Task: Sentiment Analysis
Input (English): I appreciate what the author was attempting to do, but do not feel the book succeeds. It is too dry to read on its own (as a sort of William Safire-style curmudgeon rant on language), and not comprehensive enough to be a useful desk reference.In addition, the first 30 or so pages are actually a biography of the author (who died a few years ago) by one of his colleagues. Perhaps to someone researching Lasch himself (who was, admittedly, a renown academic) this material would be interesting, but it isn't in the context of language reference.
Output (English): Negative