PHILOSOPHY, "A BEST SELLER"
Philosophy, "A Best Seller" By FOLA LA FOLLETTE "THE STORY OF PHILOSOPHY," by Will Durant. Simon & (Schuster, publishers. Price $-i.O0. THE business managers of many of the old line publishing...
...Again and again I have known of its putting people in communication with a world of thought which, though acutely apprehended in their own experience of life, they had conceived of as a solitary and lonely questioning of man's relation to the universe which could not be shared...
...Philosophy at the head of the "best sellers" list...
...Several years ago I read a vivid and fascinating essay on Aristotle -which was published in one of the Haldeman-Julius blue booklets...
...He has selected the thinkers who are expounded with good judgment...
...his personal comments are always intelligent and useful...
...From the History of Philosophy they have gone forward unafraid, seeking a more intimate acquaintance with a world which they had hitherto supposed was closed to their comprehension...
...However, various philosophers of unquestioned distinction in the exclusive world of metaphysics have given this book such high praise that even the most timid layman may appro-ch this introduction to philosophical thought with complete confidenc* that Mr...
...THE business managers of many of the old line publishing houses must have looked enviously at the announcements which, month after month, have carried Will Durant's Story of...
...I do not know the history of the wanderings of the unpublished manuscript of this book, but I venture a guess that it was submitted first to many of the long established publishing firms and was turned down by their "reader*" who were dubious about a philosophical book which was comprehensible to 1 a y m e n without any metaphysical training...
...He has shown remarkable skill in selecting quotations that are typical, that give the flavor of the "author, and that are readable...
...Put away all useless things for the summer and *ave time and labor...
...But philosophic writing is »ften bo specialized and technical that even educated readers, unless professionally trained, are repelled rather than attracted...
...The work is FoJa La Foilette, thoroughly scholarly...
...Durant has distilled the essential, thought of a series of important writers and has presented it in a way which is human and read-- able...
...his expositions are accurate as well as clear...
...Durant has gone to the original writings and not to second-hand sources...
...The discovery that most of the problems and speculations which for them had remained in the realm of incommunicable experience, had been the basic concern of great minds and spirits throughout the world has brought an amazing release and renewal...
...Durant's treatment...
...Simon, and Schuster, who established themselves ' in the publishing world through the cross word puzzle books, are the daring firm that launched this volume and have reaped such astonishing rewards for their venture...
...While the book is one of popularization, it is al«o much more than that, as popularization is osually conceived...
...His unusual endowment, his experience in journalism and as teacher and director of the Labor Temple have enabled him to write of the history of thought and thinkers in a uniquely vivid and illuminating way...
...Though professional philosophers differ in their estimates of this book, the public is reading it at a rate that makes authors of popular novels jealous...
...The amazing sale of this book is indicative that all of America was not depicted in Main Street...
...The author of "A Guide to Aristotle," which is incorporated in this new volume, more than fulfilled my high expectations...
...the general reader have much to gain from it...
...Philosophical thinkers are wont to make high claims for the human value of philosophy, as a comprehensive survey of life and as an analysis of fundamentals...
...For in his work as a teacher many similar experiences must have been divulged to him...
...Doubtless the idea that even the broad outlines of philosophical thought may be apprehended by the common reader detracts from the precious ex-clusiveness of their domain...
...The author of this essay was unknown to me, but I hoped that some day I might find a more extended commentaary on philosophy and philosophers-from his pen...
...In fine, he has humanized rather than merely popularized the story of philosophy...
...When there came the announcement of The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant I read it with great eagerness...
...Undoubtedly such revelations would elicit surprise, if not scorn, from many a fastidious technical metaphysician, but not, I imagine, from Mr...
...I have been profoundly impressed by what this book has meant to many people of widely differing interests and backgrounds...
...It is the small decorative, objects in a room which take the mos-t time to dust...
...John Dewey has written of this book: "1 am glad of the opportunity to commend such an admirable piece of intellectual woTk, as to its substance and its literary form...
...Indeed I fancy that it was out of such knowledge- thai he was led to write The Story of Philosophy — a scholar's gift to "the least of these" questioning humans born into a marvelous arid incomprehensible universe...
...Certain dwellers in the ivory tower of metaphysics who hold the faith that the more abstruse and technical the treatment of the subject the more scholarly the philosopher, are irritated by Mr...
...Durant is a faithful and scholarly in« terpreter...
...Teachers and students in universities as well as...
Vol. 19 • June 1927 • No. 6
