Reviews (15)

Quite intriguing
This book is another in a recent spate of very well written books that explain (and translate into modern terms) key aspects of Spinoza.This book is unique in its seamless style of inserting these concepts as rewordings and quotes.The single most amazing aspect of this book is its ability to humanize and personalize what seem to be necessary aspects of Spinoza's lifestyle and personality.I liked this.

A wonderful book
A wonderful book indeed. Ms. Goldsteinreveals Spinoza's philosophy, but never all at once. No "sound bytes," no "catch phrases," but a gentle and progressive exegesis, slowly building to a denouement, one idea or part of an idea at a time. She claims to be very moved when her college students begin to 'see' Spinoza, begin to understand this remarkable man's philosophy and approach to life - and she wants us, her anonymous readers, to share in this excitment as well...and I, for one, got very excited (knowing very little of Spinoza beforehand, the author has stimulated me to want to go out and learn everything I canabout Spinoza.) It's a wonderfully personal book - I don't know Professor Goldstein, but I suspect she is the only person who could have written this particular book in this particular way. It is a wonderfully quirky book--and I mean that in a very positive way. Sometimes I had to go over a paragraph 5 or 10 times to "get it," and even then I'm sure Imissed a lot-- but, stimulated by Prof. Goldstein, I've bought a copy of Spinoza's Ethics , and hope to correct at least some of my deficits.
The iconoclast behind the icon
As with her biography of Kurt Godel, Rebecca Goldstein has a way of intuiting the flames that fired a crucible of genuis.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Heretics, Jewish    6. Jewish Sociology    7. Jewish Studies    8. Jewish philosophers    9. Netherlands    10. Philosophers    11. Biography & Autobiography / Philosophers    12. Biography: general   

Editorial Review

Julia Kristeva's Read more

Reviews (1)

The intellectual overview of a political science genius
It has been a long time since I went to a baseball game, but trying to keep track of the intellectual action in the biography of Hannah Arendt by Julia Kristeva reminded me of the game.Eventually, I even thought of a song, "Catfish" by Bob Dylan (Words by Bob Dylan and Jacques Levy) recorded on July 28, 1975, an outtake from the album "Desire" that was finally released in a three-CD package called "The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 [rare and unreleased] 1961-1991."There was once a pitcher called Catfish Hunter, million dollar man, and Dylan's chorus said, "Nobody can throw the ball Like Catfish can."I have had the words since "The Songs of Bob Dylan" was released in 1976, but I didn't hear the song until 1991.Having an English translation from 2001 of a feminist biography of a political scientist of the mid-twentieth century captures the intellection activity that interests me about as well as "Catfish" captures the action of a baseball game.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1906-1975    2. Arendt, Hannah    3. Arendt, Hannah,    4. Biography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. History & Surveys - Modern    7. Philosophers    8. Philosophy    9. Political scientists    10. Reference    11. Women    12. Biography: general    13. Philosophy / Movements / Deconstruction    14. Western philosophy, from c 1900 -   

Reviews (6)

A Man Ahead of His Time
Hollingdale's biography/analysis of Nietzsche and his philosophy was an unexpected delight.I had already read Walter Kaufmann's translations of Nietzsche's major works when I came upon Hollingdale's volume; expecting little, I was amazed at the additional insights the author offered into Nietzsche's thought and world outlook.I would recommend this book to anyone who is new to Nietzsche - who would like to learn something of his philosophy, but who has held back because they feel Nietzsche, and perhaps, philosophy in general, is too remote or difficult. A book that does Nietzsche justice
Anyone interested in a lucid,fair,nonsense and distortion-free overview of Nietzsche's writings and life could do no better than to start here.Hollingdale avoids what the usual crowd of Nietzsche biographers and explainers and interpreters stumble over.Here you will not find the deconstructionist nonsense of Gilles Deleuze or the turning of Nietzsche into a contradictor of his own writings a la Heidegger.Perhaps no philosopher in history has had so many bad advocates and screeching and intentionally misleading and misinterpreting critics as Nietzsche.So much fetid,vapid and idiotic writing has enveloped Nietzsche that it threatens to destroy the philosopher altogheter.The future of Nietzsche scholarship needs many more individuals like R.J. Hollingdale if one of the most profound,original and critically important figures of the modern world is to be given proper justice.More importantly the public sorely needs to have the means to better understand why this philosopher is the axis on which all philosophy of the last century turns.Most of what Nietzsche wrote is still terribly misunderstood and reviled for no good reason.Hollingdale is one of the few,but hopefully the beginning of a flood of well thought out,accurate and sober scholars who will help integrate this most fascinating and courageousphilosopher into our public discourse and common knowledge.

