This is a brilliant book with several thought-provoking essays on culture and the meaning of things around us. The essays on striptease and wrestling alone make the book worth reading.
This is definitely not a book to casually pick up and read for fun. I read it as part of an independent study project myself. Barthes is extremely brilliant and deep, but not always as approachable as one might like him to be. In the end, it might take some rereading, discussion, analysis, and even outside research to truly feel as though you are understanding what he is saying and doing. Still, his method of thought is fascinating, as are many of his conclusions.
