Rating: 
Summary: The operative word is "perplexed"
Review: As in the writing. Fernandez-Armesto is brilliant, insightful, well-researched and opinionated. He is a terific historian and social commentator witness his output: CIVILIZATIONS, MILLENIUM, FEAST OF A THOUSAND TABLES, IDEAS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD, etc. But this kind of writing is not directly transferable to the kind he attempts in TRUTH. All the small annoyances present in his other books have combined into a barely readable tome. The opacity is everywhere - a sodden blanket over the entire work. His praise (preference?) for primitive cultures is especially pointed here in his attempt to demonstrate a similarity of thought between ancient and modern humans in terms of abstract thought. This idea is repeated with all the finesse of a slegehammer. Of course Kogo from the Uhuri tribe was not aware of the sciences but yet could discern the truth from the untruthful. But then children do the same thing (which semi-invalidates his berating of modern anthropologists who compare primitive thought to the mindset of children). This is one of those books that should have been terminated at midpoint, divided and parcelled into other works. Disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: The operative word is "perplexed"
Review: As in the writing. Fernandez-Armesto is brilliant, insightful, well-researched and opinionated. He is a terific historian and social commentator witness his output: CIVILIZATIONS, MILLENIUM, FEAST OF A THOUSAND TABLES, IDEAS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD, etc. But this kind of writing is not directly transferable to the kind he attempts in TRUTH. All the small annoyances present in his other books have combined into a barely readable tome. The opacity is everywhere - a sodden blanket over the entire work. His praise (preference?) for primitive cultures is especially pointed here in his attempt to demonstrate a similarity of thought between ancient and modern humans in terms of abstract thought. This idea is repeated with all the finesse of a slegehammer. Of course Kogo from the Uhuri tribe was not aware of the sciences but yet could discern the truth from the untruthful. But then children do the same thing (which semi-invalidates his berating of modern anthropologists who compare primitive thought to the mindset of children). This is one of those books that should have been terminated at midpoint, divided and parcelled into other works. Disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is one of the greatest history's of our world.
Review: Being the first book I have read by Fernandez-Armestro I cannot comment on it in relation to previous works, however, suffice to say that I was impressed not only by the literarily worthiness and depth of research but also by the courage to take on a topic of such obscurity. This 'guide for the perplexed' is possibly one of the most probing books written this decade, no other book searches with such depth for truth itself. I thoroughly recommend this book to anybody with an interest in history, philosophy or ideology.
Rating: 
Summary: Distrust of his Truth
Review: I bought the book after reading the NYTimes review. I am particularly interested in his four types of Truth scheme and the historical base that he has scanned for this view of the sources of Truth. I became a bit sckeptical as I found his history to conflict with places I knew a bit. I grew annoyed as he gratuitously castigated the authors whose opinions he disliked. To put down the book based on my distaste for the author's tactics is to join him in judging the person rather than the ideas. However, with his flippant approach to history and narrow characterization of various positions, I found I could not trust him as a author on the topic of Truth. A lack of trust in his sense of Truth is as damning of the book as could any that could be voiced.
Rating:
Summary: What is truth?
Review: I liked this book though, I have to admit, I had to read it twice before I understood it. Mr Armesto offers some compelling arguments and interesting insights into the nature of truth. A little verbose and over-written but worth the read if you have any inclination to wondering how mankind absorbs, comprehends and arrives at truth.
Rating: 
Summary: There've been better attempts
Review: So, Felipe Fernandes-Armesto is a great historian, truth. He is no philosopher, also truth. However, it is important to understand that this book is meant as history, not as philosophy. What the author intends is to portray the different perceptions of truth that have been developed throughout history. He does a great amount of research and the work is properly developed, however, he doesn't keep his distance in this one. He forgets that he intends only to portray, neither to support, not contradict different points of view. This book lacks the cold view of the sckeptical historian that would create the propper environment for such a work. Better examples of truth understandig throughout history might be found after studying history itself. I would ratner recommend "The Golden Bough" by Sir James, and suggest "Anacalypsis" by Godfrey Higgins, if you can get your hands on any of them. One thing to keep in mind though, truth never ceases to be theleology, a distant explanation, even if it comes through scientific theory. To understand this will help understand the variegated points of view about truth throughout history.
