like to shrug off, but serious leftists need to take seriously - especially the part about cautioning against idealized notions of human nature around page 65.