book data
123 ratings, 3.68 average rating, 18 reviews
(more data...)
edit
published
May 1st 2007
by Harper Perennial
binding
Paperback, 416 pages
isbn
0061253170
(isbn13: 9780061253171)
description
A fascinating portrait of the minds that have shaped the modern world. In an intriguing series of case studies, Rousseau, Shelley, Marx, Ibsen, To...more
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »
friend reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 203)
recommends it for:
thinkers
He defines Intellectuals as not thinkers in general, but those special thinkers who "[lay:] claim to guide society," "assert that they [can:] diagnose the ills of society *with their own unaided intellects," and "devise formulae whereby not merely the structure of society but the fundamental habits of human beings could be changed for the better." In other words, the modern Intellectual tends to be a Prometheus.
This excludes those who want to preserve traditiona...more
This excludes those who want to preserve traditiona...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
recommends it for:
Anyone who'd like to feel better about screwing up
At first the thought of idealized cultivators of thought screwing up is fascinating. However, it seems the author often exaggerates flaws, and is too easily appalled by ordinary human actions. By the time I got to Tolstoy, whose biography I'd already read, I grew weary of the exclusive emphasis on the negative. I didn't read anything new about Tolstoy in Intellectuals that I hadn't already learned from the biography, but Tolstoy's section indicated to me that facts are subject to angle, and t...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
In this intriguing volume, Johnson choose ten of history's most prominent intellectuals, including Karl Marx, Doestevsky, and Rousseau. He discusses the lives and theories of these selected individuals, as well as their influence on history, but his work is tied together by an overarching theme. He constantly returns to the terrifying power of ideas and sees in the intellectuals a group of out-of-touch thinkers who love humanity in the abstract but despise or neglect the individual man. Beca...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2002
I know Paul Johnson is famously conservative and I'm sure that colored his view of these people, but you can't argue with his erudition or writing ability. In these short essays on various artists and political thinkers -- Tolstoy, Sartre, Hemingway, Hellman, Marx and others, he takes an acerbic look at the contrast between the private lives and ethics, and what they espoused in their work.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Has a copy to sell/swap
—
Read in January, 2006
recommends it for:
Really smart people
Get this: "Older men like Voltaire had started the work of demolishing the altars and enthroning reason. But Rousseau was the first to combine all the salient characteristics of the modern Promethean". Heavy stuff but oh so true. This is a terrific read if you want a behind the scenes tour of the world of the cerebral heavyweights like Marx, Ibsen, Tolstoy, Russell, Sartre and others.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
If intellectuals rule our society through ideas, then should we expect them to practice what they preach? Even to BELIEVE what they preach? This book seriously examines some of the most influential minds of the past two centuries--and it does not make for pretty reading. "By their fruits ye shall know them..." Very thoughtful, well-written and well-researched.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2000
This book helped me pinpoint what it is I don't like about self-proclaimed "intellectuals." I don't mean all intellectuals, of course, but a certain species of them that look down on those they consider lesser beings and who mistreat and neglect their own families or loved ones.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2001
A very fun book to read, as Johnson gives us the personal background of so many memorable characters who dominate what has come to be considered modern thought. One of the few books I regret having given away....would be worth re-reading to see how detailed his research was...
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
About the private lives of some of the most influential thinkers.
Eye-opening, to say the least. It takes the blush off the "greatest minds," and makes you remember that you should always exercise critical judgment and thinking, no matter how venerated the author is.
Eye-opening, to say the least. It takes the blush off the "greatest minds," and makes you remember that you should always exercise critical judgment and thinking, no matter how venerated the author is.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in June, 2007
Great book. Johnson creates a simple profile which each of these individuals falls into effortlessly. One could add some contemporary intellectuals as they embody the same characteristics. I dated the reincarnation of Shelley... bone chilling.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
A look at the lives of modern intellectuals. If nothing else, it shows that no life, even those lived by our cultural and intellectual heroes, can bear scrutiny.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Pretty interesting book highlighting the bizarre, inconsistent, and often immoral behavior of many of Western civilization's most famous intellectuals.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in June, 1998
recommends it for:
thinking people
Incredibly interesting and unflattering look into the lives and thought of some of the most influential thinkers in history.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Wonderful book. Makes one realize the core of the Utopian ideal is rotten.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 1996
Interesting view on personalities behind post-modern culture
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
to-read
(on 57 people's shelves)
history (on 13 people's shelves)
currently-reading (on 7 people's shelves)
non-fiction (on 6 people's shelves)
nonfiction (on 5 people's shelves)
biography (on 5 people's shelves)
philosophy (on 4 people's shelves)
books-i-own (on 3 people's shelves)
politics (on 2 people's shelves)
library (on 1 person's shelf)
More shelves...
history (on 13 people's shelves)
currently-reading (on 7 people's shelves)
non-fiction (on 6 people's shelves)
nonfiction (on 5 people's shelves)
biography (on 5 people's shelves)
philosophy (on 4 people's shelves)
books-i-own (on 3 people's shelves)
politics (on 2 people's shelves)
library (on 1 person's shelf)
More shelves...
