The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World View
"The most lucid and concise presentation I have read, of the grand lines of what every student should know about the history of Western thought. The writing is elegant and carries the reader with the momentum of a novel... It is really a noble performance."
--Joseph Campbell,
author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Here are the great minds of Western civilization and their pivotal ideas, from Plato to Hegel, from Augustine to Nietzsche, from Copernicus to Freud. Richard Tarnas performs the near-miracle of describing profound philosophical concepts simply but without simplifying them. Ten years in the making and already hailed as a classic, THE PASSION OF THE WESTERN MIND is truly a complete liberal education in a single volume.
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Tarnas charts the development of Western thought from the ancient Greeks, throwing a sharp light on ideas central to the modern outlook.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"It is a superb, enthralling book--a masterpiece: as gripping as a detective story; as moving as a poem. Tarnas writes lucidly, brilliantly, passionately, unfolding the great drama of the evolution of the Western mind act by act, scene by scene in precise and scholarly detail."--Anne Baring, Resurgence"One of the most illuminating, satisfying, beautifully written, lucidly argued--and important--books I have ever read."
--Keith Thompson, Utne Reader"This brilliant classic is essential reading."
--David Lorimer
The Scientific and Medical Network Review
"The most thrilling narrative of the West's 3,000-year odyssey in pursuit of truth accessible to a broad public of which this reviewer is aware. . . . A work of genius."
--Harrison Sheppard, The Hellenic Journal"[This] magnificent critical survey . . . allows readers to grasp the big picture of Western culture as if for the first time."
--Patricia Holt, San Francisco Chronicle"It is stunning; it is brilliant; it is the single best book of intellectual history--in any field--that I have ever read."
--William Tanksley
Professor of English, Fordham University
"[This] magnificent critical survey, with its inherent respect for both the 'West's mainstream high culture' and the 'radically changing world' of the 1990s, offers a new breakthrough for lay and scholarly readers alike....Allows readers to grasp the big picture of Western culture for the first time."
- San Francisco Chronicle"The Passion of the Western Mind is as fine an account of the story of the Western mind, in all of its complexity and tensions, as I believe exists anywhere."
--Dale Cannon
Professor of Philosophy,
Western Oregon State College
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