Rating: 
Summary: NO HOME RUN
Review: I found this book lacking. Its organization and style of writing is not up to the author's past standard. Perhaps he had a deadline as some have suggested, or perhaps he is just tired of writing.However, the comment of ignoring the East is not deserved. First, the author cites that issue as a limitation in the preface. He stated it "does not aim to survey the history of philosophy or religion, It does sample ways of seeking....in the West." Second, most Americans, for whom this book is probably the main target audience, are not familiar with the roots of their own culture. For those who seek to learn more, this is a good overview despite its limitations. Finally, for those who think non-Western thought should be included, perhaps future reviewers can list some examples of Eastern seeks who do not accept the status quo. Boorstin implies in his book that other cultures have indeed developed wonderful ideas but that acceptance of things as they are, instead of challenging and SEEKING has been the result. This attitude is unjust...and the implication either missed or ignored.
Rating: 
Summary: don't expect apples from a pear tree
Review: I have truly enjoyed this book. I was surprised to see some of the previous reviews. Most of them stated the book to be "shallow" and lacking in detail. I think it is inappropriate to expect a 350 page book to address historic events in an encyclopedic fashion. As stated in the front cover this book addresses the "story of man's continuing quest to understand his world". It is unrealistic to think that this subject could be covered in more detail given the size of this book. Boorstein opens the window to a very interesting and demanding subject, it is not his intention to provide a blue print of the house.
Rating:
Summary: the weakest of this set
Review: i loved discoverers, liked creators, got bored by seekers.
a rela let down.
still, it is a good book and there is great stuff here but, i expected a lot more.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing after Creators and Discoverers
Review: I've read and re-read The Creators and The Discoverers. Maybe my expectations were unrealistically high for The Seekers. The relatively slim size didn't bother me; I trust Boorstin's scholarship and assumed that he simply stopped when the material was covered. However, my impression is that for some reason the author or the publisher needed a book in this niche in time for the holiday market, and rushed this one. In the Discoverers, Boorstin's powerful use of language enhances the flow of ideas from one seemingly unconnected concept to the next, along with a thrilling feel of mystery. In The Seekers, rolling tides of majestic adjectives seem a little empty and pompous. Maybe I needed a little more, or a little less, eggnog.
Rating:
Summary: A fine example of Cognitive Hemiparesis
Review: In medical field, it is a common knowlege, that if a person's one side of the brain is damaged due to a stroke, he would tend to ignore the opposite half of the body or anything which comes into his or her field of vision on that side. Mr. Boorstin may be a very fine writer and scholar, but all his books suffer from this disabling disorder which may, in literary terms, be called Cognitive Hemiparesis(or sensory inattention). His total disregard of the eastern hemisphere, its culture, its people and its ongoing contribution to human knowledge, shows, either, his ignorance of the history of the people of the east, or his arrogance, or it may be a combination of both. It is such an irony that scholar of his stature suffer from such a disabling condition which now has, unfortunately, become quite irreverisible. His ascendency as the finest American scholar tells a lot about the people who hold this very opinion. Despite all of the above, I still enjoyed his book very much. It is a very fine book if you just read it by assuming for a time being that EAST for all practical purposes does not exist.
Rating: 
Summary: Yes, but some prefer the life of the mind.