A book that does Nietzsche justice
Anyone interested in a lucid,fair,nonsense and distortion-free overview of Nietzsche's writings and life could do no better than to start here.Hollingdale avoids what the usual crowd of Nietzsche biographers and explainers and interpreters stumble over.Here you will not find the deconstructionist nonsense of Gilles Deleuze or the turning of Nietzsche into a contradictor of his own writings a la Heidegger.Perhaps no philosopher in history has had so many bad advocates and screeching and intentionally misleading and misinterpreting critics as Nietzsche.So much fetid,vapid and idiotic writing has enveloped Nietzsche that it threatens to destroy the philosopher altogheter.The future of Nietzsche scholarship needs many more individuals like R.J. Hollingdale if one of the most profound,original and critically important figures of the modern world is to be given proper justice.More importantly the public sorely needs to have the means to better understand why this philosopher is the axis on which all philosophy of the last century turns.Most of what Nietzsche wrote is still terribly misunderstood and reviled for no good reason.Hollingdale is one of the few,but hopefully the beginning of a flood of well thought out,accurate and sober scholars who will help integrate this most fascinating and courageousphilosopher into our public discourse and common knowledge. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. History & Surveys - 19th Century    5. Philosophers    6. Modern Western philosophy, c 1600 to the present    7. Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm,--1844-1900    8. Philosophy / History, Criticism, Surveys   

Editorial Review

Remarkably, given his importance in Western philosophy, there has never been a substantial English-language biography of Baruch (or, as he was later known, Benedictus) Spinoza (1632-1677) until now. Read more

Reviews (17)

The most enlightened of Philosophers
Steven Nadler skillfully guides the reader not only through Spinoza's life but also through the turbulent times of the 17th century Holland. All the more useful ride to enable us to see the courage of an outstanding man, citizen, a brilliant philosopher who taught us that GOD isNature and us. Great reading!

lost in facts
I simply could not relate to this book, a reaction which may or may not reflect an adequate idea.

By the name of Spinoza !
Baruch de Spinoza (1632-1677), an early figure of European Enlightenment like a Netherlands Descartes or Giordano Bruno, - he fought with his publications for the inauguration of modern times, influenced by sober reason - but still caught in the historical context of a society, which was ruled by the dictatorial interests of confessions and government cabals.

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. History & Surveys - 17th/18th Century    5. History & Surveys - Modern    6. Philosophers    7. Biography: general    8. Non-Western philosophy    9. Philosophy / History, Criticism, Surveys    10. Spinoza - Benedictus de - 1632-1677    11. Topics in philosophy    12. Western philosophy, c 1600 to c 1800   

Reviews (20)

