Doubt: A History : The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: A tedious read and, at best, poorly researched; at worst, intellectually dishonest. The misrepresentation of Spencer's idea of "contempt before investigation" on page 408 is the most glaring, though unfortunately not the only, example.

Rating:
Summary: Great content; egregious errors
Review: A very interesting book, with great content, especially for those not more familiar with the history of doubt, above all in doubt in the East. I learned some new things about the East, such as the Carvaka of early Hinduism. I gained new insight on a few more familiar
faces from the West as well.
That said, I had a few minor comments or more serious concerns of different sorts.
1. Introduction, page xv. Hecht somewhat waves aside the arts in their attempts to deal with matters of "ultimate concern" and how they might fit in a history of doubt. She says "religion is more completely centered on contemplating the rupture -- perhaps it is because no end product (canvas, performance or text) is expected or construed as the central point of the adventure."
I would respectfully disagree. While a painting is a one-time work, it can instill different and ongoing reactions from repeated viewings. And music, theater, dance and film are all repeated works. I think of something like Bernstein's secular Mass, for example. Even literature can be approached from reader-response criticism. The arts are about the act of canvassing, performing or texting.
2. More serious complaint No. 1 -- Bad copyediting and/or bad writing. Example 1 -- "its" and "it's" being misused and confused. Happens more than once. Likewise, misplaced apostrophes with nouns ending in "s." The possessive of "Thales" is NOT "Thale's"; the possessive of "Rick Fields" is NOT "Field's." That too happens more than once. It happens enough it has to come from Hecht herself; or else, she knowingly let it slide. (I've worked as a proofreader for a book publisher; she would have gotten galleys with the incorrect usage, and should have seen it at least once.)
3. Page 467. She calls Lyndon Baines Johnson Speaker of the House of Representatives! He was Senate Majority Leader during the 1950s, but not even inthe House. Unforgiveable and egregious for a professional historian to make a historical error of that magnitude.
4. She botches Herbert Spencer's "contempt before investigation" idea on page 408. Rather, as a good doubter, he said that was a cardinal sin; he did NOT advocate using "contempt before investigation" as a philosophical tool.
Overall, a great tour de force; it focuses more on breadth than depth. Were it not for the mistakes, it would get at least one star better rating.
And, why can't Amazon let us do half-star ratings?

Rating:
Summary: What you need to know...
Review: Amazing... in one book, the wealth of history to confirm the doubter's faith. I started to dog-ear the important pages, but it became difficult to close the book (which was hard enough with the continual revelations.) The style is very user friendly, and the content breathtaking. All the brilliant thinkers you meant to read, plus some outstanding regular folks, are represented. This is the most important book I've ever read. Get it, read it, share it.

Rating:
Summary: When in This World, Doubt
Review: Approaching this book is formidable: Over 2,000 years of time crammed with characters, events, dates and all angles of thought. Overlapping eras, philosophies, geography. A fleet or religions, believers, non-believers and heretics. To make this history interesting and informative and not a slog through ancient history is no small feat, but with Jennifer Michael Hecht as the tour guide, this book works on both levels. And the trip is fun, too. She sets a chronological course, offering a mostly delightful cast of characters, many of whom have earned their moment on the History Channel. But you'll also discover men and women lost in time who have unfathomable pluck, who spit in the eye of popular thinking at the Inquistion, in ancient Rome and India, in medieval Paris and in Washington, D.C. Hecht's language speeds along, injecting the humor and fondness of a poet for her subject. (Too often what she chronicles is put on the back shelf of libraries, put there by people who are afraid of another view of the world, which might challenge their beliefs.). Hecht explains the vision of both orthodox thought and her doubters with equal voice and clarity, but her final chapter, The Joy of Doubt, reveals a love of being free. And that is to doubt and to glory in a world of free thought.


Rating:
Summary: relief
Review: As a child I was forced to go to church by my parents. They didn't go them selves, except of course on holidays. There was a lot of Latin, sit, stand and kneeling. I didn't understand. As an adult I searched for God, and still do, but I don't go easy. I ask difficult questions, and clergy who are at first evangelistic, tend to cool down quickly when dealing with me. I tried to "just believe", but I couldn't. I am not a scholar by any means and Doubt was a tough read for me. But what an eye opener it was! I mean Thomas Jefferson? Ben Franklin? Mark Twain? The list goes on and on. I guess I'm in pretty good company.
Jennifer Michael Hecht is brilliant here. The content moves quickly and covers a lot. (I will have to read this again.) I'm sure my own philosophy is the result of centuries of doubters. Who's philosophies then carried down through history to become the still troubling questions we have today. I don't believe it's ever been chronicled like this. I'm very impressed. I love her wit as well. This is a must read for all potential, future fanatics, especially those who come to believe that murder is a powerful convincer.

