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.
Rating: 
Summary: He's no philosopher
Review: To get the measure of this book, I checked out the bit about Nietzsche, a philosopher I know something about. The authors's comments are so ridiculous I thought it must be a joke. It reminded me of the kind of anti-German propaganda article printed in World War 1 newspapers. I'm afraid this experience put me off the book altogether. Maybe it's unfair to judge a book by a couple of pages, but when someone gets it so wrong about a subject that you know, you are bound to distrust them on others you don't. My advice - forget this and read any decent introduction to philosophy instead.
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Summary: A Necessary Corrective for our Times
Review: We live in an spiritually blighted era when people don't know or care what the meaning of is is. The idea of any transcendant ideal has no value to society. Not only do people not care what truth is, they would not know what to do with it if they found it. This book is a remarkable examination of that modern failure of the soul and a thoughtful examination of how truth has been sought throughout history. The bulk of the book consists of a review of the four different methods of seeking the truth, from "gut feelings" to empirical evidence. The final chapter looks at how modern Western civilization has abandoned the quest for truth, falling prey to such lunacies as deconstructionism. Perhaps the most important point the author makes is that when a people has abandoned the search for the truth, they are easy prey for lies. We see this in Washington, in the media and in academia today. We ignore this trend at our peril. If we want to preserve our freedoms, we must become more attuned to the truth. Dr. Fernandez-Armesto's book is a good place to begin.
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