Spinoza's Divorce Lawyer
What "Amadeus" did for Salieri, Stewart's book does for Leibniz. If Spinoza and Leibniz were in the midst of a bitter divorce, this is precisely the sort of book Spinoza's attorney would come up with. Here's the method...
Good at making history interesting, surprisingly bad at philosophy
Like "Wittgenstein's Poker" this book turns a single event in the lives of two important philosophers into a full-length book.Where one book concerned a possible fight, here it's a meeting which is believed by Stewart to have caused a painful conversion-epiphany in Leibniz, the conservative courtier. Both works are lively, good reads, but that's where the similarity ends.While "Wittgenstein's Poker," at least in the main, gets analytical philosophy, logical positivism, and ordinary language philosophy right, Stewart makes quite a mess of Leibniz. In fact, while he has an advanced degree in philosophy, he seems to have a very limited understanding of either of his subject's main works.And, unfortunately, what he does seem to get right, he feels the need to explain by the main thesis of his book--that Leibniz was a closet Spinozist for most of his life and only pretended to disagree with him to protect his status.
This is a good-enjoyable book
This book filled a gap in my education. I knew Spinoza from an introductory Philosophy class. Leibniz I knew from multiple mathematics classes--mostly as a 'pretender' to the throne of the calculus. But neither were brought together in a single place for me to appreciate before this.
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Subjects:  1. 1632-1677    2. 1646-1716    3. Ethics & Moral Philosophy    4. Freiherr von,    5. God    6. History & Surveys - 17th/18th Century    7. History & Surveys - Modern    8. History of doctrines    9. Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm,    10. Modern Philosophy    11. Philosophers    12. Philosophy    13. Religious    14. Spinoza, Benedictus de,    15. History    16. Miscellaneous Items    17. Philosophy / General   

Subjects:  1. Christianity - History - Catholic    2. History    3. History & Surveys - Medieval    4. Philosophers    5. Philosophy    6. Religion    7. Biography: historical    8. British & Irish history: c 1000 to c 1500    9. England    10. History of ideas, intellectual history    11. History of religion    12. Medieval & Scholastic philosophy    13. Religion / History    14. Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church   

Editorial Review

A Rhodes scholar with a healthy ego, the young idealist George Stephanopoulos thought he was ready for the obscure governor of Arkansas. But soon after he signed on as his presidential-campaign manager, the odds of Clinton's triumph soared, and so did the chance for calamity via Gennifer Flowers and other scandals. Stephanopoulos scrambled behind the scenes, squelching rumors, spinning major news organizations, artfully knifing Clinton rivals, and second-guessing public opinion--lessons that would serve him well when Clinton won.Read more

Reviews (274)

George Stephanopoulos' version of CYA
First, my standard disclaimer: I am a political moderate and social conservative. This book is an average look at what happens in political inner circles, specifically the Clinton white house. I was a little disappointed that Stephanopoulos did not take more risks to write about subjects that the general public did not already know. It seemed that much of the reason for the book was for the author to exonerate himself from any wrongdoing.

St. George And The Dragon
George Stephanopoulos' memoir of working in the White House during Bill Clinton's first term in office makes you feel like a fly on the wall of the Oval Office. Written in that hypersmart, jargon-fluent style familiar to "West Wing" viewers, "All Too Human" is an engaging, candid companion to readers of any political stripe, in part an impassioned defense of one of America's most infuriatingly bipolar personalities, in part a cautionary tale of power trumping principle.
MY political education
The subtitle of this wonderful memoir taught me more about politics in 400 pages than I'd learned in 40 years. A diehard liberal and a political fanatic, someone whose views would normally make me sneer and scoff, Stephanopolous paints a picture of the stresses, ins-and-outs, spin, activities and the vital scope of the world inside the Oval Office. Every newsworthy event or program is canvassed for its political ramafications; the very definition and refinement of the word "politics" is reinforced on every page; the mistakes that lead to triumphs, and the feel-good preparations that lead to disasters are all here in stark detail. Stephanopolous proves himself a very sensible man, and even his staunchly liberal views are sidenotes to the greater energies, arguments and preparations that occur inside the White House. I occasionally disliked S's speaking his own platform (which he did sparingly), or telling how political parties are constructed to blunt the other even when their plans are sensible, but all in all I learned more from this book about the workings inside the White House than from all my prior readings and public education. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1961-    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. General    7. Historical - U.S.    8. Philosophers    9. Political    10. Presidents    11. Staff    12. Stephanopoulos, George,    13. United States    14. Biography & Autobiography / Philosophers    15. Biography: political    16. USA   

Reviews (11)

Deep Story
This was a very good perspective on Taoist miracle working.It briefly mentions many techniques, without explaining them, so this is not a manual for learning Taoism.Some of it is unbelievable, but as a story it is excellent.It mentions many books, mostly from the last thousand years.It provokes the reader into more study.

