An innovative application of philosophy to matters ineffable, intoxicating, and altogether interesting.
A layered philosophical investigation of drugs and their complexities.
Canadian philosopher Smith-Ruiu opens with an odd feint, announcing that he has written this book in sobriety, for “it is simply intrinsic to the project of philosophy that one must be eminently clear-headed at least at the moment one is seeking to make a contribution to it in writing.” The “at least” is an important qualifier, for as his narrative proceeds, he reveals a keen interest in mind-altering substances, particularly psychedelics. (Indeed, just before that declaration, he recounts an evening of psilocybin tea on the shores of the Gulf of Finland.) The philosophical project is very real, though: Smith-Ruiu is interested in how we perceive reality and whether drugs distort that perception or, conversely, reveal to us dimensions that we do not otherwise grok. As the narrative proceeds, it appears that Smith-Ruiu favors the latter interpretation, venturing that psilocybin in particular unveils “the plain truth that was there all along but that we cannot ordinarily see: that we carry [the] world inside of us.” Although Smith-Ruiu’s discussion is, beg pardon, heady, he writes with clarity about matters such as the nature of dreams, the difficulty of accounting for “the richness of our inner experience,” the phenomenological recognition of other minds, and the like. In some regards, Smith-Ruiu acknowledges, his book strays outside the realm of academic philosophy writ large, which concerns itself “with meanings and arguments, not what lies beyond these,” to which he counters that whereas philosophers have long tended to wrestle with problems without mind alteration, “psychedelics, like religion, like poetry, are among other things an abandonment of the will to go it alone,” an aid to thought rather than an impediment to it.
An innovative application of philosophy to matters ineffable, intoxicating, and altogether interesting.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781324094975
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Liveright/Norton
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
Hiccups aside, a mostly valuable compendium of irrational thinking, with a handful of blanket corrective maneuvers.
A waggish, cautionary compilation of pitfalls associated with systematic cognitive errors, from novelist Dobelli.
To be human is to err, routinely and with bias. We exercise deviation from logic, writes the author, as much as, and possibly more than, we display optimal reasoning. In an effort to bring awareness to this sorry state of affairs, he has gathered here—in three-page, anecdotally saturated squibs—nearly 100 examples of muddied thinking. Many will ring familiar to readers (Dobelli’s illustrations are not startlingly original, but observant)—e.g., herd instinct and groupthink, hindsight, overconfidence, the lack of an intuitive grasp of probability or statistical reality. Others, if not new, are smartly encapsulated: social loafing, the hourly rate trap, decision fatigue, carrying on with a lost cause (the sunk-cost fallacy). Most of his points stick home: the deformation of professional thinking, of which Mark Twain said, “If your only tool is a hammer, all your problems will be nails”; multitasking is the illusion of attention with potentially dire results if you are eating a sloppy sandwich while driving on a busy street. In his quest for clarity, Dobelli mostly brings shrewdness, skepticism and wariness to bear, but he can also be opaque—e.g., shaping the details of history “into a consistent story...we speak about ‘understanding,’ but these things cannot be understood in the traditional sense. We simply build the meaning into them afterward.” Well, yes. And if we are to be wary of stories, what are we to make of his many telling anecdotes when he counsels, “Anecdotes are a particularly tricky sort of cherry picking....To rebuff an anecdote is difficult because it is a mini-story, and we know how vulnerable our brains are to those”?
Hiccups aside, a mostly valuable compendium of irrational thinking, with a handful of blanket corrective maneuvers.Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-221968-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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