Rating:
Summary: Validation for Doubters
Review: As the other reviews indicate, if you're a doubter, a "freethinker," an agnostic, an atheist or just plain unable to buy any story with a supernatural element in it, you will love this book. If you're a believer or unwilling or unable to give up the belief system you cherish (which is perfectly understandable), then this book will most likely aggravate you.

What I found as I went through this book is that for every belief system someone somewhere came up with, some other person somewhere else deflated it. As Hecht explained each system, I was tempted to think, "Ah, there's a philosophy I can adopt!" But, no. As I continued reading, the flaws in the system were pointed out by the great thinkers of all time (and sometimes by Hecht herself), and I thought, "Well, no -- I guess that one gets thrown in the trash pile of history, too."

This is why this book is NOT good for those seeking answers -- especially those who need validation of their own belief system. For, in the last analysis, this book leaves one thinking there ARE no answers (at least, at this time). Maybe it's all beyond the human brain, and always will be. I was left realizing that we're living in a Universe which is -- to use Churchill's phrase about the Soviet Union -- a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

If one is open minded -- and especially if one is already a "doubter" and needs validation of their doubts -- I can hardly recommend this book highly enough. It's comprehensive, accessible, witty and more fun to read than you'd expect a book about philosophy could be.

Rating:
Summary: Info you didn't know
Review: Bet you didn't know about the Carvaka, or about Miriam whacking the Temple with her sandal and calling it a "wolf". Bet you didn't know that the traditional Hanukah story is a one-sided spin of an important and complex interaction between two belief systems with political ramifications that resonate even today. Bet you never heard of Wang Chun. And I bet you never really knew how cool Epicurus was.
This book made and makes me want to go back to the first page and comb the entire book while taking notes on authors I want to delve into in depth. I checked it out at the library, because I'm cheap. But it needs to be in my own collection, so I'm gonna buy me a copy for my very own (used).
It's a very good read and doesn't bog down. Though most people approaching this book will be folks like me who have a problem with religion, the author respects the continuum of doubt/belief and does not create an exaggerated dichotomy. Many of the doubters quoted fall in the category of believers.
As I read it, I found myself thinking "So THAT"S why {something important happened that has never really been fully explained in the histories I have read}!"
In sum: an important adjunct to the history of civilization, not just Western but ... civilization.

Rating:
Summary: Dubito...
Review: Doubt resurfacing in modern times hath wrought more in the way of liberating the human mind that millennia of faith--that much is clear, and this sea-breeze account of its history will leave the faithful gnawed at, if they read it. From the Charvakas of India in the time of Buddha, to current post-7/11 Ibn Warraq and his skepticism about Islam, the legacy endures, but is truly born in the modern period, the early modern in fact. One problem for the skeptical mind is the dialectical crisis he might provoke for himself, if his doubts are the horn of a dilemma too liable to whiplash as it reaches its limit and returns toward the opposite of the opposite. And the atheist's doubt is subject to its antagonist's definition of what is to be doubted, the fatal embrace. The dilemma itself is the next problem for the pilgrim doubter. Kant lurks in the shadows here, codifying the mind's mental mechanics ('dialectic of illusion')as it 'Ideas of Reason' sing their siren calls. In the era of doubt, the doubts about something like Darwin's theory are repressed and the non-doubted attempts his comeback. But the outstanding laundry list of beliefs open to doubt remains long. Even now the foul or fair disease produces a symptomology in the world of Islam.
Lots of interesting detail, and an abbreviated world history to boot.

Rating:
Summary: Doubt as a journey.
Review: Hecht does us freethinker apologists a great service here. She gives us an eloquent and exhaustive account of the process of doubt through history. For the most part, the people she depicts here are skeptics, rather than cynics. Their humanistic values come from their own evaluations and struggles with objective truth, rather than a wholesale rejection based on suspicion of motives of others (although that does pop up from time to time to be sure). For as many loud and proud rebels depicted in here, there are an equal army of strugglers who can't reject what they see as true, despite the prevailing beliefs of the communities around them. It's a very lively, thought provoking book, and enjoy interested in the history of ideas would probably enjoy it. Heck, even theists should read it.

Rating:
Summary: An Impressive Work Spanning 2,000 Years of History
Review: I am not a doubter and have a difficult time understanding how one cannot have faith. But I accept that as a reasonable position. I have always been an avid student of philosophy and theology. I think that there is great value in understanding the perspectives of those with doubt and without faith and how "doubters" have effected societal and political development. Ms. Hecht takes us on an astounding 2,000-year journey across history and introduces us to the preeminent thinkers in the history of doubt from every continent. It is a most impressive and immensely readable journey. It is important to note that this journey is not for the novice. If you don't have a background in Greek philosophical and Christian theological writings, this may be a challenging read even though Ms. Hecht makes this information very accessible and readable.