Close the Dragon Gate
Great disservices to people whom are searching for information and enlightenment on Taoism.The authors used a map of china and a few books on Taoism to take the reader on an almost 300 page fairy tale coated to read like a biography.The characters shift personality quicker than a chameleon does color.I think there is a story in the book but the contrived situations get in the way.

Seems to be a fake
This book looks like pure advertisment of Wang Liping who is said to be chosen as 18th generation transmitter by one Taoist sect. Difficult to read because every second page I stumbled over direct or masked praise on Wang Liping / sect abilities. In the end (as expected) Wang Liping finishes with giving lectures to hundreds of students of Qigong. Special pages dedicated to how simple Wang lives, etc. Taoist teachings are scattered all over the book and don't give the impression of integrity.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Ethnic Cultures - General    5. Philosophers    6. Political    7. Religious    8. Biography: general    9. Non-Western philosophy    10. Taoism   

Reviews (24)

A decent book about an interesting man
I had heard of Edgar Cayce before, mainly because I shelved so many books by or about him in my years as a bookseller. It was only recently, though, as I was browsing through one of the Stranger than... books by the late Frank Edwards that Icame across a brief biography of Edgar Cayce and learned more about his mysterious diagnoses given while unconscious. I remembered that I had this book, one of the Time-Life Collector's Library of the Unknown reprints, on my shelf and so I dug in.
The Story of Edgar Cayce: There Is A River
This book adds to the wonders that can be achieved with dedication
An eye-opener
For those with strong religious faith, but no sort of flexibility, don't buy this book.However, if you are open to suggestion and the possibility that you don't have all the answers, then this is a must read.
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Subjects:  1. 1877-1945    2. Association for Research and Enlightenment    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Cayce, Edgar,    8. New Age    9. Philosophers    10. Psychics    11. United States   

Reviews (9)

Absorbing and important, but ultimately unfair
When Bertrand Russell died in 1970 at the age of ninety-eight, almost sixty years had passed since he made his last meaningful contribution to philosophy.In 1914 his student Ludwig Wittgenstein toppled the grand logical system of Principia Mathematica, and Russell never seemed to get over it.Volume II of Ray Monk's absorbing biography of Russell catalogues in often excruciating detail his transformation from intellectual pioneer to, as his friend Beatrice Webb described him in 1921, a "rather frowsy, unhealthy and cynical personage, prematurely old... a fallen angel with Mephistophelian wit."During the decade after Principia, Russell's philosophical career sputtered along in a series of false starts, from an unfinished attempt to reconcile science and mysticism to an aborted manuscript on the logical foundations of modern physics.He soon lost the inclination to work on technical philosophy and, if we believe Monk, simply faded into half a century of irrelevance.
Autobiography vs. biography
Because of Russell's political views (his opposition to war and U.S. imperialism) he has always been the subject of attacks by other intellectuals (the late Sidney Hook is a prime example).One only has to compare Monk's work on Russell to his biography of Wittgenstein ("The Duty of Genius" says it all).The interesting thing about each of Monk's biographies is that while both men led solitary lives and maintained erratic beliefs and behavior, Russell is castigated as a "madman" while Wittgenstein is a "genius."It is far too easy as a biographer to portray intellectual celebrities as either geniuses or madman.If you want to hear from the person, Bertie Russell, read his biography instead.