Review: It's not really all THAT difficult to come up with an original theory, however strained, that "explains" something (or, for that matter, everything)--whether the "original thinking" in question be as widely accepted as that of Darwin, as fiercely argued over as those of Marx and Freud, as discredited as the tenets of Theosophy and Alchemy, as questionable as the paradigm shift of Kuhn, or as downright obvious as the birth-order theory of Sulloway. But it's much, much harder, I should think, to resist this impulse, not to mention the intellectual hubris, for showy originality, and be content to seek, instead, to study and understand things and the world around us (pace Kant) as they really are. To me, Daniel J. Boorstin epitomizes the latter--the tireless scholar who plods through countless tomes (many of them as forgotten today as the very "original" monadology of Leibniz) to present to us, in prose that is always clear and elegant, the distillation of a life time's learning (and what a life time's learning). If there is no radically new interpretations (or "original" thoughts) to be found in Boorstin's great trilogy, consider how much more educated the average reader, as well as specialists of all fields, will become simply by dipping into THE DISCOVERERS, THE CREATORS, and THE SEEKERS. All this is another way of saying that I endorse this book heartily. Let those others--the aspiring disco critics who think themselves too hip to be seen in the library--chase after the latest original thinkers: the would-be system-builders and the hopeful Grand Theorists. --- Jonathan Lee
Rating:
Summary: A Great Introduction to Thought
Review: Marvelous. Boorstin hits his mark with this effort. I have enjoyed two other Boorstin books and always recommend his work. I'm a slow reader and Boorstin always writes in a style allowing me to put the book down and pick it up again and still be involved. This is my first "philosophy" book. I appreciated the author's effort to tie the fellings of ancient society to people of today. I enjoyed the excerpts from actual writings of the historians and philosophers from the past. I expected this book to entertain and inform. I was very pleased.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Introduction to Thought
Review: Marvelous. Boorstin hits his mark with this effort. I have enjoyed two other Boorstin books and always recommend his work. I'm a slow reader and Boorstin always writes in a style allowing me to put the book down and pick it up again and still be involved. This is my first "philosophy" book. I appreciated the author's effort to tie the fellings of ancient society to people of today. I enjoyed the excerpts from actual writings of the historians and philosophers from the past. I expected this book to entertain and inform. I was very pleased.
Rating:
Summary: Still Seeking Depth and New Horizons
Review: Reading the other reviews, I am glad I wasn't the only one who stumbled when reading Boorstin's The Seekers. I was rather disappointed, and came to Amazon.com dragging my heavy heart feeling I was duty bound to disparage a great scholar. Thankfully, I am not alone and so now can feel somewhat better about my not feeeling good to begin with, as it were. With me? Well, neither am I. Let's cut to the chase. Boorstin failed in two major regards with The Seekers: One, this should have been a massive tome, if a chronicle of the great minds of mankind. I was dismayed that he couldn't even reach 300 pages with an introduction, an overview of the history of the world's intellectual journey, then copious reference notes, plus an index. I do not know if, as suggested, he was racing a deadline, or perhaps he plans a sequel to finish it out, or if only he conceived of this as an overview of very limited scope. It was simply too brief. Two, I thought that the whole narrowminded Western Christian focus of souless old white male ghouls masquerading as scholars had been so thoroughly trumpeted as to become a bad cliche? How do you have the "Story of Man's Continuing Quest to Understand His World" without ever even mentioning anything else in the world like Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, Hindu, Islamic, Mayan, Incan, Aztec, Aboriginal, Egyptian, Sumerian, etc., civilization, that is ignoring any other thought or culture that contributed to mankind's advancement beyond the Eurochristian West? Boorstin dismisses the rest of the world in Chapter Four (only 3 1/2 long), which is subtitled: "Evil in the East." However, I should point out, just for example, that paper, printing, numbers, etc. all came from cultures outside the scope of his book, yet they seem to have substantially influenced everything that Mankind has done or thought; and before Christ's Golden Rule came a little old sage in China named Confucius who somehow made the exact same statement centuries prior. Now, I have no use for the howling of the revisionists or destructionists who want to reject all Western thought because it is somehow "white", but I also have no respect for anyone who claims to be scholar and then fully ignores the greater half of the world and its civilizations. This book as is seems to BE a manual for making the revisionists argument. For what it did cover, albeit briefly, it is wise. I hope this is only part of the story, that he plans more after The Seekers, a companion or sequel volume in the series, and I am wholly wrong. The alternative, that he patently refused to consider the rest of the world and ignored its impact, is just plain pathetic and means the writer of this volume is the antithesis of a Seeker himself. I hope I am incorrect.
Rating:
Summary: Lopsided Seeking
Review: The book is interesting but notable for its omission of women. Indicating Socrates' wife was a shrew does not qualify as anything but biased reporting. I might not be too crazy either about a spouse who hangs out talking in the square all day.
Seriously, the problem with this book, is that the contribution of half of humanity is not even considered. A strange text in todays' times, and no inspiration for young women finding their way in the world. Incredible.
|