Rating: 
Summary: An amazing breadth of material systematized with wit
Review: The author covers references from an amazing array of historical eras and, seemingly, from all parts of the globe with a written tradition. His categorization of the types of "truth" is brilliant. What's better, he knows how to write and avoids anything resembling a dull catalog of contrasting views. He is not afraid to voice opinions, unlike many other authors. Also, he is not afraid to attack some of the nihilistic tendencies of "modern scholarship." If you agree that these are simply empty posturings which are inherently self-negating (i.e., if nothing matters, why then bother discussing it), you will enjoy what he has to say. He does not come to an answer concerning "truth," in my opinon, but takes the reader on an always interesting search for it.
Rating:
Summary: Truly Gutless
Review: The book involves the usual hand-wringing about a loss of things like moral truth in an age of skepticism and relativism. But then Armesto, having described the situation disapprovingly, knows better than to step forward and state that there is indeed such a thing as absolute truth, to tell his readers what it is and then to demonstrate it in such a way as to convince us all what it is. This is a telling failure for someone writing a book titled A Guide for the Perplexed. It ought to convince any perplexed reader that fervent belief in the truth is no evidence of the truth and that all the different truths Armesto describes is stunning evidence that moral relativism is the only real truth any honest person can accept. Besides, when Armesto laments the decline of moral truth, who does he think is responsible for more bloodshed, moral relativists or moral absolutists?
Rating:
Summary: Good on history short on philosophy
Review: The title of my review pretty much sums this one up. But to add a little detail to that. This book claims to be a history and a guide, but it's really just a history. It examines the methods by which humans have looked at the idea of truth, and the varying conclusions they have reached. You would think that the analysis of such varied views of truth would lead the author to think that absolute truth is a near impossible thing to find, but he comes from a very conservative angle thus viewing deconstructionism and postmodernism as wrong headed and ludicrous. It has very interesting historical analysis, but suffers from the very thing the author is trying to tear down-subjectivist thinking. If there is a philosophy of truth involved in this book it is never clearly outlined. He analyzes various ways in which people are arguing for the existence of absolute truth but doesn't really add anything to the debate, he may not have set out to do this, but that's what I was looking for and never found. He tries to attack various positions that would lend credibility to the subjectivist school of thought, but really only does so through name calling with little analysis. If you are interested in how people have historically viewed truth and can disentangle the authors critiques and opinions from the history, than you might like this, if not I would looke elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: A introductory history to an important philosophical topic
Review: This is not a book of philosophy, but rather philosophical history. It is an extremely fast survey of philosophical thought through the millennia of human history all around the world in a broad variety of cultures. Experts in any of the fields covered in this book will surely find their specialty too cursorily treated, but the point of the book is not the details of the points made. The issue here is how human beings have wrestled with the concept of Truth throughout history. Does it exist (it is not a modern question)? How can you tell what is True? How do you communicate it? I found the author's skillful demonstration that the seemingly modern focus on private meaning and internal construction to be the resurfacing of a very old issue. Proffesor Fernandez-Armesto points out that while no system ever devised can irrefutably demonstrate Truth to the satisfaction of everyone, no approach declaring the death of meaning has also been a self-contradictory system of faith. I am a believer in the validity of an independent external reality that can be sought and, in part, known. But whether known or not, it courses on its way with or without us. Its reality is not subjective or open to societal interpretation. Our interpretations of it are, but it can be demonstrated that some interpretations are better than others. Some can land rovers on Mars and others cannot. I think that this short book should be read by nearly everyone, whether you agree with its thesis or not, or the author's summaries or not. The sheer breadth of topics in only 229 pages can provide a wonderful introduction to further study.
| 