A tormented volcanic island who spilled a lot of lavae
This exceptional book is a sequel to The Spirit of Solitude, written by Ray Amok, which covers the first 50 years of Russell's life, and which could be summarized by achieving world fame and academic glory by means of his early work as a philosophical mathematician, specially trough his "Principia Matematica",a monumental theoretical work, with the co-authorship of Whitehead. Read more

Subjects:  1. 1872-1970    2. Analytic Philosophy    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. England    8. General    9. Philosophers    10. Philosophy Of The 20th Century    11. Russell, Bertrand,    12. Biography & Autobiography / General    13. Western philosophy, from c 1900 -   

Features

• Illustrated

Reviews (3)

The Easy Way
In order to familiarize yourself with the thoughts and strategies of any critic or philosopher without being exposed to the sufferings sustained in the painful job of reading extremely complex texts, you should always focus on the interviews made with the critic or the philosopher. You will get a much better grasp of highly complicated ideas suggested by philosophers such as Sartre, Foucault, and Said by reading through their published interviews. I mention those three authors for it has been claimed by some reviewers that they have turned the activity of giving an interview into an artform. Daly's interviews with Zizek does not spare us from Zizek's playful, and at times elusive, style when he goes down on Kinder chocolate, virtual reality, globalization, Hitchcock, Fight Club, etc... Zizek is as quick and as versatile as you may have imagined him to be from his previous books or lectures. Daly seems to know to press the right buttons in order to get Zizek off the ground. The chemistry in this book makes even Deleuze sound as a wild and attractive philosopher. However, you should beware Zizek's Lacan is quite different from the clinical readings of Lacan. It became quite clear already in 1989 in "the Sublime Object of Ideology" that Zizek preferred to focus on the underestimated Real in the Lacanian cognitive edifice. Daly explains in a very lucid way the importance of the Real to Zizek's Lacan, and he helps the reader to enter Zizek's streams of thought. This book helps any reader to understand Zizek's highly complex ideas in a very simple way. I would place this book among the other books of interviews made with the authors mentioned above, Sartre, Foucault, and Said. Daly and Zizek are preserving the artform.

Most coherent text on Lacan and/or Zizek ever
Previous to reading this book I had read quite a few of Zizek's books, as well as some other secondary material on Lacan, and always seemed to miss the mark on some key conceptual understandings.They were always too technical, above my head, or hard to understand.In this book, by contrast, and probably in part because it's in an interview format, Zizek does an incredible job of succinctly explaining difficult Lacanian concepts in easy to understand terms.He also outlines his vision of politics and ethics, although if you want to see him defending his politics at his best, I reccomend Revolution at the Gates.The first part of the book also has the added bonus of giving alot of biographical information about Zizek, which, quite frankly, I couldn't care less about, but theory-heads might enjoy the story of his life.Daly also does a pretty good job explaining Zizek's interpretation of Lacan in the introduction - at least far better than most secondary material on Zizek.A great read if you want to get to understand Zizek and Lacan better but have had difficulty understanding his other books.

a great introduction
Anyone interested in learning about Zizek should read this book. It is lively and accessible, a perfect way to get acquainted with a daunting thinker who writes faster than most of us read. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. General    2. History & Surveys - Modern    3. Interviews    4. Philosophers    5. Philosophy    6. Semiotics & Theory    7. Slovenia    8. Zizek, Slavoj    9. éZiézek, Slavoj    10. Biography & Autobiography / Philosophers    11. Cultural studies    12. Sociology, Social Studies    13. Western philosophy, from c 1900 -   

Reviews (25)

No help
I read the book but gained nothing as far as understanding Wittgenstein is concerned.

A model biography of a philosopher.
A model of a biography of a philosopher, weaving together the interesting life of Wittgenstein with his thought.Monk's is the most lucid account I know of Wittgenstein's very difficult philosophy.

The denial of the necessity of reasons for religious beliefs
Ray Monk's biography of Wittgenstein is both very detailed and very revealing.
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Subjects:  1. 1889-1951    2. Austria    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. General    8. Great Britain    9. History & Surveys - Modern    10. Philosophers    11. Wittgenstein, Ludwig,    12. Biography & Autobiography / Philosophers   

Subjects:  1. (H. Paul)    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Grice, H. P    5. Grice, H. P.    6. History & Surveys - Modern    7. Philosophers    8. Philosophy    9. Language Arts & Disciplines / Linguistics    10. Philosophy of language    11. Western philosophy   

Reviews (2)

New Slants
G. Himmelfarb has some very different insights into the authors she discusses and puts some of the characters in the novels in new lights.I have enjoyed reading this book and she has prodded me into reading further in the authors discussed.I would recommend this book to any persons interested in changing the 'moral tone' of American today.

Links intellectual lives to the moral imagination
Gertrude Himmelfarb's THE MORAL IMAGINATION is a recommended pick, here linking the intellectual lives of modern thinker and literary giants with what she identifies as the 'moral imagination'. How these thinkers evolved their ideas, wrote in different traditions at different times, and shared a common moral passion which reflected in their literature makes for truly involving reading.
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. Civilization    4. Essays    5. Ethics & Moral Philosophy    6. Great Britain    7. History - General History    8. History: World    9. Intellectual life    10. Literary    11. Modern Philosophy    12. Philosophers    13. World - General    14. Biography & Autobiography / General    15. Drama / General   

Reviews (8)

Corps au corps
This book is a factual chronology of the relationship between Beauvoir and Sartre, particularly as it relates to their extracurricular sexual relations. It is not an in-depth commentary or analysis on how they influenced each other's thinking and writings. I found this aspect of the book disappointing.
Tete-a-Tete : Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre
I felt part of that tangled and emotionally complex world that Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sarte wove around themselves while reading this book. It balanced the passion of their creativity with the very calculating anti-passion of their emotional lives. Never judging, just describing how one phase played into the next and the work that was born out of all that was inspiring enough. All the people who were caught up or made certain to be caught up in those two lives never really made a difference in the final out come. Their work was all that really mattered.

Success despite erotomania

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Subjects:  1. 1905-    2. 1908-    3. 20th century    4. Authors, French    5. Beauvoir, Simone De - Prose & Criticism    6. Beauvoir, Simone de,    7. Biography    8. Biography & Autobiography    9. Biography / Autobiography    10. Biography/Autobiography    11. France    12. General    13. Literary    14. Philosophers    15. Sartre, Jean Paul,    16. Sartre, Jean-Paul    17. Sociology - Marriage & Family    18. Women's Studies - General    19. Biography & Autobiography / General    20. Biography: general    21. French   

Editorial Review

Karl Marx, whose influence on modern times has been compared to that of Jesus Christ, spent most of his lifetime in obscurity. Penniless, exiled in London, estranged from relations, and on the run from most of the police forces of Europe, his ambitions as a revolutionary were frequently thwarted, and his major writings on politics and economics remained unpublished (in some cases until after the Second World War). He has not lacked biographers, but even the most distinguished have been more interested in the evolution of his ideas than any other aspect of his life. Francis Wheen's fresh, lively, and moving biography of Marx considers the whole man--brain, beard, and the rest of his body. Unencumbered by ideological point scoring, this is a very readable, humorous, and sympathetic account. Wheen has an ear for juicy gossip and an eye for original detail. Marx comes across as a hell-raising bohemian, an intellectual bully, and a perceptive critic of capitalist chaos, but also a family man of Victorian conformity (personally vetting his daughters' suitors), Victorian ailments (carbuncles above all), and Victorian weaknesses (notably alcohol, tobacco, and, on occasion, his housekeeper). But there is great pathos, too, as Marx witnessed the deaths of four of his six children. For those readers who feel Marxism has given Marx a bad name, this is a rewarding and enlightening book. Read more

Reviews (20)

The Human Side of Citizen Marx .
If you want the best inside look of the man,Karl Marx, this is it.There are no weighty theories or politicial axioms edified in this cornerstone book.One book-example given is of Marx's young daughter,Eleanor,giving him a personal quiz.What is your favorite colour? (Answer-)Red! What is your favorite past-time? (Answer-)Book-Worming! etc.etc.